alrobin

JG, You say auto-renaming brings you half-way there. If you auto-rename, using the EXIF data and an external utility, then you can have that name appear over the image in PTE by setting the appropriate "comment" option in Project Options.

Fred, That's a good point and a step worthwhile taking. However, I just want to add that in my experience, Igor has designed PTE so that the resources required to play the music are minute compared to those required for the transitions.

The only way to do this at the moment is either by opening the .pte file in a text editor and manually adjusting each slide's timing, or by using my "Adjustor" Excel-based spreadsheet model which can be found on Beechbrook (page 4 or 5). Email me if you need assistance in using the model.

Beth, It could be that you have something else running in the background hogging all the processor time (e.g. virus-scanning, email, web browser, etc). Or else maybe you don't have sufficient RAM to handle windows as well as PTE. Or maybe you are running from your CD drive?? Or else, I don't know what else it could be. Did you try to run the created show on a different computer?

Robert, The transition is smooth on my setup as well.

Robert, I just watched your show - all of it one sitting! And, because I can relate to it (it brought back many memories of similar trips with my friends out west), I, too, enjoyed every minute of it. Too bad your hands were shaking when you were lining up for photos with the griz, though! Keep 'em coming!

Hi, echelonphoto, Welcome to the Forum! What is the name of the key file? How large is it? (it must be exactly 231 bytes ). Have you double-clicked it to install the key in the registry?

Carleton, Welcome to the Forum! A button for your email address is already shown at the bottom of each post. Unless you have checked "Hide my email address" under "MyControls / Email settings", someone can send you an email by clicking on this button. You could send Brian an email in this fashion in order to make sure he reads your message.

Robert, I don't use the "next oldest/next newest" links to navigate by, but I sympathize with your frustration. For me, it's having to scroll to the bottom in order to click on "Back to Pictures to Exe". Now "why do I not just click on the "back" button", someone may ask. It's because when I return to the list of threads via the "back" button, I always find that the little icon marking an unread message is still there, and it only clears when I return via the "Back to P......" link at the bottom.

Just to add to the replies by Brian and Robert, you can take an ".exe" file directly to your friend's computer and play the show, but you cannot burn a dvd from just the .exe file. You have to do as Brian and Robert have indicated - i.e. use the ".pte" file plus all of its accoutrements (image files, music files, sound clips, etc., in the same folder as the .pte file.)

Ron, I couldn't have said it better myself. But, Boogie, maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to do. Your initial post said "...I create Objects over the buttons in PTE ...", so I was trying to show you how you could cover a button with an image of your own. However, I'm not sure why you would want to do that since the object you create can also be programmed to carry out various commands.

Boogie, It is not possible to omit the button object border, but we have requested this feature from Igor, so maybe he will see fit to provide it in a new version. You can cover it up with a "picture object" button of your own provided that it is positioned in such a way that it will not move if someone is using a monitor with a different resolution.

Ron, You're right, you can combine the pieces together in the editor part of Audition and all will be fine. I thought that perhaps Eddie's problem was due to his not combining the two pieces in the multitrack list and then saving just one of the files. Eddie, glad you solved the problem OK.

Eddie, If you merely do a "save" or "save as", you will only be saving one of the original files - in this case the 3:01-min file. You have to use the "mix-down" function on your multitrack view to save the entire length of new music. Hope this helps.

Hi, Jeanie, The simplest way is to use a sound-editing program (e.g. Cool Edit - now called "Audition", by Adobe), or "Audacity" (shareware), or other program, and apply a feature called "grabbing" which imports a "wave" file directly from the CD mounted on your CD-ROM drive. There are other shareware programs which will do this too and which you can find by doing a search on Google. Make sure your CD-ROM drive is enabled for data access. The other way is to connect the output from your CD player into the line-in jack of your sound card (if you don't have a "line-input" jack, you can use the "microphone" jack, provided you don't have the volume set too high. Then you can use the "record" capability provided with Windows software (or other sound-editing program) to record the music coming from the CD player into your sound card. Then you can use your sound editing program (or free program, "dBPowerAmp Music converter") to convert the wave file to an "mp3" file. Let us know whether this works for you or if you have any further questions.

Hi, Missy, Welcome to the forum. Try copying the show's ".exe" file to the hard drive of the computer at school (hope it's not a "mac"), and it should play correctly. If not, you may have to go back into the show's project ".pte" file and adjust some of the transitions so they are not so close together. The other factor which affects how shows play on other computers is whether they are "synchronized" to the music, or just rely on the timing information you add in Project Options or Customize Slide menus. Different pc's operate at different speeds, so this can have some bearing on whether the images stay in sync or not. The only way to ensure accurate synchronization is to set up the show using the synchronization capability on the timeline. Hope this helps. Ciao, Al

terry, Welcome to the forum. If you select "Customize slide" / "Effect" you can change the settings for the effect chosen between that slide and the previous one. Is this what you were referring to?

Hi, JG, You can't accomplish this directly with PTE yet, but you can simulate it very easily with Photoshop. Simply create 2 slides, one normal and another one made by setting up one image over another as 2 layers in PS, adjusting the opacity of the top layer so that the bottom one shows through, and saving this result as the second slide to which you can then fade in PTE, and then cut to a third slide.

Igor, I applaud your dedication to our complaints and suggestions! And I'm sure I speak for everyone else in saying I look forward to discussing the new features you see fit to implement. I'm sure that after the next round of improvements PTE will be even more miles ahead of its rivals! But please, do not forget about your own well-being and good health! That comes first.

Robert, I remember something like that being the case. Similar to suggestions that PTE automatically turn down the volume if the music is too loud. However it may come to that if the "copyright police" keep on gaining more control over our listening pleasure! I was visualizing something much more complex such as copying the "original" piece from a CD or downloading it from a "licenced" site, for the usual fee, onto one's HD in the same folder as the exe file, and then having PTE find the music, and adapt its synchronization automatically to it per instructions recorded by the maker in setting up the original sync. The technology is available today to have the PTE show go looking on the internet for the music, download it (provided the user is a subscriber to that music source), sync itself to it, and then play the show! No copyrights offended!! It's called a "Brave New World"!!

Maureen, I watched the other 2 shows in your "tryptic" last night, and wish I could see the third. Very thought-provoking and well-done! There are many "problems" with my idea. But my conceptual suggestion (and that's really all it is intended to be) is not all that far out in left field. (In fact it might fit very well into, and in fact become necessary in, the world predicted in your "Yet to come" presentation. ) Several members have already requested a second time-track to aid in merging several music pieces together. This second track could also be used for the copyrighted music, while reserving the first track for the voice-over, special sound effects, etc. And, we already have a capability for sound overlay which could be used for some of the special effects, while retaining the capability for synchronization. I'm only trying to stir the "idea pot" a little, to get some further fresh thinking flowing on the Forum. And, of course this woldn't work for all shows - just the ones that the makers would like to distribute, but are hindered from doing so because of the ridiculous copyright laws. One such possible application might be in wedding and portrait cd's where the recipient would receive a cd of the AV presentation as well as an original cd or even a downloaded, and paid-for, mp3 file with his or her choice of background music to "splice" into the show. Or even provide his or her own background selections for the show. All we would need is some way to re-combine the AV with the background music, in much the same way that software today can "splice" two digital images together and make a panorama. Or even a means to play back the AV in sync to the "external" background music. Just some more "food for thought"! Maybe I should just stop smoking this stuff and go back onto Guinness!

Pushu, A couple of years ago there was a scare amongst PTE users when we discovered that Norton Antivirus was indicating that certain slideshows were infected. However, this turned out to be a false alarm, and the antivirus system was corrected so that PTE files did not trigger an alarm. Maybe your client is using outdated anti-virus software.

Maureen, Thanks for posting this - it's a very interesting and thought-provoking insight into the story behind what must be a great AV masterpiece. At least the judges at the super-circuit have so far thought so. Wish we could also get a glimpse of it. Maybe if you did a special version without the music, and posted it, we could at least watch it and pretend we were hearing the background selection, and no copyrights would be violated? Igor, maybe what we need in PTE, since copyright is such a problem, is the ability to create a synched show, delete the music, and have everyone who wants to watch it go out and purchase the cd, apply it to the .exe file, and have everything snap into sync again. Then we would be doing the musicians a favour and also having the luxury of watching great shows with great musical accompaniment.

Hi, photomanray1, Welcome to the Forum! All you have to do is move all images, music, and .pte project file to the same folder, and pte will be able to find the images. One way to do this automatically is to create a template while the show is still intact. They you will have all files together in the same template folder.

Just wanted to point out that Ken Cox has passed 1000 in total posts to the Forum! Thanks, Ken, from all of us, for your dedication to this site and all the help you have given us over the years. When I was a "newbie" to PTE, I learned a lot from you. And you still amaze me with your vast knowledge on a variety of topics.