alrobin

Neia, Please give us more information about your show and the software and equipment you are using. In particular, do all of the slides show up on the timeline after you synchronize the show? What type of music file are you using? How are you adding the slide transitions to the timeline (by listening to the music and pressing "New Transition", or by spreading them evenly over the music by pressing "Timed Points/Add Arranged Points")? Have a look at the timeline and make sure no transitions overlap each other.

Alan, I think I understand now what you were saying - it takes a while to sink in sometimes! And, I agree with you 100%

Alan, We have the same situation now with the slide list. It would be nice to track the files if moved, but I am not sure how this would be accomplished. What I am thinking of is really nothing different from what we have now in PTE where we have to save the project file to "register" any changes in the slide order. And if we subsequently move a file to a different folder, well, the PTE project file will only still function if the slide is in the same directory. The same would hold true for the light-table view. It would really be just a different "view" of the same slide list we have now.

Hi, Eric, I just upgraded to a new pc and would highly recommend the following as a minimum, especially if you are considering the "clone" route, with customized hardware and software (I'm sure those more technically up to date than I will have other suggestions) : - ASUS P4P800 motherboard, equipped for "fire-wire" port. I didn't go for the firewire port as I have one in my laptop. - Intel P4 processor, 2.8 GHz (going any higher than this is a waste of money as the small increase in real processing capability per dollar is not worth it). - video card with two VGA output ports - two monitors, at least 19" (if you haven't two already, you will wonder how you ever worked in Photoshop without them!). Win XP is set up to handle a dual-monitor arrangement. Don't know about Win 2000. - 120 Ghz hard drive. If you can, go for a "SATA" drive with "RAID" capability - they are very fast. - 1 Gb of fast RAM. One of the biggest causes of systems crashing and/or slowing down is insufficient RAM. - Win XP (or Win 2000) - some programs now require either one or the other. The ASUS motherboard comes with a fairly good sound module on board, as well as an ethernet connection and lots of USB ports. Good luck! You will be surprised how little all of this costs nowdays, compared to a couple of years ago!

Alan, That's the way I see it working. As an option, perhaps, the light table could be designed to take the slide list from PTE, and one would work on that, to rearrange the images, and the results would automatically be picked up in the script file for PTE so that in the next session one would start where one left off in the previous one. In other words, it would work the same way as now, where the slide list "remembers" the slide selections and order from the previous session and is used as a starting point for the next session. It would be handy if one could add slides from the various folders to either the slide list or the light table, but they would both "feed" into the PTE project file script.

I should point out that if you are using objects, and want to maintain their relative positions on the underlying image, there is a problem with the solution I indicated, even in "windowed mode". However, you can work around this by placing small empty text boxes (empty except for a "space" character to hold them open) at each corner of the image, selecting all objects, and then pressing the "Group" button.

Paul, You're welcome. Re the plain background, set background size to be as large or larger than the screen size and choose the black background. Experiment a bit to see what works best.

Alan, If the light table were incorporated into PTE, there would be no need to rename the images - just have PTE arrange them automatically in the "slide list" according to the order selected in the light table, just as we do now in making a show.

Hi, Graham, There is nothing specifically as you describe. However, if you want to come back in where you left off, it would be possible to create a smaller slide show consisting of the slides up to the point where you break away, use the feature under Project Options/Advanced "run application after last slide" (i.e. your second show). Make sure you also check "Close show after last slide" under the "Main" tab. Then have it also "run application after last slide" when it ends, where the "external application" is a third show consisting of the rest of the slides from your first show. Another way to accomplish this would be to set the slide at the breakaway point in the first show to "run external application" and set its "timing" value to a large number so that it is still on screen when one returns from the second show. Otherwise the first show will continue to play while the second one is playing. Note that all this assumes you are using the "non-synchronized" mode for at least the first show. Hope this helps.

Paul, There already is a nudge feature in the Objects window, using the arrow keys.

This is quite a wish list so far - thanks, Igor, for asking! My top 3 would be: - tabular view of all input parameters as in a spreadsheet with freedom to change any parameter in the table itself. - ability to spread the overlay sound file over more than one slide without having it cut off(critical in using PTE in a "presentation" or "tutorial" or "e-book" application). - either a light-table, or at least an option to show a thumbnail view of each slide in the slide list. In the the latter option it should be possible to toggle the thumbnail view on or off as at times one would have to be able to see as many slides in the list as possible. In the light-table option it would also be handy to be able to "preview" the show, along with music playback as well, right on the light-table, with the appropriate thumbnails being outlined or otherwise identified as the show playback progressed. This would avoid switching back and forth between timeline view and light-table view. I also agree with Tom K re the "bug" with the nav bar. The action in PTE (with respect to backing-up a show, either synched or non-synched) should be positive, not dependent on being able to react in a certain length of time.

Alan, I agree with you about the priority of beat recognition software in PTE. Personally, I find a show in which transitions occur regularly, every 8 beats or so (in the case of 4/4 music), as is commonly done, quite boring, particularly if the show is a long one. I like to mix it up a bit - even timing transitions as "counterpoints" to the main percussion in the music to add variety to the show. In fact, I like to think of transitions as a form of "percussion", either re-inforcing or adding to the existing percussion of the music, adding emphasis where required, thus integrating with the audible percussion to form a base for the rest of the music. To carry this analogy further, I am not sure that a "real" percussionist would use a timeline to lay down a drum loop. Rather, one would either listen to a metronome, or the music which had already been recorded, in order to get a feel for when additional drum beats are required. In the same way, IMHO, it would be recommended that someone laying down slide-show transitions do so while listening to the music, not watching the visual representation of an audio track. Having said this, (to use a trite phrase ), if one accepts the concept of transitions being a form of percussion, and just as waveforms are useful in audio editing (after the tracks have been laid down) to line-up or locate particular sections of the music, waveforms would have some limited use in the fine-tuning of these transitions and in selecting certain sections in which further fine adjustments are required.

I, too, agree with Ed on this. The only time I would use it would be in order to quickly go to a certain part of an mp3 selection for zeroing-in on a certain part in the music where the transitions were critical and needed some adjustment. It is sometimes easier to see where you are in a music selection by looking at the wave form, than to "feel" your way by listening to it play back. I would not use it for "dropping" the transitions onto the timeline as, like Ed, I prefer to do that while listening to the beats and then adjust afterward. However, if you feel that a "snazzy" display of the waveform would help you sell more copies of PTE, then perhaps it would be a good thing to have.

Nicole Welcome to the Forum! Buttons and other links suddenly not functioning can indicate that the links themselves have moved or changed name. I had this happen to me just this week when the file to which I was trying to link was in a different directory. In this case, you won't get an error message - simply, nothing will happen. Check your links very carefully to ensure that the files are where you think they are, and that the file names match exactly the names being used in PTE.

Isabel, You could also do as I do when we baby-sit our daughter's cat, Misha. I lower the temperature of the house, so that when it comes prowling around my pc, it climbs up on the monitor, instead of the keyboard, as it is nice and warm up there.

Rudy, Sounds like you are making progress. Don't be alarmed if things don't all come together perfectly at first. With PTE you really have to experiment and try different combinations until things start falling into place as you are finding out. Glad you found the .pte file. This is called the "project" file. When you finish putting the show together, you will want to "create" the show (also accessed from the "file" menu), and produce an executible file, or ".exe" file, which runs on other computers without the need for a special player or any other program. Good luck - don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it!

Rudy, Having the music in two separate files should not be a problem - I can run my shows equally well with two or more music files as with just one amalgamated file. Once you are able to open the timeline you will see a vertical blue bar marking the end of one file and the beginning of the next. I still don't know how you got that message from pressing the "?" button - on my system (also v 4.20) I see a rather long message giving instructions on what to expect, and how to vary the time between slide transitions. I am at a loss as to what to suggest next, other than re-installing PTE. That large slide image file could be a problem. If you email me your .pte file, I'll have a look at it for you (don't send any music or image files). Best of luck!

Rudy, The question mark just opens a general information box about setting up a synchronized show. What version of PTE are you running? Is it a registered copy? I can't seem to reproduce the notice you are getting.

Hi, Rudy, Welcome to the Forum! Have you added some music in Project Options/Music? The synch function won't work without it.

Igor, In the meantime, in addition to a feature for making global changes as Ed suggested, could you please add a statistics table which would lay out all the main selected parameters for all slides in the show, along with total times, so one could see at a glance, in spreadsheet format, where possible conflicting timing selections might occur, and be able to make changes by merely changing a number in the table? An "active" thumbnail table would be handy, too. This would set PTE far ahead of the competition as it would offer a proprietary light-table whose functions with functions tied in to the operation of the slide show itself. With the addition of these features, I could retire my "Adjustor" model and turn to development of something else.

Andrew, In my experience, repeating transitions indicate that the pc doesn't have the resources to implement the requested operations. This could be due to a number of things: - too few pc resources (speed, RAM, etc.) - existing resources shared with other running programs. - image files too large (pc can't finish operation on one image before next requested transition) - transitions over-lapping (for timeline-synched shows only) - transitions coming too close together (usually this just slows down the slide-show until the pc can catch up with the requests for changes. - conflicts with the music (not usually the case, as music playback requires very little in the way of pc resources.) Hope this helps!

Roger, There is no "setup" file, per se, except for the original download file, "ce2kmain.exe". However, if you registered it, you should have a file called "ceregkey.exe" in the folder, which you will be able to click on and install your key. You will also need to have the exact user Id and password sent to you originally by email from Syntrillium. Good luck!

Granot, Thanks for all your efforts on this utility. As you know, it's the one which I find the most useful. I will give the new version a whirl as soon as I get a chance.

Quickflicks: as Ronnie said, Premiere is very expensive. I don't use it as I don't do videos, (yet), and I find PTE has most of the features I need for slideshows. And, it wouldn't be compatible with PTE, anyway. There probably are programs more suited to making tutorials, but I like to use PTE, especially for a tutorial about PTE. Roger: I just switched over to a new pc, and had to get Cool Edit going before I could install Audition, as it is an upgrade from Cool Edit 2000. I didn't have any problem - it first loaded as a trial version, but I still have the user id and password code which came by email when I purchased the program, so was able to get it going again without any problem. By the way, Cool Edit 2000 is included on a free CD that came with the latest issue of an excellent British digital music mag called "Computer Music". Not sure how you would register it!

John, Thanks for being so patient with this, and also thanks for the kind words! It's always encouraging to receive indications that one's efforts are being appreciated. I apologize again for those who, for whatever reason, are frustrated by the model, but in this game, without the resources of Mr. Gates, it is difficult, if not impossible, to please everyone. Even Mr. Gates has trouble doing this! I do appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, however, as that is the only way to discover possible improvements to the system. Will let you know if and when I get around to version 4.0. Now, if Igor would add some of these features into PTE, then I wouldn't have to update the Adjustor model at all!