JRR

Bill is changing servers, he hopes to be back up ASAP

John: We all have spent time learning to be photographers, but we forgot that sound "engineering" is equally important........

Gary: Don't forget you can use your mouse wheel to advance or reverse as well

Gary: Personally I don't use it as I think it's appearance distracts from the images which is what you are trying to present. If I want control of a show, I will do it via the mouse keys or the arrow keys which work without the graphic of the nav bar on the screen. I rarely will tell people that I have set a (synched) show up for control unless I am there delivering it as I don't want the flow of the show interrupted. I will show a presentation without interrupting it and then for particular reasons, might re-show it pausing to talk about certain slides that people might want to talk about. Even my manual shows don't have it for the same reasons of the appearance being distracting IMHO. But there are people who use it so lets hear from them too

The quick flicker of the mouse is there sometimes on PREVIEW, but I have never seen it when running "live" using either ContxaMan's method or mine.

John: While the voice over likely will need to increased in volume, don't increase to overpower the volume of the existing music track. Lower the volume of the music track when the voice over is being used. I do it using the volume control "lines" in Multi-track in Audition. Don't forget that you don't always need to mix the voice and the music into one track, you can add the voice-over snippets using the SOUND LINE on the PTE main page below the large "preview" screen. You will still need to lower the volume of the sound track and you will perhaps need to check PROJECT>OPTIONS>MUSIC> "don't interrupt sound comment when next slide appears" You won't hear the SOUND LINE track if previewing the show via the TIMELINE, but you will in the full screen PREVIEW (I've asked Igor to make a note this to be cahnged sometime in the future)

What I would do is create a one page show ("launch page" I call it ) that keeps last image on the screen. The use an object on the one page, to Launch the show you really want to show. I gussy up the launch page to suit the situtation and either launch off some text, a picture or an invisible gif file I'll try to find the reference to how to do this which I have posted before on the forum. You can e-mail me off line if you need specifics.

I have used Ed's approach many times (with a little grumbling as I fumble to get the action set right ), but I now am using Russell Brown"s Image processer 2.3 available at here Scroll down the page and you'll find it. It works as a plug-in with PhotoShop I have not tried Al's Irfanview approach, but I find Russell's easier than Ed's approach as it is all set up for me and luiddite-proof.

Roger: You are a brave man to raise the ppi (dpi) issue I did it last time, so I am glad to see that someone else did it this time Over and OUT !!!!

Ron's method is an excellent But there are always many ways to do things.... Another way is simply to create a blank/new image in your photo editing software and using the "fill", or whatever command, to make the background whatever colour you want. e.g. PhotoShop: FILE>NEW, size it as you wish and choose white or black etc and then fill with whatever colour you want it is is not white/black You could use your photo editor's text tool to create your titles. But use whatever method that you are most comfortable with.

Bethan: Did you try "Insert new slide" ?

Ken: Where do you find these ??

Robert: For what is worth, I will be loading our 2005 Supercircuit entry (with all its worts ) on Beechbrook in a few weeks. (After our Camera Club has a chance to see it) We were fortunate enough to get a crtique from two of the judges on our presentation and I will be passing that along with other info about it. Our entry of last year was a nature documentary on Turtles (It was up on Beechbrook last year). It did not do well at all....

well said Maureen

Al and his team did a GREAT job. A good time was had by all. Looking foward to next year, (and maybe breaking our record of "zero" score for this year's and last year's entry and remembering not to lie on the floor when Al has his camera in hand !! )

Brian: I think that is the way the counts have always worked. I noticed it in the older version too.

Igor just mentioined in the PTE presentations forum here that ver 5.00 will have the scaling of the Objects feature. Many of us have been waiting patiently for that, well we'll have it soon ! Thanks Igor

Igor GREAT news!!! Can you tell I have been waiting for this for a very long time ??

John: A good number of us have purchased Medwyn's music through Barry. It has proved useful for me, it is one of many sources I have used.

When using OBJECTS with a 1280x960 resolution show, I make sure the OBJECTS will look Ok by using the "PREVIEW" in the upper left hand corner of the OBJECT EDITOR screen. Igor has promised to stablize the OBJECTS with a future release

Ken: Thanks for comments. Yes it is a little long but given the target audience (senior Citizens) it will work well. People ? Do you mean that people live in Ottawa ??? Gee I never realized that !!!!!

Are all the files you are using in the root of the CD ?

Kathy: WinRAR and WinZIP when unzipping, to my knowledge, should not affect the sound track. I assume you can still hear the sound on the previously downloaded ones and you are saying that you can't hear it on the newly downloaded ones? Pls try a new and old one and confirm. Can you pick one that you did earlier and can still hear the sound track and try downloading it again

Michel: The PhotoShop work is minimal: - levels to bring left and right triangle to where bright and dark end of histogram start. Usually I underexpose slightly (old slide habit) so I just have to bring the right triangle down slightly. - curves to correct for the slight underexposure - I do NOT re-size before cropping - crop (see below) and then sharpen with NikSharpener Crop: Out of the camera, the images are 3027x2048, I crop to 1280x960 to fill my screen to the maximum. It also lets me improve my original shot somewhat. The cropping is done either on each slide individually, or by bringing two or more images into a single image in PhotoShop via layers. I line up each layer with the others to get the proper transition I want. (Lower the opacity on the one you are lining up so you can see the other one) PhotoShop's UNSHARP MASK did an acceptable job for me (with much playing of the settings), but I find NikSharpener does a better job - but I need to back it off slightly when I have a lot of detail such as grass, leaves etc etc Hope that helps PS: Appreciate your advice on RAW

Andy: Thanks for the comments and feedback. Much appreciated. The lighting designs on the buildings (our Parliament Buildings by the way) is an annual "sound and Light show" that is put on for the tourists. It is quite a feat to see what the producers can do ! Yes I have cloned an object and moved it around on another stationary object before. It does solve the problem of lining up, but it was not possible in this case (ever tried selecting a squirrel's busy tail and have it look real ? Sorry it did not work flawlessly on your computer. I made it 1280x960 as that size works well on my computer screen and I am getting ready for the next generation of digital projectors that I was assuming would be going to 1280x960 but I see they are going even larger !!!!!! I have too many shows at 800x600 !! 78mb is certainly very large for some people, but I have seen larger. The issue is the number of images and their size (Around 400kb each) Dropping the size to 1024x768, or shortening it, would give a smaller file no question about it. 14 minutes is a little long for most occasions, but it is the right length for my target audience (Senior Citizens in a retirement home) You were almost at the end when you had to leave