JRR

Charles: Welcome to the forum. I think you will enjoy the forum almost as mucg as PTE itself. In case you are not sure what Michel meant by "on Cottage" there is a site http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/ where many PTE shows and utilities are kept for downloading. It is well worth the visit. (Hope you have a hi-speed connection)

Ernst: I didn't mean my comments to be interpreted as saying where have you been on all this. Sorry, I was merely trying to bring you up to speed on the topic.

Ernst: From other posts, I gather you have been away from the forum for a while, welcome back. The feature you are asking for is one that we have asked Igor to add to his shopping list many times over the last while. It seems to come up at least 2-3 times per month. We also have asked to be able to change transition type from the TimeLine. HaroldBe, Alrobin, myself and others have likely been too repetitive in asking for this feature. Hopefully with more people asking for it, the priority for this feature being added will be moved up the line. No matter what great stuff Igor does for us, we always want more Poor guy

Martin: The adjustments to transition type and time can only be done from the Customize Slide on the main screen. We have Igor to allow us to do it from the TIME LINE. Hopefully when he gets out from all the other requests, this one might surface to the top. There are a few ways to start the preview from other than the start. If you are still in the TIME LINE screen, click PAUSE to stop, NOT STOP and then click just below the timeline where you want to start again from, you'll get a blue triangle, then click START. You can start the larger preview screen anywhere, by right clicking on the image you want to start from in the listing and you will see a START PREVIEW FROM CURRENT SLIDE CTRL+R Or you can click the "slice of bread" at the bottom right of the image preview screen (top right of the main screen) and away it will go from the slide highlinghted in the listing below. Hope this helps

Clive: Glad it all worked out. The forum is a very useful tool

Beta 4.05 was a testing version of what is now final version 4.0, so yes, you should be working with 4.0

My approach to vert vs horz might not necessarily be seen as the best. I have been teased that my camera will not work vertically. That is because I am constantly thinking "slide show" when I shoot, and unless I know I am going to do a vertical show, I shoot all the shots horizontally even though compostionally a few might be better vertically. I am willing to pay the price of a few shots not being "quite right" in the slide show for the sake of no "crossovers" I will however often shoot the same shot vertically so I have the compostionally correct shot for other purposes. So yes, I guess I can be accused of not using my absolutely best shots at times in shows , but to my mind to do otherwise can often make the slide show less than the absolute best I can. Life is full of compromises.

rwav: You have hit the keys. LESS IS MORE (especially regarding the use of transitions othere than fades or cuts. But if you have a special situtation where a "fancy" transition makes sense use it. I would add: - custom synch to music - try to have images that fade well into the other; line up matching areas, colours etc - good mix of transition times and on-screen durations - I agree with the no mixing of vertical and horizontal, but it can be handled nicely sometimes, but only have one cross over - use the KISS principle Keep it Simple and Short (I know there is another use of KISS ) - you can have colour change through the show, but do it gradually with carefully chosen images - I find digital shows are easier to match colour, brighteness etc as you can control that in PhotoShop, unlike the original slides.

Great idea !!!! Nice small shows using PTE to its limits. It would really show us less adventuresome, less experienced people just what can be done. I t then might be helpful if the secrets as to what was done was revealed to all ! I have been amazed what some people have crammed into some very small sized shows

John: I know we have asked before, but it is so strange , are you sure it is not your screen saver ? Try moving your mouse halfway though the show. Any way to do the custom synching: Add your images Add your music (PROJECT OPTIONS > MUSIC > add) To custom synch: 1. PROJECT OPTIONS > MAIN > tick on "Synchronize Slide Show to Music" 2. Click on CUSTOMIZE SYNCHRONIZATION... 3. Click on 2nd bullet from top: CUSTOMIZE SYNCHRONIZATION 4. Click on PLAY and click on "new transitions" where you want a new slide in beat with the music. Don't worry if it is not exact, you can easily adjust them later. Hope that helps

Bill: I find it very hard to cut a piece of music prematurely and not have it sound like that. (ALthough Cool Edit gives you a fighting chance with its presets). I usually just search and search until I find pieces of music that when joined together (In holy matrimony - sorry I could not resist ) add up to what I want. Or I might take out, or add, an image. But the images are what should control the show length, keep it relatively short and use only the best images, then find the music.

John: By any chance have you got an overlapping of transition and duration times. Check the gray line on the timeline. Or by chance is the image it chokes on a larger sixe (pixel or kb) than the others ?? I assume you are running off the C drive, not a CD. Hope it is that simple

Sorry Granot !!! I forgot to plug your utilities

Maderemark: What you are after is quite easy, once you know how There are likely a few ways to do it, but what I do is make a one image show. I take an image that I really like, that might be associated with the shows you want to put on the CD. I choose the PROJECT OPTION > MAIN > SHow Settings > keep last slide on screen I then put OBJECT EDITOR buttons, on the image, that are linked to each show I want to have on the CD. Create a exe file for the one image show. I load the one image exe file as well as the other shows exe's on the CD, make it an autorun CD and away you go. Obviously you can test it all in PREVIEW before loading it on the CD. Be aware that Object Editors move in relation to the image when shown at different screen resolutions Hope that is clear Have fun

Great news Igor !!! I would like to have object ediors at the end of a synched show. ( Of course I would also love to have an OBJECT EDITOR that does not move when screen resolutions are used too. Guido - the clever chap that he is - gave me a way to achieve that, but it it only works in windowed mode )

Ian: I am not sure how often I would use that option, but I can see its use. Should it not also be made a properities option for OBJECT EDITORS as well ??

Clive: I have not had the "joy" that you are experienceing (yet) 1. Were the 3 mp3's mixed to make one track? I suspect not. I have not tried shows with 3 separate musical pieces, I always mix them into one. (Audacity, Accoustica, or Cool Edit as have been mentioned many times on other threads) 2. Are the image transitions smaller in time than the durations, or do we transitions overlapping with shorter "on-screen time" ? 3. Is each MP3 spec'ed the same as the others ? 4. Are the other computers at least as powerful as yours ? PTE does take some horsepower to run particularly for fades.

Jenny: Welcome to the Forum You can use the right/left click etc. Look for that in the top third of PROJECT OPTIONS > ADVANCED Have fun with PTE, we do !!!

Alan: (from one oldie to another) Are you getting a nice smooth fade in "short" transitions such as 1-2 seconds with files that size ?? What image size (pixel dimensions are using) What are the typical computer specs ?

Jack: I must admit I have not followed all the discussion above re compression quality etc etc, as I have been very pleased with my quality of image at 800x600 jpg quality 5 from PhotoShop. Your 17 image, 2.4mb, 9 minute to download show sounds WAY out of line and not normal at all. I believe that there have been other threads in this forum that would agree. Are you using fades for transition and what duration time for the fade ?

I agree with Mike. I make my PTE images 800Wx600H or 400Wx600H, saving them as jpg's in Photoshop with a quality 5. That seems to give me nice smooth fades.

welcome to the forum bj !! I had this reply ready to go when my modem disconnected Alrobin has said essentially what I was going to say, but I'll say it anyway. There are several threads that discuss your issue, but suffice it to say that you need to get a sound mixer software. You can "paste" them together to run as you want. Recommended choices seem to be: Audacity (free download) I have not used this one, but some senior members recommend it Acoustica MP3 Audio Mixer ($25US ??) should do most of what you will ever need, very easy to use Cool Edit with Studio plug-in ($95US ?) has lots of bells and whistles that might come in handy as you progress. I have both Accoustica and Coole Edit Just do a Google search for their websites Have fun with PTE

"Object Editor" thread might help. See it at http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...ct=ST&f=2&t=369 Guido's suggestion of using a windowed mode approach has some definite benefits

Igor: With the new forum, is there a way to list all the requests for improvements to PTE that have been suggested and not implemented, and allow, somehow, the users to indicate their top three priorities. Something along the line of the voting re this forum format. I recognize that the voting might have to be done weekly as you get flooded with some many requests (give us an inch, we want a mile !! ) In the meantime, thanks for your great work and responses to requests for changes !!!!

Thanks Harold Understand your concern. In the meantime, I guess it is a case of compromising and the maker adjusting the timing factors to prevent the problem. PTE is still the best software I have seen for AV shows, but it can't be all things to all people right away.