JEB

Thanks both, But too late - the damage has been done !! I'll remember the next time - I feel sure! I was just too anxious to get started and didn't even start to think it through. Lin, you may be interested in what I am playing with as you did something similar some months ago with a protracted and overlapping zoom. I was walking down The Royal Mile in Edinburgh at 6.30 this morning (to avoid as much traffic as possible) taking images every 50 yards and have put them into a sequence using a 50% zoom. It's turned out not too bad for a first attempt but I find the alignment of the end of one zoom with the start of the following image a bit difficult to get as accurate as I would like. Still experimenting. Cheers. John

Oh, you are a clever b.... I've just spent an hour (at least) doing that same thing manually!!!!!! That's what I get for not checking the forum first thing this morning. Regards John

Hi Tom, Firstly, thank you for all the time you have taken to produce and make available these two tutorials. I find them both very enlightening. You are clearly a man with incredible patience. I refer specifically to the selection process you adopted which gave such a wonderful result in your show. I have to say I like your delivery in the tutorials. Your easy and relaxed presentation style makes it all sound very simple. However I suspect the secret is to a large extent, as ever, in the quality of the original image and specifically in working with a high resolution image. I also had the problems some folks are having in opening the tutorials, which I suspect is why you have had so few replies to date. I could not open them with Windows Media Player (still images no audio) or Quick Time (caused PC to freeze), however Real Player did open them. A free programme somebody mentioned recently on this wonderful forum, DivX Player, also opened them. I hope this information helps you and others get access to these great tutorials. Regards John

Hi Sue, Welcome to the PTE forum. That is what I call DEDICATION. Good luck and have fun. John

Hi Martin and anybody else who might be interested. The site I stumbled across and referred to in my earlier reply on further examination looks like a wonderful source of sound tracks. Well worth exploring I would suggest. The following is an extract from their "ABOUT US" What is Soundsnap? Soundsnap is the best platform to find and share free sound effects and loops- legally. It is a collection of original sounds made or recorded by its users, and not songs or sound FX found on commercial libraries or sample CD's. It was originally started by a small group of sound people from all over the world. Our common belief is that sounds and samples should be free for everyone to use in their projects, commercial or not. Our users are a diverse mix of sound designers, sound artists, web game developers, filmmakers and music producers. Hobbyists and home video makers are welcome too. What Soundsnap is NOT: * An alternative to Myspace, Limewire or BitTorrent. * A place to upload your band's songs or your favourite mp3's. Soundsnap is only for sound effects and loops. * A place you can upload or find sounds from commercial libraries. All sounds here are original- made or recorded by its users. We encourage everyone to upload high quality sound FX and samples, helping us make every kind of sound available on Soundsnap. We are looking for feedback from the community to constantly improve, and we depend on our users for that. So please feel free to leave a recommendation or feedback in the special section of our forum. I hope you enjoy your time here and Happy Snapping! Tasos Frantzolas Soundsnap Founder Good Luck John

Hi Martin, Try this. Found on Google search. http://www.soundsnap.com/node/57062 John

Hi Stuart, I think you'll find your images are FAR TOO BIG. 200kbit would be nearer the mark, unless you are panning or zooming. Regards John P.S. I envy your trip to Nepal. I was in the Langtang Valley several years ago and as it happens at that time I was just getting into photography and starting to play with digital. I only had a 35mm film camera and at that time Kodak were offering a new service where they supplied digital files on a CD from film. They managed to screw up magnificently but that's another story. The message is that each file was about 5-700 kbit. as I remember, no use for prints but ideal for producing an AV. In my ignorance I was using PowerPoint at that time but have since redone my show in PTE. Sorry about that - just ranting on over old memories!!

Peter, I agree with what you say. However, if you want to make slightly different changes to each slide then you can't do it that way. I have for instance, just this afternoon, had to take 160ms off each of 25 slides all of which have different timings. A minor pain which would have been lessened had this facility been available. Regards John P.S. - This, and my related post, are not criticisms of PTE, simply suggestions that could make it smoother in operation, perhaps with little effort (says he who hasn't a clue as to what would be involved!!).

Hi, Yes I agree. It's another little niggle I have found. Just to clarify I take it you mean to "arrow through" slides with the dialog box open in both Slide View and in O&A view. I believe that these relatively minor changes can make a great difference to user satisfaction. Particularly for new users. Regards John

Hi Barry & Dave, I take on board and understand and use the methods you describe. Perhaps I have not made my point clear. My problem is when, as I often do, have a number of "text" items on the one slide all appearing and disappearing at different times there seem to me to be a lot of "unnecessary" things to be done manually which I think could be done automatically by the system. (text naming, tab selection, clicking in test boxes etc.). It's not a BIG issue but something that I think would make the process simpler and more user (perhaps just me!) friendly. As I say I'm just surprised others have not had similar thoughts. Regards John P.S. - When do you depart these shores Barry?

Hi Folks, I’m mildly surprised that this post has not attracted more comment. I have acknowledged Lyn’s response, however, I would like to add a further related issue. When in either Animation or Common Tab and the “Text” symbol is activated would it not be beneficial if O&A switched automatically to the Properties Tab to permit a more convenient opportunity to enter the desired text? Indeed why can’t the text box be instantly active on the activation of the “Text” symbol by placing the cursor directly into the text box and enable input instantly from the keyboard? Just to tidy up this post the following are my original points. Something I would like to see in the future is to have say the first 10 characters of a "text" item entered in the "Text" box in the Properties tab, being automatically entered in the "Name" box of the "Common" Tab. This would both save time but also confusion when you inadvertently forget till you notice several "text" objects in the Objects box. Any automatic naming should of course be able to be over written. Hope that's clear!! Another enhancement that I think would be appreciated would be the ability to select a text size that can be applied over selected slides. I’m surprised that others don’t find this an irritation. To be fair it is only an irritation but it’s beginning to get to me!! Regards John

Tom, I thoroughly enjoyed that. Thanks for letting us see it. I'm intrigued as to how you cut out the penny-farthing. I assume it ended up as a PNG file but what process did you use for the selection? John

Hi Kess, Yachtsman1 is absolutely right the best way is to use a programme like Audasity to edit your music into suitable lengths to match your images. It is all a question of matching images and the music together in a way that each enhances the other. This can be a lengthy process, depending on your determination to get it right to your satisfaction. Many people spend hours researching and editing music. Horses for courses! I suspect from what you have said that at this stage in your involvement you are happy simply to have the three pieces of music play one after the other, each piece synchronized to a group of slides. I don't know how long each piece of music is or how long each sequence is but I presume you are happy that they either match or can be made to match by editing your show in the Time Line. I would be tempted therefore to suggest that you enter all three pieces of music, in order, into the music tab of Project Options then view the Waveform which will also show the slide numbers in relation to the waveform. It is then a question of moving the slides along the Waveform adjusting their length to match the individual section. Almost certainly it will be obvious by looking at the waveform graphic where each new piece of music starts and ends. Good luck. But for the future have a look at Audacity (another learning curve I'm afraid) it will be worth it if you plan to develop this area. John

Freebird, Sorry I was not able to bring you good news earlier. There may be one option that could cost you nothing that is if you have Windows XP and no doubt Vista will have at least as good an option. I am referring to Windows Movie Maker which is hidden in XP. Go to START/All progs/ Accessories/Entertainment and you will find it there. It is quite basic but also quite clever in that it allows you to mix video clips and stills with audio and allows you to insert titles etc. The down side is that it plays through Windows Media player which is low res. It may me worth a play - and its FREE!! Regards John PS It has quite a good help function.

Hi, As far as I am aware the answer is that it can't be done if afraid. PTE does not at this point in time enable this. There is at least one work around, as I understand it, but it is VERY labour intensive and requires a LOT of skill and time and from what I recall having seen not worth the effort. I won't go into the reasons for this as it would require some technical knowledge which I barely understand myself. Sorry, John

Sorry Folks, I thought I would try moving a group of slides within the slide list and that worked. I then reverted back to the full screen (light box) view and it worked!! Old age doesn't come on its own !!! John

Hi, Perhaps I have got this wrong but I thought that in earlier versions it was possible to select multiple slides in the light box and move them as a block to another position. In my (I'm sure the latest) version of 5.5 I can select in the usual ways but when I drag, only the first slide moves to the new location. Clearly this means that only one slide can be moved at a time not a limitation I was aware of in earlier versions but I have been wrong before!!! Views please John

Steve, Frank, Thank you both for your responses. I feel I have got some sort of handle on this now and am due you some sort of feed back. I took your advice and used a 500% zoom over four 20 second slides. 1. Perspective/Linear 2. No Perspective/Linear 3. No Perspective/Custom/Smooth 4. Perspective/Custom/Smooth 3. would probably be my normal first choice and will, as you suggest Steve, remain so when stopping starting and panning. 1. will now become my preferred starting point for a standard slow zoom as it simulates the characteristics of 3. 4. this was interesting and in this instance quite attractive in that it gave an extremely slow take off and gentle stop. Horses for courses I suppose. Thanks again John

Thanks Frank, Yes, I understand and am aware of linear and custom zoom, it is the Perspective correction I am trying to get my head round. I think I have an image similar to your suggestion so will dig it out and have a play. Thanks in anticipation. John

Hi Folk, I have been playing about with this over some long slow zooms and can't say that I notice that it does anything. I have used various custom and linear zooms, separated and glued and notice no difference. What am I missing and perhaps more importantly what should I be looking for?? Any suggestions as to how I could create a before and after illustration would be appreciated. I am using a relatively high res image of an ornament though for the project I have in mind I would be using a much higher res image. Regards John

Hi Lin, I can't see the wood for the trees!! I thought there must be a better way and indeed now that I think about it I may well have used this method in the past. I think my feelings are however, that it would be nice if it could be achieved a little bit simpler than this method, which could be said to be a bit of a work around. I certainly would like to see my first point, regarding the automatic naming of a text item to be considered for the future. Perhaps I'm the only person who gets carried away with himself when putting a complex sequence together and forgets to name the object as I go along. I've just had a look at a chart (Hermann Brain Dominance Theory) posted on a thread here some time ago which took my fancy and has been stuck on my wall ever since. It positions me (an ex-salesperson) firmly in the right brain quadrant 3 and describes my type of person as - "Flakes, not practical, unpredictable and sloppy"!! Oh well - who cares, I'm having fun even if I do cause myself pain from time to time. Regards and thanks. John

Hi, This may well have come up before so please forgive me if it has. Something I would like to see in the future is to have say the first 10 characters of a "text" item entered in the "Text" box in the Properties tab, being automatically entered in the "Name" box of the "Common" Tab. This would both save time but also confusion when you inadvertently forget till you notice several "text" objects in the Objects box. Any automatic naming should of course be able to be over written. Hope that's clear!! Another enhancement that I think would be appreciated would be the ability to select a text size that can be applied over selected slides. This would eliminate the guesswork and the use of the zoom tool as is the case at present. The introduction of the grid has helped greatly but its still a bind. I would welcome any comments. Perhaps its all possible at the moment and I'm missing something - it has been known!!! Regards John

Hi, How about Digital Audio Photographic Presentation (DAPP)? John

Hi, Now that 5.5 has come to the end of its beta stage and about to be launched in its fully finished state I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Igor and his team for all there hard work and dedication. However, I would also like to thank all you folks on this thread and elsewhere who have contributed to the testing process. Without your efforts on our behalf the process would have been endless. Thank you all. John.

Mark, Thank you for sharing your show with us. I thought I would just have it on in the background while doing other things but found myself fixed to the screen. I felt I could almost touch and sense the place - fantastic. I don't know if I will ever make it there but you have just raised the stakes as it were. I'll leave the wife but take a tripod! John