Peter Coles

My Computer system failed and I have now bought a new Computer. I have downloaded PTE 6.5 but need a key and instructions how to re-start. Your records will show that I have purchased the delux version. Peter Coles My e-mail address is peter@3-c.coop

For me, Barry, all these "technical things" are only of interest if they contributute towards better communication. Quite often I find that "technical improvements" actually detract from better communication. If some clever trick or effect makes me think "That was clever", this is an interuption in any train of thought the author may have been trying induce. Any distracton which moves my eyes from where the author may have intended them to be in the direction of this distraction removes a few "brownie points" in my judgement; it may even prevent me from reaching the natural end of such a Sequence. Peter

When I started this thread, I did not, for one moment, imagaine it would end up being this technical discussion. You know, I used to go to Camera Clubs where the discusssion was about such technical stuff, rather than about the nature of what was being produced (or in most cases not produced!), My simple question received a simple and helpful reply for which I am eternally grateful. The rest may rest in peace, as far as I am concerned !

On this last point, Brian (Harvey, I suspect!) , there have been a number of occasions when other "artists" have been invited to Judge our AV Events. I have selected a few on a number of occasions (sometimes to the annoyance of other AVers!) They do add a different perspective to the Judgement, but on the whole the results seem similar, That's not all that surprising when art matches art, but rarely does an audience vote match the Judges' vote completely. I think the best line to take is that if we feel that for some reason the Judges and the rules don't fit what we would like, then we have a choice: to take part or to not take part. On the whole I decide to take part. After all most of these Judges and Organisers have some expertise that I don't have - ............. thank God! If I had decided not to take part then I would not have the 200+ International AV Awards I currently possess. The skip would not be as full when my wife clears up after I've gone !!!!! I'm not at all certain there is a shelf for AV Trophies in "The Kingdom" - and maybe not even one waiting there, in case we ever win the Wold Cup again!

I certainly agree with your last point, Barry. "The judges are still going to see a large image on screen and any judge who marks down a great sequence because it was not as big as the preceding one should not be asked to judge again." The folk who choose Judges are not always even as sensible as Judges !!! Rarely, these days, is there a "bad" Sequence shown at any International. Judges, on the whole, seem to do their job quite well, and they seem to favour those Sequences which have used all aspects of the medium well: music, words images and transitions; in other words, getting their "message" across exceptionally well. Things which distract from such perfection are those which get lower marks. I do recall in the "bad old days" 800 x 600 Sequences being regarded as "distractions from perfection", when they did not fill the whole screen. Any screen which obviously has a set size, must have a maximum size of image and consequently a maximum number of pixels which can be seen on that screen. Of course, an excellent Sequence is still excellent if it does not quite fit the screen, but at the end of the showing of say 100 Sequences, some Sequences do seem more excellent than others. Many things can affect the judgement of such excellence and a lot of these are, of course, subjective, so no wonder Judges do get it "wrong" most of the time !!!! If we notice Judges getting it "wrong" in not selecting "our" work, eventually we don't bother entering such events and just moan that most Judges are no good get it "wrong" most of the time becuase they are not proper experts !!!! If they were really good Judges and proper experts, then you and I would win ALL the time and that would be very very boring.

I continue to be amazed at what gets added to a simple question and answer. However, being an expert at winning International AV Awards (currently well over 200 of them!), I do welcome putting myself in front of these other "experts". I accept their expertise; I play their games; I read their rules; I do approve of such things as they provide me with deadlines. I don't really take Competitions all that seriously, but when I win an Award, I treat it as some sort of bonus. Sometimes, you see, THEY do get it right !!!!!!!!!!!!! Then I approve of these 'ere experts !!!! From time to time some of these "experts" decide I am an "expert"; then I get to do what they do. I don't mind !!!! Peter

When I asked my straight-forward question. I got a straight-forward answer. (well, two actually) These were very helpful. I did not imagine that so much other stuff could be attached to the simple question and answers. "Expert's?" !!! I like the definition: "An expert is a drip under pressure" !!! Most real experts listen well and write and speak infrequently. I try to be an expert listener (and reader of the PTE wisdom on this site). Peter

Thanks, Barry. This seems to have worked OK on my computer. I expect it to be OK on projectors too , but I have yet to try this. It does seem that I do not need to make a mask. Many thanks again for the speedy replies. Peter

I have made one or two Sequences recently with the format 1920 x 1080, but they are played either on my computer which is in a 4 x 3 format or on my projector which is 1024 x 768. The pngs which form movement passing through the 1920 x 1080 frame show in the black areas above and below the letter-box frame. Can this be prevented with some button within PTE or do I need to make a black mask. If the latter is true then please advise me on the simplest way of doing so. I expect that when played on a projector 1980 x 1080 the problem does not occur but as my stuff is shown on different systems, I do need to ensure that such distractions do not appear before any audience. Also, recently I showed some 4 x 3 format Sequences, on a 1400 x 1050 projector and one or two of the frames were still 1024 x 768 within a frame of 1400 x 1050. The owner of the projector did the projections and I did not wish to appear to be very critical. The 1024 x 768 images were projected smaller than the 1400 x 1050 images, so making a bit of a mess of the whole Sequence (well for me, anyway!) Others may have drifted off by then, as no-one commented adversly afterwards !!!! Please advise. Peter Coles

Thanks, Lin. The Sequence is 3minutes 21seconds duration. It would be nice to be able to have the snow coming and going and with different "flakes sizes" to denote distance away, but I expect this may be asking too much !!! Peter

I am trying to find a way of making snow fall throughout a short Sequence. I know it has been done before, but I would like to download a "template", if this is possible to save me the bother of inventing the wheel again. Could someone point me in the right direction, please?

I enjoyed your tutorial, but if there is a template by theDom to make one by just inserting the six images, where can I find this?

Many thanks, Lin. The Sequence is in currently early embrio. When I saw your rotating earth come from behind the sun, I thought maybe that would look good fading in and out of dissolving abstracts already on the screen. And maybe I could get the whole lot to disappear into a "black hole" which appeared within these dissolving abstracts! From what I had read, but not yet experimented with, I also imagined that two PTE files could now, within PTE 5.7, interact with each other; hence my experimental desire. The whole project is also part of an ambition I have to get a long-standing AV worker back into producing worthwhile Shows. He and his wife were (are) in many ways the father and mother of AV in the UK. His original work goes back almost 50 years - mine a mere 40 !!! His original best work was with abstracts interpreting music. Mine has almost without exception always relied on the spoken word and music, together with interacting visuals. So in my imagination, I had hoped to bring all this together to produce something memorable.