Lin Evans

Gary, The audio formats supported by PTE are MP3, WAV, OGG, and WMA. AAC (advanced audio coding) is not a supported format. Lin

Hi Jenny, I have downloaded and played your show. I believe the problems you are having are because you are approaching the limits of size for an executable show running under a 32 bit program and operating system. This puts a pretty big load on the operating system for doing previews and starting and stopping the show so some delay is normal because when you begin at a particular slide, PTE will automatically begin the show at the transition from the previous slide. The absolute file size limit is about 2 gigabytes but part of this limit is being used by the operating system so in reality when a show reaches close to 1.7 gigabytes in size, things get rather dicy. When you create the exe file, use the "Create safe file for the internet" feature which will make the data file carry the majority of the data and the exe portion smaller. When a file is zipped, unfortunately styles are not included and I am missing whichever style you used for slides 29 through 39 but that didn't keep the show from running - just gave me the error messages as the slides were rotating in and out. One suggestion I have is adding another blank slide to the end of the show without text for a short duration of perhaps four seconds and fading out the audio track at that point. You can do that by clicking on the red line timeline to place a keframe at the beginning of this blank slide and then clicking once again near the very end of this blank slide and dragging the second keyframe down as far as it will go which will effectively fade out the sound track so it doesn't end abruptly. The sound is good and I'm assuming you did want the background sound tracks to continue while the audio from the video clips were playing. You can diminish the volume of the background sound track by simply using the keframe method as described to end your sound track. Then when the audio from the video ends, you can keyframe the volume of the background back up as desired. In all, the show is quite good and you have done a really good job with using the software. Best regards, Lin.

Hi Michael, It's not about downloading a video - I already can do that from Vimeo or anywhere else for that matter. It's about downloading or uploading a PTE zipped archive. Vimeo like YouTube or other media site isn't designed as an upload download files site AFAIK... Best regards, Lin

Hi Jenny, There is no way to download a zipped file from Vimeo - I would suggest using something like this: https://www.mediafire.com/ Remember use "File" "Create backup in zip" - doing this will place all necessary files in the zipped archive so we can see where the problem is... Best regards, Lin

Hi Jenny, Perhaps there are things which you have not yet learned about the sound tracks. First, if you stop an audio and want it to resume, for example, after a video has played, you need to "start" (set the start time) the video at the precise time you stopped it but you also need to set the "offset" time to the end of the video time. By using a combination of start time (where, in terms of time, into the audio track you hear sound) and ofset (what actual time along the timeline where you wish this start time to begin) you can accurately adjust the sound track. If you could zip up your project (use "File" "create backup in zip") upload it to a file sharing site and provide a link, I will be glad to help you get it the way you want it to be. Best regards, Lin

Sorry, but we have to disagree on this. Saying "drop in a video in the "project" does not imply only dropping a video into the slide list. The "Project" implies any place in the slideshow. Dropping a video into the "project" could mean dropping it into a slide as another object or putting it in as the entire content of the slide. We must be precise in our language or it will cause this type of confusion. Best regards, Lin

Hi Claudio, Perhaps this link can clarify for you: https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/memory-limits-applications-windows/ Best regards, Lin

"Greetings, I used the 'Adjust Time Range' to change the speed of a video to achieve slow motion by changing it from 100% to 50%. The video does slow down but the new duration (doubled) is not automatically changed for the video in the Timeline. Should changing the 'Speed' of a video in the 'Adjust Time Range' function automatically adjust the duration of the video to the new duration in the Timeline? Gary" Above is the original post which said nothing about a "single slide holding a single video clip" so actually, the discussion is quite relevant I think. If the slide time is automatically changed for one video clip and there are multiple video clips as objects it can't be assumed that the user intended that changing the slide time to correspond to one of many clips is intended to happen. To assume that would be presumptuous and would possibly disrupt the entire intent. Nobody knows apriori whether the user wants the entire time span of the slide to be changed just because they want one of the video clips to be played at other than the original speed. No one should assume that because one of numerous video clips in a slide is changed in speed that that entire video clip is intended to play from beginning to end. The only time that such an assumption is logical is if the single video clip is reflected in the slide list and not only one of many objects in the Object's List. Best regards, Lin

HI Guys, I suspect part of the confusion which appears here is because there isn't a clear understanding by everyone of what the word "slide" actually means. We often use the term "slide" synonymously with image which though in the sense of the old audio visual shows where transparencies were common is correct, but in the present sense of PicturesToExe a "slide" is a container which might contain even hundreds of images, numerous videos and other "objects" which I believe is where the confusion arises. JT is correct that having a "slide" time absolutely correspond to the length of a video is incorrect. This situation is correct if and only if the video is represented on the slide list and not just as an object in Objects and Animations. Tonton and JT are correct that multiple videos may well be a part of a slide so changing the length of one of these videos should not arbitrarily change the slide time. Having an optional check box would be a solution but it seems that in reality it is an extra step which would only really apply to the case where, IMHO, a video is found on the slide list. It's a minor task when one elects to change the speed of a video to other than the original to adjust the slide time accordingly if that video appears on the slide list. Best regards, Lin

Hi Sami, Yes, the slats for the styles must be of a regular rectangular shape to function properly. Irregular shapes are more difficult to create and would require different techniques to use in a style creation. The regular rectangular shapes can be created in various ways using PTE or Photoshop or other editing software. If you wish to make styles this way perhaps the quickest and easiest way to create them is with a freeware product called "Photoscape" which has many great features including one called "splitter" which quickly and accurately can divide an image into horizontal or vertical sections in numerous ways. Here's a link if you want to explore the possibilities: https://photoscape.en.softonic.com/download Best regards, Lin

No Gary - the description is correct - not reversed... See video below:

Hi Gary, The only differences you are seeing are the description of the master and bordered internal image control frame which are irrelevant. The "bloat" had to do with two png images which were unused but carried in the code and could not be seen by the user. The styles, bloated or not, have no effect on PTE. PTE "reads" the information in the styles just as it reads information you give it when you create a slide. Styles do not change PTE in any way so there is no possibility of a style "corrupting" PicturesToExe. When I created the video I was using the 3:2 aspect ratio style which has slightly different descriptions of the Master and Inner image controlling frames than the 16:9 version even though they are functionally identical other than being useful for different aspect ratios. I would suggest deleting both styles then downloading them again from the links above. The present compact (with the two png images removed) 3:2 style will say "Master Control Frame" and "Windowed Image Control Frame". The 16:9 style will say "Master Control Frame" and "Inner Image Control Frame" in the descriptions. Best regards, Lin

I finally solved the problem by removing all existing PTE code from the registry and reinstalling. Apparently PTE 9 was picking up some obscure reference to a template somewhere. I changed the default template storage to something easier and quicker to find and did a thorough search and there is no longer a reference to these two files. I do have beta versions but they are not being associated. Who knows... Best regards, Lin

Yes, even with only a blank and attempt to save it's still looking for both the mystery files even though it only references one. If I look in the PTE file both are referenced. I though perhaps that PTE was using an alternate template but in checking this I discovered that PTE 9 on my system would not use any of the other templates (the other two templates appear to have been referenced from PTE 8 since I've never created a template for 9). Lin

Hi Dave, No, can't get passed the error. I opened the PTE file in my hex editor and the reference is there so obviously wherever the PTE file is getting the information is where the referenced file is being sourced. I'm systematically going through all the dll's and files in the PTE 9 code to see if I can find this reference, but so far drawing a blank. Lin

I've installed and uninstalled Version 9 multiple times and have an issue I can't seem to resolve on one of my systems. I had a couple PNG images which kept embedding themselves in my styles. I deleted these and again created my styles and there were no problems with size bloat and no reference any longer. A hex editor search showed that they were no longer being referenced in the style code. Now, after installing PTE 9.09 multiple times, each time I attempt to create an executable file, I get a message that one of these two files is missing. Somehow, PTE 9 keeps looking for a file which has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Any suggestions? Thanks, Lin

Gary, there were two images embedded unintentionally in my two border styles. You may want to try and download the corrected styles from the same link and see if you still get the errors... Best regards, Lin

Later - I stand corrected... It does work, at least for the border style - can't say for certain about other types..... The style description comment and/or the style name should indicate whether for video or for still images. I can't speak for the development team, but if you attempt to apply a still image style to a video you "should" immediately get an error message. Styles use the same menu as used when the style was created. The user can't find a video when they choose "add image" and they can't find a still image when they choose "add video." So if the style is trying to find the wrong type of image it's not going to work. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, Strange - once before I remember seeing those two files where I didn't expect them. It must be something really strange... I'll try an uninstall, reinstall of my PTE 9 and see it that helps. No, all the styles are not bloated but I found several which were. I'm checking with my hex editor now to see and have found several which are but most are not. Unfortunately I can't deconstruct with my hex editor so can't safely remove the bloat. Really strange to find the same two files in other places where they should not be... L

Yep, a totally new project each time - just made a video of the entire process...Uploading the video to youtube now - will embed shortly Maybe if you tell me the names of the extra jpgs you're finding I can figure out what's happening? test sixteen to 9.ptestyle

Interestingly, I have created the same styles from scratch multiple times and still end up with 1.88 mb... To create, I use a single jpg 6000x4000 in one case and 1920x1080 in the other. I can't imagine where extra jpg's might be coming from. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, I was wondering why the excessive size myself. I'm not certain either why it happens. The styles haven't been modified since they were created but I'm going to experiment. It may be relative to the size of the original PNG border files which don't need to be as large as they were created for something as simple as a border. I'll experiment with that aspect and see if it is relative. Best regards, Lin

Cool transition Dave !!! Lin

Hi Claudio, When you create an exe file with a 32 bit system the absolute limitation is 2 gigabytes. It's not specific to the software but to the operating system and hardware limitations. Video size can be greater but not executable code. So yes, PTE like any other 32 bit system is limited to 2 gb for executable files. Perhaps in the future on 64 bit systems it may be possible to create larger than 2 gigabyte executable files. If your executable file is nearing 2 gigabytes in size I would suggest using the "safe for internet" feature which produces a much smaller executable kernel with a secondary data file. Best regards, Lin

HI Gary, We'll have to wait until Igor gets back - he has a Windows 10 system and he can check it. He will probably want to be able to read the exception error unless it also happens on his system so it might be a good idea to screen capture those error messages - they passed too quickly for me to read. Best regards, Lin