Lin Evans

Jill, it works fine for me - I can copy multiple slides by selecting them then right clicking, choosing copy then clicking to the far right of the slides in the slide list and chosing paste from the same menu... What version of Windows are you running? What happens if you use CTRL C, CTRL V? Best regards, Lin

Guys, Let me try to explain this as I see it. Consider that an image remains rather than a black background while the foreground which may indeed cover the entire screen does virtually ANY animation from page curl to 3D flips or whatever. Substitute the normal black, blank screen with an image of choice which remains regardless of animation of image(s) in layer(s) above. Consider the behavior of a master movie as a background with linked videos as background for each slide. If a simple fade transition is used, the video background persists. On the other hand, if a page curl or 3D transition is used, the background movie goes with it. Now consider a scenario where the background movie did not change but indeed replaced the blank, black screen while everything else worked as expected. I "think" this is what FX is looking for, but with a still image rather than the movie... Best regards, Lin

You're certainly welcome! I look forward to seeing your show Robert!! Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, Yes, the actual quality is better on mp4 videos and the file size is smaller too. I can't provide all the details but several have commented on this. There is also the choice of creating an HTML5 video with version 9 and some of the other effects are outstanding such as greatly improved features with styles. The addition of "modifiers" for animation add a tremendous amount to versatility as well. In all, it's a powerful upgrade for a very reasonable charge I think. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, You may also do that in version 8. Go to "Properties" then "Start Time" and you will find "speed" as an option which is defaulted to 100%.. Best regards, Lin

"To Err is Human - To Forgive Divine" We who never make mistakes forgive you! LOL Best regards, Lin

No big deal Dave - just a download and replace. The little white border error wasn't a big deal IMHO but it's perfect now... Thanks, Lin

Hi Frans, Thanks! Glad to do what I can.. Best regards, Lin

Ghulya, If you like Proshow that much, why not use it? You really think Proshow's text is stellar? I use it and I find it to be anything but. Try to use Proshow to create text circling a spinning Earth... Try to create a 3D text effect on a rotating cube - oh wait - you can't make a rotating cube or 3D text ... sorry about that. How about using Proshow to have multiple audio tracks? Oh wait, you can't do that either. hmmm - perhaps not so great after all... Lin

Hi Georges, Thanks!! Glad you find it useful !! Best regards, Lin

Use the freeware Audacity. Load it as an MP3 then export as an mp3. Obviously there is something which is causing it to loop and exporting to resave will most likely correct the glitch. If that doesn't work - post it with a link and we will have a look.... Best regards, Lin

Thanks Mary, Hopefully it will be of some use... Best regards. Lin

Hi George, No, it's the other way around. Slide styles created in version 9 are not backwardly compatible with version 8. Slide styles created in version 8 should work fine in version 9... Best regards, Lin

Hi George, Give me a bit of time - perhaps a day - and I will try to find tutorials which will show you how to do those particular effects. It's actually a "spider" walking on the rotating globe. The spinning "Earth" concept with PTE began many, many years ago when I took over 600 separate PNG images of a Earth globe each with a slightly different rotation view and combined them in PTE by sequential position into a smoothly rotating globe. This was long before PTE had video capabilities. After video was included, it became much easier and faster to simply use videos of Earth spinning on its axis. Many of these I created using the freeware program called Celestia which allows the user to create videos of Earth in rotation complete with atmosphere etc. Google Celestia and you will be able to download it. When masking and the hierarchical parent/child relationship became available with PTE it was very easy to isolate only the rotating Earth by using a circular mask so that by moving Earth and the mask simultaneously as children of an invisible frame, one could create a number of different celestial simulations. Now Photoshop with 3D capabilities allows creating other rotating planets, etc., so that myriad simulations are easily created. As PTE continued to evolve, chroma key (green screen) extraction became possible. The walking "spider" on the rotating Earth is a chroma key extraction of a green screen walking spider video overlaid on the rotating Earth with the timing of the spider's motion adjusted with PTE's video speed capabilities to match the background music beat. The words "PicturesToExe" circling the rotating Earth was done a numher of years ago after Dave Gould began experimenting with using invisible parent frames to allow precise positioning of individual text letters. You can thank Dave for that contribution to various effects such as the recent "wavy text" done by Manuel (MUR). Perhaps Dave has an old project he could contribute to demonstrate how the revolving text was accomplished? Best regards, Lin

You might start with the tutorials section of this forum. There you can learn how to create effects and use different tools to include in your slideshows. It's not something which is necessarily quickly learned but "styles" have allowed those who have developed skills in creating special effects to share them with those who are just learning. Best regards, Lin

Thanks guys - see modification to my first text above. I created a linked blank spine without words so non-English use could be facilitated. For non English use, just download the zipped PNG file and modify the spine with your own choice of words - fonts, etc., then after applying the style, substitute the downloaded and modified png file containing your own language for the one named "bookspine" found under Frame2 in the second and third images and export the results under a new style name. Also, you may also simply modify the text as you choose on image one where it currently says "Our Wedding" to customize the style for any desired language. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Sure - if you can do a file, create backup in zip so that all necessary files will be included then post a link to the zip file, I'll take a look and see if I can help you sort it out. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mike, Could it be that you are trying to open a version of a slideshow created with an earlier version of PTE with the button in version 9? If so, that won't work but you could use "run application" or rebuild the older exe with version 9 then it would work. I've just tested and it seems to work correctly for me. If you could give us some specifics, perhaps we can iron out where the problem lies? Best regards, Lin

Unfortunately it's not possible to get the audio output until the video has be been added as an audio file. Of course it's possible to just create a temporary project, add the video, export the audio track to either a WAV or MP3 then erase the project. Best regards, Lin

Wedding Style For Versions 8 and 9 - Opens and Closes 3D Wedding Book - Requires 3 Slides - Creates 8 Slides And User Can Add Any Number Of Additional Slides, Transition, Styles Etc... Video and RTF Tutorials. The RTF Tutorials Are In English, French, German, Spanish and Russian. Google Translate So May Need Some Revision By Native Speakers: The demo shows the opening of the wedding book with the first image coming out of the book to fill the display area. The second image is part of the style then other styles and transitions are used in the demo until the last image which goes back into the wedding book and the cover closes. Just a sample of how it works. http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/English.rtf http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/French.rtf http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/German.rtf http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/Spanish.rtf http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/Russian.rtf http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/polish.rtf http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/weddingstyledemopc.zip (Windows Demo Zipped Exe) about 60 meg download http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/weddingstyletutorial.zip (video tutorial - about 275 meg zipped mp4 video tutorial) Lin's Wedding Style for PTE 8.ptestyle Lin's PTE Wedding Style V9.ptestyle For non-English use, the Book Spine which says "Our Wedding" is furnished also here with no words so that it's possible to replace these words with appropriate words in different languages. Also, in the first image of the flowers which also says "Our Wedding" the text can be easily replaced with your choice of words in the appropriate language. Unzip the linked file below, apply the style using three images, put text desired on zipped spine png file below, then substitute where you find "bookspine" in images two and three and export the style under a new name. http://www.lin-evans.org/tutorial/bookspinenonenglish.zip Lin

Hi Gary, That's what I was explaining in my earlier post to you about not really "extracting" the audio. Yes, the video must be added as an audio before there will be any audio from that video on the timeline and there must be audio on the timeline before it can be copied and exported as a WAV or MP3. But if you intend to export only the audio from a video, there must be no other audio tracks or they too will be included in the WAV or MP3. Best regards, Lin

Hi JT, I think perhaps there is some confusion about what PTE can do with audio from a video. In version 9, If you simply mute the video of an audio and choose from the "Files of Type" two choices (audio files - video files) video files, then PTE simply uses the audio from the video to allow waveform manipulations on the timeline. On the other hand, if from the timeline you click on the three bars to elicit the menu, you have a choice of exporting the soundtrack to either a WAV or MP3 file. As long as the audio of a video plays correctly in PTE, the way I understand it is that PTE will indeed export the audio to a separate and stand-alone WAV or MP3 file.This audio is "copied" rather than extracted because the audio remains with the video file but it is available then as a separate stand-alone audio file. Best regards, Lin

Would you then handle the muting of the video or just be using PTE as a way of extracting audio from a video? The feature to "add" the audio of a video as an MP3 to the timeline isn't really designed for the express purpose of extracting the audio from the video file, even though it can be done, it's designed to replace the sound from a video with an MP3 version which can be edited in the timeline. But to make this work you have to also mute the video or you will have it playing simultaneously from the video and from the MP3. To make a stand-alone mp3 or wav of the audio from the video you would need to only add the video to your slideshow and no other sound. This is sort of a kludge way using PTE to create an MP3 or WAV file from your video though it can be done. Best regards, Lin

HI Judy, I've heard good things about Zoom microphones but I have no personal experience with them. I've tried a half dozen different types and brands over the years and I've found the Blue Snowball to be an excellent performer and priced right. Perhaps there is a Zoom model which is similar... Best regards, Lin

You might want to check this microphone - I use this microphone and find it to be a superior choice at a very reasonable price... (Blue Snowball) http://www.bluemic.com/products/snowball/ Best regards, Lin