Lin Evans

Good reason to not get an iPad. I bought a really nice Lenovo which runs either as a pad or has a detachable keyboard and I use a bluetooth mouse when I want to avoid swiping. It runs over 15 hours on a battery charge and charges quickly. It runs real Win 8.1 and has 32 gig internal memory plus an expansion slot where you can put a 64 gig micro SD. Just plunk the micro sd in the provided adapter, put it in your card reader and put anything you want on - even exe files and they run perfectly at high resolution. I can't support Apple because they make everything difficult with lack of IO... Lin

Hi Jeff, I received an email from Igor, he will address this Monday..... Best regards, Lin

Ray, if it doesn't have any input/output connects, the best way you will be able to do this is to upload your mp4 to some website or to a social media site then download it from there either directly or via a browser. I believe this is an app for it.... https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/video-downloader-download/id576731399?mt=8 Best regards, Lin

Hi Jeff, Could it be possible that it's being read from your browser cache? If you can post the name of one you deleted, I'll be glad to check and see if I can still see it... PM me.. Best regards, Lin

Thanks for the poignant reminder Terry, Best regards, Lin

Hi John, It's a feature not used by very many PTE users which is probably one reason why it's defaulted to off, but not the primary reason. For example, people frequently use frames, etc., as an invisible means of calling some action by mouse click. When Transparent to Selection is "on" for this object this feature would be defeated. Sometimes people confuse "Transparent to Selection" with "Ignore Objects Not Selected" which can be controlled via "Settings" "Preferences" "Editor". The problem with having "Transparent to Selection" on as a default is how does one then determine which object is to be transparent to selection?? If it's on as a default then all objects would have to be transparent to selection and that would make a serious mess I think. If you read the user guide on "Selection" it explains that this feature makes the object it is set for transparent or invisible to the selection mouse click. So for example if a frame covers a button, the button can be selected by mouse click even though it is covered by the other object. If the default were that everything were transparent to selection, one wouldn't be able to use any of the "click on this object and elicit some response" features. Are you certain you are not confusing this feature with "Ignore Objects Not Selected?" Best regards, Lin

Hi John, It's a feature not used by very many PTE users which is probably one reason why it's defaulted to off, but not the primary reason. For example, people frequently use frames, etc., as an invisible means of calling some action by mouse click. When Transparent to Selection is "on" for this object this feature would be defeated. Sometimes people confuse "Transparent to Selection" with "Ignore Objects Not Selected" which can be controlled via "Settings" "Preferences" "Editor". The problem with having "Transparent to Selection" on as a default is how does one then determine which object is to be transparent to selection?? If it's on as a default then all objects would have to be transparent to selection and that would make a serious mess I think. If you read the user guide on "Selection" it explains that this feature makes the object it is set for transparent or invisible to the selection mouse click. So for example if a frame covers a button, the button can be selected by mouse click even though it is covered by the other object. If the default were that everything were transparent to selection, one wouldn't be able to use any of the "click on this object and elicit some response" features. Are you certain you are not confusing this feature with "Ignore Objects Not Selected?" Best regards, Lin

There are presently teachers and professors using PTE in academic institutions so perhaps not as much reluctance there as in big business where PowerPoint rules. But there are good reasons why this venue is not a completely improbable market for expansion in the future. Who knows which direction PTE may take in terms of file format in the future. Also there are many presentation possibilities beyond large business and university level academic institutions such as elementary education. Apple made their stock in trade by infesting schools early on with their products and those children grew into the present generation and kept their interest in Apple because it's what they grew up with. But if there is any interest at all in exploring this potential market, then care must be taken about what features to keep and which to lose I think. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, In short, no. It's not the same or even similar. For example let's say I have a picture with 30 people or a map with multiple locations and I want to pop up either a name or perhaps a picture of this area on the map. With the existing feature it's extremely easy to just put a small frame over the landmark on the map or surrounding the head of each person in the picture. Then click on that area on the map or on the head of the person and have the ID or photo appear. Click again and it goes away. No need for having 30 or more executable files which each add a substantial amount of overall resource load. It's really a great feature which is really helpful to people doing presentations and can't really be replaced by run slideshow with return... Doing it with run slideshow would, in a word be a kludge solution. Best regards, Lin

I think before a decision is made on whether or not to remove this feature - developers should consider the future direction of PicturesToExe. If it is to be primarily marketed only as a tool for the audio visual enthusiast, photographer, etc., then having this feature is not of compelling importance. On the other hand, if there is any inclination to expand PTE into the presentation tool arena, then it may not be a good idea to remove it because it serves a very valuable purpose in that regard. Primarily, PTE lacks an ability to comfortably deal with text to make it competitive in many venues to products like PowerPoint. It alows the user to perform sophisticated manipulation of objects, audio, video and still images in ways which PowerPoint can't do or does poorly. If better text handling were incorporated, I believe a real tangible expansion market exists especially in educational institutions where a number of teachers, professors, etc., are presently using it successfully even with the limitations. If this feature is removed, then its usefulness for this venu is substantially reduced or even eliminated. So the question must be asked about the future direction for PicturesToExe? Do the developers want to concentrate on the present market or perhaps enhance the opportunities to move into new markets? Best regards, Lin

I use the feature to pop-up names of people in a group when an invisible frame over the head of the individual is mouse clicked, but as you say, it's a rarely used feature and one could always run an older version of PTE if that particular feature is needed. I would say that probably it would be fine to eliminate this feature on a new version of PTE as long as users have access to older versions if they find it necessary. Lin

Hi Tom - see your PM - some information about RGBA... In addition to the software I suggest you need to download a free CODEC HuffYUV which supports RGBA AVI format. I think you can download it here: http://www.videohelp.com/software/HuffYUV Best regards, Lin

LOL - don't know if witches do tattoos or not? L

Sometimes when there's nothing much to do - two weeks of rain and bad weather - fantasy takes over and I am compelled to play. This the result of an afternoon of musing over warriors, witches, dragons and mystery... LOL http://www.lin-evans.org/fantasy/mylatestfolly3.zip (about 83 meg zipped mp4 video) Lin

Hi Manuel, Very innovative !!! Nice... Best regards, Lin

Eric, Use your search engine: http://camstudio.org/ Lin

It sound like Camtasia Studio is the "cat's meow" for you then Eric - unfortunately it won't work for my purposes... Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, It's definitely a great bargain for what it does. I have HyperSnap ver 7.27 and Snagit 10.0.1 and I've been upgrading on a regular basis for both for a number of years. I found features in each that I liked but Snagit was having problems with capturing long screen scrolls and I found HyperSnap better for that. Then HyperSnap began having issues with it as well as websites began changing their programming. I'm hoping that FastoneCapture will replace the other two in functionality... Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, Had you actually read my posts you would not be beating a straw man right now. I have said repeatedly that what I am trying to achieve is the capture of PTE's 60fps animations smoothly with a screen capture tool. I have said repeatedly that FastoneCapture's maximum frame rate is 25 fps. Camtasia can't handle the animations smoothly. FastoneCapture can handle the animations smoothly - end of story. Rather than criticize the methodology and theorize about what is and what is not difficult to capture, perhaps you should do your own extensive testing if you are really interested. Nothing is preventing you from installing FastoneCapture and testing it for up to 30 days free. You are bringing yet more variables (YouTube) into an already complex arena. I could care less about what YouTube does or doesn't do. I don't use YouTube as a vehicle for the distribution of my tutorials, I make them available for download and I recommend VLC Media Player as the best solution for the user to play them. It seems you are trying to make this into a Camtasia vs FastoneCapture contest. It's not about Camtasia vs the world, it's about finding a product which does what I need and eliminating those which don't. Camtasia has been eliminated. Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, Thanks for the testing - I'm pretty certain this is the best video screen capture tool out there for PTE and those making tutorials. It has lots of features I haven't explored and an entire host of still image capture and editing capabilities. It will even convert your video to an animated gif - something I'm experimenting with right now for a number of reasons.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom - Eric, Here's the FastoneCapture version - this link to a PTE preview at 1280x800 screen resolution. I used a 9 element caurosel with a 3d transition to a single image then a single rain animation followed by a snow animation.... VLC media player handles it very well... http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/fastonecapturetest.zip (about 96 meg zipped video) Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, On my system the 720p looks best - a little problem handling the YouTube 1080p but in all much, much better than the vast majority of software solutions. I'll try a similar one tomorrow and put it up on YouTube with FastoneCapture and we can compare how they perform. It's difficult to know exactly how the YouTube conversion affects things but perhaps we can sort it out. Best regards, Lin

O.K., I'm prepared to give FastoneCapture the thumbs up!! I lowered the resolution of my 2560x1600 display down to 1280x800 and ran a really heavy animation sequence and it was as smooth as silk! This is by far the best yet I've found and it's cheap! Here's a link for anyone who wants to try a free 30 day evaluation. http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm I'll put up a demo capture in a few minutes for anyone who wants to download to try.... This is a LARGE video download - about 195 meg zipped - but it shows that FastoneCapture can handle the PTE very heavy animations just fine. In this sample I had created a rotating zooming icosahedron with 3620 independent video displays in simultaneous live action (181 on each of 20 icosahedron faces). Included are alpha channel videos and masks with text, etc., all perfectly smooth as captured by this tool. Please ignore the poor audio from the microphone. I had not yet balanced my very loud audio from the demo with my microphone which needed to be much louder. It's a learning experience: Here's the link to the 1280x800 video: http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/heavyanimation.zip Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, Sorry, but I have no clue how to use PTE to construct my tutorials. My tutorials demonstrate "how" to construct a show using PTE so the live screens complete with keystrokes, previews and such need to be recorded in order to accomplish that. To my knowledge there is no way to create a tutorial demonstrating how to use this product "with" this product in any straight-forward manner. Yes, I have looked at the Techsmith tutorials and yes, my evaluation copy was downloaded from Techsmith. I'm not "slagging Camtasia off" anymore than any of the other sixteen or so products I've evaluated for this purpose. Camtasia simply can't handle the 60 fps animations while recording - it has the same issues as the vast majority of other products I've tried. Camtasia itself uses a lot of the processing power of the system and there simply isn't enough for it to function in an optimal fashion when PTE is running a heavy animation preview. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor inclination to piecemeal a tutorial together by creating multiple mp4's and separate audio tracks and combining them in an editing tool like Camtasia. I can't justify the expense of Camtasia when it isn't suitable for the task at hand. Probably the best solution is going to be something along the lines of what Tom is doing with a hardware rather than software approach. There just isn't sufficient resources in even my top-end 8.1 system with 32 gigabytes of RAM and a 4 gigabyte high-end video card to both run and capture complex animations simultaneously and that's what is needed. Programs such as ShadowPlay by nVidia can do it by using primarily the GPU rather than the CPU but ShadowPlay only works with established video games. External hardware exists which can do what I want but the ones I've found are in the $2000 range and far beyond my budget. Right now the best thing I've discovered is still FastoneCapture and it's less than $20 and includes the ability to zoom, add text and do minor editing, etc., The only reason I haven't settled on it yet is that I think there may be a hardware solution which is better but that remains to be seen. Best regards, Lin

Hi Tom, Try it with a live PTE session - Open one of your own PTE files and run a preview containing some fairly heavy animation and see how it records that live. There is a world of difference in capturing an already produced video being played by a decent player, and screen capturing your own work which is being crunched in real-time by your system. I have no problems at all capturing a video perfectly smoothly when being played by a video player, but trying to capture a live PTE preview is a whole different ball-game... The system is already being taxed by the PTE preview which is in essence running an executable file and all that entails. Adding yet more to that with the recording software results in a real performance hit. Best regards, Lin