Lin Evans

Hi Tom, I have both Snagit and Camtasia but neither is worth a tinker's damn for screen capturing and recording PTE animations during a tutorial. I have an evaluation copy of Camtasia and it has incredible features, but just can't handle the 60 fps of PTE and all I get are multiple "flashing" issues which have been the bain of every product I've tried except FastoneCapture. Fastone has no flashing and handles the screen capture in a fairly smooth fashion - far from optimal, but better than any of the other 16+ software tools I've tried. The hardware device looks interesting. Have you tried it for screen capturing running PTE animations along with simultaneous audio from the running show and from the microphone? I wouldn't mind paying the price "if" it works better than the software solutions. It's nice to have the editing capabilities of the tools like Camtasia or even the much abbreviated ones of FastoneCapture, but I would trade that for perfectly smooth animation capture. I notice in the FAQ's that "voice is recorded only via separated .mp3 file." If that means I would have to do my tutorials in two stages it wouldn't be a solution. Best regards, Lin

Nice combination of elements Manuel - thanks! Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, I suspect it's because they are contained within a mask. That "may" not be the reason but it's what I would assume... Bests regards, Lin

I had the question asked about how one could possible "combine" elements of a style into a single slide. When a style is applied to an image and then that image which has the style applied is selected and yet another style applied the original style is replaced with the new one. In most cases this is perfectly logical and exactly what "should" happen because otherwise very strange results might happen. But in the case of an effect such as snow or rain, one might wish to achieve the combination of having elements of different types applied to a single slide. Can this be done, and if so, how? Yes, this can be achieved. The way I do it is to first add the same slide to the show twice. Apply the first style to the first slide then apply the second style to the second slide. Select the second slide and go to Objects and Animations and select everything in the objects list then copy this to the clipboard. Now remove (delete) the second slide and go to the objects list on the first slide and "paste" the content of the clipboard under or over the content from the first slide. Next select the "image" in the top layer and change the opacity as desired. The "snow" or "rain" effects will be combined on the screen in equal amounts and changing the opacity of the main image will essentially only affect the amount of the effect contributed by the lower image. The main image will not be affected because the images are identical on both layers but the contribution of everything else from the lower image will change with the opacity of the main image. I will create a small tutorial demonstrating this.... The tutorial (50 meg zipped video) is linked below: http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/combiningsnowstyles.zip Best regards, Lin

That handled the aspect ratio completely, but defeats the purpose of having a controlling frame - back to the drawing board... LOL. I think the immediate solution is to not attempt to create components of the style using any components from an existing style. If I go back to my original template which is just a single slide pte file which "could" be executed as a demo slide, and if I copy and paste the components from that into a new scenario with a different aspect ratio then save that as yet another template and repeat this process for each aspect ratio; I can then use each of these to create one of the elements which are combined into the final style and the black jpg stays put. Best regards, Lin

http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstylesdemomac.zip (about 15 meg zipped native Mac exe file) http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstylesdemopc.zip (about 15 meg zipped Windows pc exe file) Lin The snow styles have been updated and de-bugged to the best of my ability. I thin the problem with the missing black rectangle which has been a real mystery is now solved. These have the "fix" and I would appreciate it if anyone wants to test them... They are all MARS (Multi-Aspect Ratio Styles) which should work with 16:9, 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4 aspect ratios. Be sure to set the proper aspect ratio in Project Options to match the aspect ratio of the image you apply them to... http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstyles512U.zip Thanks, Lin

That works fine as does the last one I posted - I think the problem had to do with not using the original files but trying to "borrow" the ones in the style for creating additional MARS... Once I created an original without a style and copied my PNG's I built the other three and just saved them all as "templates" then saved each template as one of the four MARS. I've never had so many dumb errors with what should have been a really simple thing .... The problem was compounded because they worked fine on one system but not on the other. L

O.K., I went out and stood in the rain for 15 minutes and came back and created a multi-aspect ratio one minute normal snowfall style for all four. It's fixed - I started all over and made four separate templates to create the new MARS (multi-aspect-ratio-style) for 16:9, 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4 Done - uploaded under same name... I'm going to bed and sleep for an hour - LOL L

Hi Dave, I'm not sure anymore about what is going on - I'm going to have to take a break. I just extracted the new "fix" and it's not "fixed" - now instead of the 3:2 aspect ratio not finding the black jpg, it's the 16:9 aspect ratio. It works fine on my XP machine but not on my Win 8.1. I absolutely HATE win 8.1. The problem is that the 8.1 Windows search which is an "indexed" search doesn't find all files, only the files which are "indexed" and I can't determine a way to make it reindex. I load new files and then search for them and they are not there yet I can use my FTP software and find them easily. It's driving me up a wall because I can't determine where the problem is when I can't find the files I have just uploaded to the Win 8.1 machine to work with. The issue I'm having is that one time everything works perfectly - the next time I try it doesn't work correctly. It works correctly on the Win XP system and doesn't work on the 8.1. I think this entire issue revolves around trying to "borrow" files with a copy to the clipboard and use them subsequently in a new project to create a part of the style. I'm just not having any luck at all with this multi-aspect style thing. I'm going back to a single style for a single aspect ratio because at least I've been able to get it to work correctly. I've got to get away from this for a while to clear my head.... Best regards, Lin

Something which may play a role here. I've discovered that when I start a "new project" PTE brings up a popup which says Project 1 with an aspect ratio which depends on how you have your defaults set. If you change the aspect ratio on this screen and click O.K., the new value is NOT applied.... I think that's a bug... For example, my default is set to 4:3 and if I change it to 16:9 at this juncture then subsequently load a 16:9 aspect ratio image then open Project Options, the original 4:3 is still showing..... Best regards, Lin

If it's not fixed this time, I can't fix it - LOL I deleted the entire archive and tested each one which is working perfectly on my system... I suspect part of the problem may be that I have been using png files from one style to create another. They work on my system but I'm going to try them on another where there is no chance that the file is being loaded from outside the style.... At any rate I've uploaded the zipped archives which are identical back to the server: http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstyles.zip http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstylesfixed.zip Both are identical and the 3:2 - 16:9 is working correctly every time for me now... If it's not right, I'll give up - LOL Lin

Hi Dave, Something isn't working correcty in the PTE "replace" feature... I've corrected this and it works perfectly, but when I try to write it to the folder with the other styles to be archived, I've "replaced" the existing style. I'm going to try erasing the original this time. I just tested and it's not doing the "replace" - just apparently giving "lip service" to that feature. This is really strange... I keep fixing and it works perfectly - then as soon as I test it from the archive where I create the zip - it doesn't work again so that tells me that the original isn't being replaced as PTE says it is.... I'm pulling out my hair over this one.... wow!!! L

Hi Dave, I found it - I now see what is happening and I'll fix it immediately, pack the fixed version and upload it in the same file. Got it fixed and zipped up. All original links plus the one below contain the fix as of now.... Dang.... what a pain to get it all correct. I'm still scratching my head over how I messed that up so badly. I had nothing but problems with the set of one minute styles and trying to straighten it all out but AFAIK it's finally correct..... Best regards, Lin http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstylesfixed.zip (new archive of styles with fix) Please delete the "normal snow one minute 16 to 9 and 3 to 2" style and replace with the one in this new archive. All others are fine.

Hi Denis, Hopefully that is corrected now - I'm not certain what happened. Please try downloading the snowstyles.zip again. The Big Fluffy style has been replaced internally... Something wasn't right about the style but it appears to work correctly now including the black jpg file... Best regards, Lin Link below: http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstylesfixed.zip (about 2 meg) P.S. The updated file is included in the original set and linked on Diapositif...

Hi Folks, Well, I finally have the snowfall styles finished. There are five style files which are multi-aspect ratio. There are two style files which create rather normal snowfall for one minute. These are divided into two aspect ratios each. One is 16:9 and 3:2 and appropriately named. The other is 4:3 and 5:4 and also named so that you will easily discern which is which. There is a style for lage fluffy snow for 30 seconds (same four aspect ratios as above) There is one for normal snow for 15 seconds (same 4 aspect ratios) There is one for snow flurries for 15 seconds (same four aspect ratios) Just download, extract to a folder then import into your PTE styles folder. There is a readme file in English and French. My French is probably laughable because though I can read French fairly well, I have serious issues trying to compose so depend almost entirely on Google Translate. There is also a 52 meg video which shows you what the snowfall looks like. Links below to two zipped files. One contains the video and the other a readme first and the styles. http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/snowstyles512U.zip (about 2 meg) http://www.lin-evans.org/snow/demosnowstyles.zip (about 55 meg) I learned one valuable lesson after repeated failures trying to combine my four aspect ratios for the one minute styles. I was using both English and French names and a single spacing error, etc., can result in disaster. I finally gave up and divided the multi-aspect effort into two styles rather than one with all four aspect ratios. When you are creating mutiple aspect ratio styles, my suggestion is to use an extremely simple name until you have everything finished then just rename the file. I finally discovered that if I called the file "new" each time, I could actually remember, spell it correctly, etc. Once everything was combined, then I just renamed to the complex names I was trying to accomplish for each file added. We live and learn.... LOL Later - NOTE: The Normal Snow One Minute 16:9 and 3:2 aspect ratio is returning a missing black jpg - just go to objects and animations and erase it for now.... I haven't been able to fix it for a number of reason - not the least of which is not being able to find files on my Windows 8.1 system with Windows indexed search... I'll try to fix this but for now if you use that style, just delete the black jpg in Objects and Animations Object list and it will work... Later Later: Fixed - Uploaded - done... Stood in the rain for fifteen minutes - created four templates and created a single one minute MARS (Multi-Aspect-Ratio-Style) for normal snow one minute including 16:9, 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4 aspect ratios... Going to sleep now for an hour - LOL L Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, That's pretty much what I discovered. The one I'm trying now (FastoneCapture) actually does a really decent job with animation. It's not perfect, but so much better than the others I've tried that it's really night and day. It creates a .wmv format and apparently captures display resolution which is sort of a problem because the unit I'm running it on has a 2560x1600 display. I'm converting a test file of a brief (less than 4 minute) demo right now. PTE has been grinding on it for over 5 hours and it's 98% finished so I should know how it's going to be shortly. The original won't run correctly in PTE but runs perfectly in the latest version of VLC Media Player (doesn't work well in my version of Kantaris though - which is based on VLC). It's about 175 meg in size and less than 4 minutes so would be absolutely HUGE unless I can downsize it. PTE just finished but didn't create a converted file - or if it did I can't find it anywhere. I'm going to try do downsample it in one of my video programs and see what happens. The quality is excellent but I sure don't want to start distributing tutorials at 2560 x 1552 which is what it turned out to be because I opted to not include the "status bar" at the bottom when I made it. I'll have to check FastoneCapture and see if it's possible to set the size to less than screen display resolution or I'll have to change the resolution on my display before I make tutorials..... Later: I just converted the big AVI to a smaller AVI (in pixel dimensions) in Video Pad Video Editor and it came out to 3.2 "gigabytes" LOL. Well that wouldn't do but it converted it in less than 2 minutes. I changed the parameters and converted to a WMV at 1280x720 and bingo - excellent quality at 52 meg. I can distribute this perfectly with no problems at all. There is essentially no quality loss from the 2560x1552 but I do need to change from 720 to a custom size because it clipped off the bottom half inch or so, but I think this is a solution. I've got to learn more about this software (FastoneCapture) because it "does" have some text and editing capabilities such as found in Camtasia. Of course not nearly as sophisticated, but for less than $20 USD and excellent handling of animation, it's a bargain I think. Best regards, Lin

I don't think it has to be 64 bit, it's supposed to work with Home Edition, but who knows..... Best regards, Lin

Hi JT, Unfortunately my French isn't good enough to completely understand what is being said on this video. My nVidia card is plenty powerful and suitable, I'm running XP service pack 3 with the latest drivers and it "should" work with ShadowPlay but I get these error messages. When I look at the "system requirements" it appears that I have them all satisfied but still no luck so I suppose I'll have to use my latest system with Win 8.1 and the software I am purchasing from Fastone (FastoneCapture) works fine. I understand that ShadowPlay uses the GPU and is really a great solution for capturing games and even using the microphone simultaneously, but unfortunately I can't test it on my XP system... Best regards, Lin

Thanks Michael - hopefully I finish the snow styles today and a quick tutorial now that I have a working tutorial software.. Best regards, Lin

Hi Denis, For some reason, I can't run Shadowplay on my XP system. I have SP 3 installed and I have a compatible nVidia GPU (GTX 750 Ti) with 2 gigabytes RAM and a Core 2 Duo with 4 GB RAM but apparently some Windows driver isn't compatible. I've tried to chase down the problem but keep running into 3rd party sellers who want to sell me software to update Windows Drivers so I've given up on being able to use ShadowPlay on my XP system until I can sort out the reason why my drivers are not satisfactory. I did notice that apparently one has to "list" the games they want to record and since PTE isn't a "game" I'm not sure how that would be done?? Are you using ShadowPlay to record PTE and for screen captures? Perhaps I'm missing something... Best regards, Lin

HI Denis, I don't think I tried that one but I will. I'm having real good luck with FastoneCapture on my 8.1 system but no ability to record sound on my XP. FastoneCapture handles the animations very well. I don't know which CODEC they are using, but it has all the "features" I really need. I will give ShadowPlay a try though, thanks!.. Hi Eric, I gave up on Camtasia. It has wonderful features - probably as good as there is except perhaps for AdobeCaptivate which undoubtedly is the best available, but it simply doesn't handle the animations well so not worth investing in for me. If one were making tutorials which needed to be able to be used on virtually "all" media (Cell Phones, Tablets (Android and Windows), MacIntosh, Windows Computers, etc., then AdobeCaptivate would be the way to go. It creates a single file which can be used with mouse or with pinch/swipe screens, automatically sizes for tiny devices, etc. It's really the "cat's meow." To do those kinds of things with virtually ANY other tool requires the creator to make multiple files and sort them and send them according to the user's hardware. With Captivate it's a one file works for all - but it's $30 per month on the Cloud or over $700 to buy. It's out of my league either way. Best regards, Lin

Cool !! I like it !! Maybe there's still some atmosphere at that altitude - LOL Lin

Today I've tried no less that 15 screen capture tools to make tutorials with. I'm looking for one which can capture PTE Previews with smooth animation.... Only one so far has been able to do that - and I can't get the sound to work with it. I started with Camtasia Studio - Terrible flashing on the screen during animation no matter how I set it up... Next I tried WM Capture - no luck and it's really not designed for the intended purpose Next EZ Vid - no luck at all Then Moavi - won't work with XP and capture microphone AND audio from sound simultaneously. Bad flashing on Win 81. Next the freeware HyperCam - terrible flashing and nearly impossible to choose folder you want... Next CamStudio - no luck bad flashing.... Next AshampooSnap - won't handle full screen video Next CamVerce - Won't capture audio while capturing video Next WM Recorder - Terrible video quality Next Snagit 12 - No go... jerky motion - flashing Screen Recorder Gold - been using it for years but it flashes bad regardless of which CODEC I try with it... About the only well known I haven't yet downloaded is the super-expensive AdobeCaptivate.... About five others which were total junk.... not worth mentioning... I have a tech support mail to FastoneCapture - It works beautifully with the animation, but I absolutely can't get the microphone to record. Don't have this problem with the majority of the others.... Anyone have any other suggestions? I tried FastoneCapture on my Win 8.1 machine but couldn't get to run at all there.... LATE UPDATE - Finally got FastoneCapture to work on my 8.1 system - works beautifully. Tried it with some serious heavy duty animation and though it wasn't perfect, it was 1000% better than anything else I've tried so I'll spend the $19.95 and consider it a bargain!!! LATER LATER: I discovered that if I reset my screen resolution on my 2560x1600 30" display to 1280x800 as suggested, then create my tutorials with FastoneCapture, even heavy animations with PTE are perfectly smooth in the created video. This is the best product for screen capturing PTE animations that I have found! I'm a happy camper now...... Lin Thanks, Lin

This may be elementary, but what happens if you open a new PTE file and load one image and an MP3? Check the audio tab "start time" and "offset" and make sure that they are at zero.. Best regards, Lin

Thanks Phil, Frans - it's coming along and I'm getting the 'snow' styles designed now.... Hopefully I'll finish them up tomorrow... Best regards, Lin