Lin Evans

Nice addition Dave - makes if easier for users to get a handle on what's going on. If the name "and" the "use (whatever aspect ratio for this slide) is checked, PTE will not as you if you want to overwrite the style it will just update with the new aspect ratio AND any previous aspect ratios. If you fail to check the "use aspect ratio for this style" it will prompt you about overwriting so you will then know that you have neglected that very important step.... Best regards, Lin

Well, the rain styles are finished and uploaded along with a host of PNG files for lightning and window rain drops, mp3 files for rain, thunder, wind and lightning crack audio. An AVI tutorial and a demo style showing the use of the lightning PNG and window raid drop accessory files. Four aspect ratios (16:9, 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4) are in the multi-aspect ratio styles. Rain from the left, from the right and straight down are included. I just have to do the snow styles now and it will all be tidy, I think. Thanks to Igor for reminding us of and how to accomplish the multi-aspect ratio capabilities. That really keeps down the clutter of styles a great deal. Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, Thanks for the updates and information on multiple aspect ratios in a single Style. The completed sets of styles and associated files are now posted. Hopefully I'll have the snow Styles completed tonight... Best regards, Lin

Hi Guys, I've finally completed the series of Rain Styles and associated components - I will try to finish the Snow Styles later today... Below are links to files as described: AVI Rain Tutorial - Please use because it explains much of what follows: http://www.lin-evans.org/styles/raintutorial.zip (145 meg zipped AVI tutorial and explanation) A set of three Rain Styles which are multi-aspect ratio. They cover 16:9, 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4 aspect ratio's each. Included is a text file in .rtf format which explains all. The three styles cover rain coming from the left, the right and straight down for each aspect ratio above: Also included is a single 16:9 example style showing how lightning and raindrop PNG file can be added. Also a "black" jpg which can be used to fade-out the entire show if desired or needed.... http://www.lin-evans.org/styles/rainstylesarchive.zip (23 meg zipped archive) Zipped rain sounds in mp3 format - contains two mp3 files which have rain, wind, thunder, etc. http://www.lin-evans.org/styles/rainsounds.zip (4.8 meg) Zipped archive of six PNG "rain on window" files in 16:9 aspect ratio and six jpg examples. These can easily be used with any aspect ratio image by simply sizing the rectangle. http://www.lin-evans.org/styles/raindropsPNGarchive.zip (less than one meg) A set of seven lightning PNG files which can be used with your rain animations as explained in the tutorial and seen in the rain example style. http://www.lin-evans.org/styles/lightning.zip (1.8 meg) Let me know if there are any questions... Best regards, Lin

That would be helpful - It will be nice to have three styles which cover twelve variables rather than twelve styles but I think I'll have to start from scratch and do them over to make it work... L

Hi Dave, O.K. - I've just tested this... and it doesn't ask if I want to overwrite as long as the checkbox for the proper aspect ratio is ticked - that seems to work very well. To avoid mistakes the user will have to have the proper checkbox for the aspect ratio of the slide being used. In the case where multiple slides of different aspect ratios are being used in a show - I'm thinking that a controlling frame should be used in the style to insure that the user can easily adjust both the animation and size of image should there be a conflict.... I think I will have to re-create about 30 styles to make this work.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, How do you deal with PTE asking if you want to "replace" the current style with the new style? I have created twelve styles which consist of four different aspect ratios (16:9, 3:2, 4:3, 5:4) and three variants on each aspect ratio. The styles are already created. So in this case I would assume that instead of twelve separate styles I would end up with three multi-aspect ratio styles. The problem I'm having is with naming four styles the same. PTE wants to overwrite one with the other - how is this prevented? Best regards, Lin

Thanks Igor, That will be fun to work with !! Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, The reference to the applied style(s) is in the dot PTE file so to program a backup of this would just mean parsing additional parts of the PTE file to determine the style(s) being used then exporting them to the zipped archive. I really don't think it would be that difficult to accomplish. Once the dot ptestyle file(s) is in the zipped archive then it would be extraneous if the folder were unzipped on the same system, but when an error message about (style missing) is encountered, the user could then simply copy those unzipped ptestyle files to the appropriate folder and all would be well I think.. Even this import the styles could easily be automated by a tiny program which read the current user choice folder and imported them automatically. Of course this assumes that a duplicate style name file wasn't already resident, but even that could be circumvented by comparing the dates of creation on the two files then prompting the user for a decision. Best regards, Lin

Hi Denis, Yes I remember - but actually there was never a resolution to the problem. Of course there is the issue of "where" styles are stored because it's a user option, but at least copying the style to the zip archive would insure that the style and associated files were available if not actually exported by PTE to the correct folder. As it is now, when the backup is opened on a different system which doesn't have that style - the internal files (if any) which are germaine to the style are lost and there is no way to make the show play properly. Were the style(s) included in the zipped archive, at least the user could install them and the show would then work normally. In other words we presently have no correct "backup" when the slideshow uses styles. It's only a true backup when the necessary style is resident or when there is no style in the slideshow. How difficult would it be for the PTE "Backup files to zip" feature to export the styles associated with the show and referenced in the PTE file and include them in the zip archive - problem solved I think.... Best regards, Lin

Thanks! That would be great and thanks for sorting this out for me! Best regards, Lin

Hi John, I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work - it's only for the snow styles - the rain styles can be adjusted to any length of run without affecting the appearance. I actually tried this, but it's not very satisfactory because there is a perceptual change when the second (and third) slide appears since the png file is "random" in terms of where snowflakes are at any given moment. I think I'll have to pick a time and stick with it for the style.. Best regards, Lin

Hi Igor, Yes, that worked very well. I created a style with an "illegal" name and when I tried to export PTE renamed it using legal characters (underscore) and it was successful... Now if we could just fix the problem with PTE not copying the components of a style when doing a "create backup in zip" I think everything would be great!! Best regards, Lin

I'm not finding that to be the case. I create a show using an applied style. Then I do a "create backup in zip" and the constituent parts are not gathered up, that's the problem. Perhaps this is limited to my XP system - I'll have to try it on my Win-8 system, but on my XP system there are only the main image and the PTE file. The various png, animated gifs, etc., inside the applied style are not included in the "create backup to zip" zipped archive. I just tried it in my Win 8.1 system - same result. Try it for yourself. Create a backup in zip with PTE with an applied style then go open that zip archive and see what's inside. It only works when you unzip it into a new folder because the PTE file loads the style and components but if you were to transfer this zipped archive to a system which didn't have the components resident nor the style, then it wouldn't work and that defeats the backup purpose.... Best regards, Lin

Hi Eric, Changing the timing for snow animations to less time definitely speeds up the snowfall - the png files are traveling the same distance in less time. For rain it doesn't make any difference because I build animated gifs which repeat automatically and their speed is constant... Yes I remember the steam gif. The issue problem with steam in terms of a style is that it would have to be created in such a way as to be amenable to being moved, placed into a mask, etc. Probably just easier to create a few as avi video with alpha channel and let people use them as they see fit, but not really amenable as a style. Best regards, Lin

Hi Carolyn, This may or may not be relevant, but DVD players have a definite "life span." I use to make lots of DVD's commercially and we were lucky to get 500 burns on many good machines from variously Hewlett-Packard, Plextor, LG, etc. On a few we got 1000 burns before failure but the hardware is definitely life-limited for burns. This is not true for "reads" but if you burn lots of media you may want to at least try a different burner to see if you are experiencing hardware related issues... Since most people don't use their burners on a regular basis, they never reach the limits. We had our in use constantly making around 20 DVD's per day per burner. After purchasing over 10 units in a year, we learned that there is a definite life span for these things. At least that was the case some 10 years ago. Best regards, Lin

I can do that now that I can export styles, but it seems that it should probably be part of the "create backup in zip" feature? If not, doesn't it defeat the purpose of having that feature.? Those who are computer literate can, of course, include the style or "styles" as the case may be, but people who don't really have a firm grasp about what is happening would have to know that the style would then have to be "imported" on the system where it wasn't resident. Actually, to be correctly backed up, the styles used should be included and they should be automatically installed then when needed and not found the first time the PTE file is opened by PicturesToExe. Otherwise there are going to be major issues down the road when PTE users have and use multiple styles. At least, as a former developer, that's how I would do it... Best regards, Lin

This topic was extracted from (SOLVED) - user error - An interesting Problem With Export Styles... (Igor) __________ Hi Igor, The problem with exporting styles is corrected totally - however the may be a problem with the "create backup in zip" feature when styles are used. No matter which style is used, when create backup in zip is performed, the components of the style other than the image being used, etc., is not included in the backup... I understand that inside the PTE file the style is being "called" and applied, but what if the style no longer exists? Wouldn't it be prudent to include saving the style ini along with the other components? Otherwise doesn't it make it impossible to transfer a show from one computer to another if the second computer doesn't have the style installed? Best regards, Lin

Thanks Igor - it's easy enough to rename so that will solve lots of issues!! Thanks for sorting this out... Just renamed and everything working PERFECTLY --- Thanks again !!! Best regards, Lin

One of the issues with creating "styles" is that the creator must decide about the time of display. Years ago when I first began creating snow and rain animations, I always displayed the slide for a minimum of 30 seconds. In the case of Snow Globes in cooperation with Panos (of PanosFX) I created 60 second snow animations for the globes. With a snow animation, by the very nature of the components used, if the timing of the display is changed from the default, the snowfall will either be faster or slower. That is if the default timing is increased, the snow will appear to fall slower and if the default timing for the slide display is decreased, the snow will appear to fall faster. The reason for this is that the animation uses keyframed timed moving PNG files. What I would like to know from interested forum members is how long would you like to see your slide with one of these rain or snow animations? I originally decided on 12 seconds, but I believe that may be too fast for the viewer to really appreciate the scene. Now I'm thinking perhaps 20 seconds or even 30 seconds. Please let me know what you think so I can properly time the snowfall and set the style output time accordingly. Thanks, Lin

Hi Dave, The "secret" to getting small exe files with your project is to output a video, convert the video with PTE then load the video into a new project, sharpen it a bit then export as an exe. PTE will then only add a tiny bit to the size of the video and there is virtually no quality loss. Best regards, Lin

Hi Dave, Looks very interesting - I love the idea of timelapse and the ability of some of the new software to manipulate them in very interesting ways such as adding multiple frames to smooth the appearance such as frame blend motion blur - that GoPro is going to be fun!! Looking forward to seeing more! Best regards, Lin

As soon as I deleted the one style in the second User styles folder, the folder disappeared and hasn't returned. I think it's a "fix" for the duplicate folder issue Igor.. Best regards, Lin

Thanks Igor, This type animation is an example of why it was (is) important for those who want to create this type scene to have alpha channel video capabilities with PicturesToExe. There are several software packages (I use Particleillusion) which let the user create some amazing alpha channel videos with particle generation algorithms. These type programs make it very easy to create and manipulate flames, water, clouds, vapor, and so on which are used by the movie industry to create special effects for major motion pictures. By providing this feature you have opened up PTE to many other possibilities. PTE has tremendous power for manipulating elements created in specialized software and lets those with artistic inclinations become very creative. I don't have much in the way of artistic skills, but I understand how to demonstrate some possibilities so that those who have real creative talent can get a clue for the power inherent in your program. The fact is that it's much, much easier to create many amazing animations with PTE than even with some of the very expensive Adobe professional tools. Tools like Adobe AfterEffects are extremely powerful, but difficult and tricky for most to use and many things can be done much easier and more intuitively with PicturesToExe. Best regards, Lin

O.K., Ken, Here's a sample with clouds moving - this image is much more amenable to doing that type of animation. So here you get moving clouds, water running over the window, water drops on the glass (sweat on the inside, I guess), lightning, rain and such.... Sorry, still no witch on broomstick - LOL http://www.lin-evans.org/rain/waterrunningcloudsmoving3.mp4 Best regards, Lin