Lin Evans

Hi Jim, Actually, it's not difficult - just sometimes a little complex, but when you break it all down it's relatively straight-forward. I made a couple minor changes/additions to the show to make the appearance of the artist more "mysterious" - uploaded on the same link... Best regards, Lin

Jean Cyprien has given us a delightful and complex style which lets the user quickly create an animated Rubick's Cube with one's choice of aspect ratio 16:9 background and their choice of any six square images. Just to reiterate the process: 1. Insert your choice of 16:9 aspect ratio image as the first slide. This will be your background image. 2. Insert six more images of a square aspect ratio of a reasonable size such as 600x600 or 800x800 pixels. 3. Check "Main Object" in Properties Tab of Objects and Animations for each of the seven slides. 4. Select all seven slides. 5. Apply the Rubick's Cube style and wait until 25 new slides are created - That's it! Replace the background image with a video 1. Note the display times for each of the 23 new slides created and write them down because you will need to re-enter these values for each slide later 2. Click on slide one to select then go to Objects and Animations Screen Animations Tab 3. Observe that at the bottom of the Objects List you will see "Reference Image." This is the background slide. Click on it to select then set the "Opacity" to zero. The background for this slide will turn black. 4. Repeat the above for each of the 23 slides so that all slides now have a black background. 5. Select an appropriate video. I suggest that it be "Converted" by PTE for best playback and smoothness. The video will need to be equal to or slightly longer than the Rubick's Cube animation which is ~ one minute and 25 seconds long. 6, Add this video to slide one on the bottom layer underneath the word "one" and mark it in the Properties Tab as "Master Video Track." 7. Copy this and paste to each of the other 22 slides. Select and use Keyboard Shift PgDn to place it underneath the object "reference image." 8. Go to the Slide List and select the first slide in the Rubik's Cube animation. Look at the list of times for each slide which you previously wrote down and find the first slide display time. It should be 12 seconds. Click on Slide Options and on the Main Tab change the display time for this slide to the proper display value as indicated on your list. In this case 12 seconds. 9. Repeat the steps done in #8 above for each subsequent slide and make certain that on every slide except slide one, the video is set to "Link To:" (your video file name) 10. Save your work and preview. You should now have a continuously running video in place of the background image for the Rubik's Cube animation. That's it folks....

Hi Jim, Thanks! Actually, this one was more or less a demo of three "styles" which contain all the necessary code to nearly instantly create the effect. Jean Cyprien (French) created and gave PTE users the rubrik's cube style I used for the cube. All the user need to do is download and install the "rubrik's cube" style then create with their favorite editor six square images of about 600x600 pixel dimensions. Then choose a background slide of 1920x1080 pixel HD dimensions and place all seven in the slide list with the first being the HD background slides. All slides must be checked as "main object" in the Properties Tab of the Objects and Animations screen. Then select all seven slides and simply apply the style and wait for a bit and the style will create all the code and place your six square images on the six sides of the cube. For David's Icosahedron style, 20 images are used and it really doesn't matter about aspect ratio. Just select all 20 and apply the style and it created a rotating Icosahedron. You can choose the top level frame and make the isocahedron larger or smaller as well as apply desired effects such as smooth for the rotation. Jean Cyprien also created the great Kaleidoscope style which he has demonstrated on the French Diapositif forum and which I used for the psychedelic kaleidoscopic opening. A single selected slide is used for this and the style is simply applied. In all, there are many, many new and exciting styles being created and contributed by users which allow even those who have yet to digest the inner working of PTE to make exciting animations to spice up their shows if desired. The future is very bright for PTE I think! Best regards, Lin

Hi Ken, Out of the depths of a twisted mind overly influenced by the 60's I think - LOL Best regards, Lin

Just a fun thing I did for an artist friend named Lisah. Thanks to Jean-Ciprien and Dave Gee for great "styles" to play with and to Kevin MacLeod for intriguing music that "fit" the mood perfectly. http://www.lin-evans.org/demo/kalide.zip (zipped Windows web safe exe & data) 63 meg http://www.lin-evans.org/demo/kalidemac.zip (zipped native MacIntosh exe archive) 63 meg Lin

Hi Jim, The difference in aspect ratio may not be apparent at the screen resolution you are viewing your mp4 shows depending on how you have set the zooms, what you have chosen as your display default in PTE and the virtual size of slide in the Screen Tab of Project Options. What can happen is that depending on the resolution of your own display device and that of another user, there may be a difference. Many new displays are either 16:9 (most HD displays at 1920x1080) and 2560x1440 or 16:10 (larger displays which might be 2560x1600). Some of the newest large screen displays are 3840 x 2160 (16:9). The 1280x720 would fit nicely on the 16x9 aspect ratio screens. The 1280x960 size equals a 4:3 aspect ratio such as you might have with an Olympus dSLR. This would fit some of the older CRT displays but some of the image would either be cropped on a different aspect ratio display or there would necessarily be some additional black on the sides if you filled the vertical aspect of the display. It's not a simple thing to decide unless you know what aspect ratio display that your show will probably be seen on. Unfortunately there is no one size fits all solution. In terms of best results, I would probably do the cropping myself via the size and use 1280x720 which would have a bit better fit all around than the original 1280x960 on most displays. It's too bad that display manufacturers and camera manufacturers rarely get together on specs. It means the photographer must generally shoot much wider than desired to accommodate the necessary cropping for slideshows. As for one pass, two passes - I've personally not seen any significant differences so I usually go with a single pass myself. Best regards, Lin

Hallo, Erstens, bitte verzeihen Sie meine Google -Übersetzung - ich spreche kein Deutsch . Wenn Sie den Ton eines Videos einstellen möchten , müssen Sie zuerst " stumm " das Video mit dem Register Eigenschaften Objekte und Animationen Bildschirm. Als nächstes wählen Sie die " Video" als Audio- Spur mit den Audio- Tab von Projektoptionen . Klicken Sie auf den kleinen Pfeil nach unten auf der rechten Seite , wo es heißt "Audio- Dateien" und wählen Sie "Video-Dateien " statt . Dies wird die Audiospur aus Ihrem Video einzufügen. Sobald dies geschehen ist , werden Sie die volle Kontrolle über den Audioteil des Videos haben , indem Sie die timeling -und Audio- Schlüsselpunkten . Sie können die Lautstärke über 100% durch die Erhöhung der Schlüsselpunkt höher als die Linie, die 100% darstellt erhöhen. Sie können es bis zu 200 % von der Schlüsselpunkt oder so niedrig wie null. Diese Funktion im Wesentlichen verwenden Sie den Ton aus dem Video zu trennen , aber es vollkommen automatisch synchronisieren . Dann werden die normalen Audio- Features von PicturesToExe ermöglichen eine vollständige unabhängige Steuerung der Audiospur aus dem Video . Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Lin

Hi Jim, It's really a rather complex thing which has multiple variables. In essence and somewhat oversimplified, the larger the image (higher resolution) the higher the bitrate necessary for optimal playback. However there is much more to the equation than this. How much compression is being used by the video codec, what is the frame rate, and what device and resources available for playback ... These are all rhetorical questions, but are important when trying to determine optimal bitrate for your show. The other factor is how large a file size can your equipment handle? The higher the bitrate, the larger the file size. There is never an advantage to using a higher bitrate for playback than the original recording, but what you need to determine is where the trade-off lies and this has yet more variables. If there is limited animation in your video, the bitrate can be much lower without any perceptible loss in quality. Having lots of animation can sometimes overwhelm your system resources for very large file sizes such as 1080 p. Also the nature and type of player being used for playback also affects how well things will work with various bitrates. The first thing I would do is to see how well your original video plays in your slideshow with the default camera bitrate. For "Custom" mp4 files at 1080p resolution, you can set the video bitrate as high as 24,000 with PTE. You can also set this bitrate at 60 frames per second. However, it's been shown multiple times that setting a really high bitrate rarely results in any real visible improvement in the MP4 created. I would suggest reading the information in the link below to get a better understanding of how bitrate affects your video quality and why variable bitrates are sometimes a very good way to go with slideshows where both stills and video components may be present.... http://www.ezs3.com/...for_the_web.cfm Best regards, Lin

Hi Mickey, I'm glad you sorted it out! It's always a good learning experience to find the reasons for issues and solve them.. Best regards, Lin

Hi, There are some issues with mp3 files which can cause problems with MacIntosh yet work normally with Windows. Without having a MacIntosh, I can't personally troubleshoot and pinpoint the problem, but the solution in the past has been to normalize all mp3's by running them through the same process on a sound editor. If you have Audacity, that will work as well as any MacIntosh compatible sound editor. Just import each of your mp3's and export them from the sound editor with the same bitrate for all. Then place the normalized mp3's into your show and export to MacIntosh and there is a very high probability that everything will work perfectly. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, If the first item you placed in slide one was a video then the duration of that video will be the default for all subsequent slides unless you change them individually. You said you "added a video..." to a still image. What is the play time for the still image? If there is a subsequent image or video, the slide will change but there is no reason to expect the video sound to not continue to play unless you change the "duration" of the video to match the still slide timing of the first slide. The issue with copying the master slide is that each paste will result in the pasted video having the identical properties of the original. Assuming you want the subsequent instances of the video to be "linked" to the master, then you would want to manually place the video in the second slide then set the attribute to be linked to the master. Then you could copy the linked video and paste to subsequent slides and things should work properly. The issue is that your video will generally have a longer display time than you would want for individual still slides. The total additive time of all still slides including the first one "should" be equal to the run time of the video assuming you want all the video to display during the show. So if you divide the run time of the video by the total number of slides in your show, you will know how long to allot to each slide. If you want to control the audio of the video - mute the audio and add the video as an audio track then you can use the timeline and keypoints to control the audio of the video. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mickey, Could you possibly use the File, Create backup in Zip feature and zip the project and either post it on a data sharing site or on your own site and send me a download link? Usually, when something like that happens it means you have missed a "separate here" or it's possible that you have simply exceeded the capabilities of you graphics card. Also, did you separate all three (Pan, Zoom, Rotate) because if only one of these has a value other than the default, it can cause strange effects. There is no penalty for separating them even if it appears you shouldn't have to. If you could post the project with the zip feature, I'll take a quick look and see what I can find. Best regards, Lin

I wonder why they are staying with Compact Flash rather than Secure Digital cards? I think staying with the D4 resolution was probably warranted. Higher pixel count is really not needed for the vast majority of what sports and action photographers do and the magazines, newspapers, etc., they do work for. Sufficiently large prints can be made from a 16 mp sensor to handle it very well. Famous fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky told me that he used the 4 megapixel Canon 1D to do double truck fashion pages for numerous major magazines for several years. I have some nice 16x24 prints from my own Canon 1D - can't tell much difference at that size from prints from my Nikon D5300 so I guess the resolution trade-off for greater burst capacity and frame rate is warranted. It sure looks like a jewel of a camera. Unfortunately, I'll never be able to pay those high prices again. My first six megapixel dSLR was a Kodak DCS 460 which cost me a bit over $30,000 in late 1995. It actually paid for itself and I sold it for only a couple K less than I paid. My next "expensive" camera was my Canon 1DS (eleven megapixel) which I paid a tad over $8000 for. The progress with image quality and resolution has come a long way since then - nearly doubled the resolution with the new 36 megapixel Sony and Nikon D800(E). The soon to be released Sigma D2Quattro will have the equivalent of 39 megapixel resolution (equated to a CFA sensor) so even the crop factor sensors are getting very close to the lower medium format (Leica S2/Pentax 645D) resolutions. I wonder what the main differences are between the D4s and D4? I suppose what they mentioned at the beginning of the article, but they didn't specifically stipulate that they were comparing against the D4 - but it was implied.... Lin

Hi Mark, PicturesToExe doesn't automatically put a file name on an image. If you were experimenting, there is a feature (a template actually) which can be used to make a number of things from the EXIF header of you image appear. My guess is that you have enabled this feature for the image the file name carries. This feature is enabled on the Main Screen via the "Comment" feature and the quickest and easiest way to resolve the problem is to go to the slide list and click on the slide which has the issue. Next go to the Objects and Animations screen and look at the bottom right side for "Text Comment." Delete this by selecting and using the delete key. Save your work and regenerate your video. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, Indeed the "link" is to the master video from the insertion of the same video (itself) in subsequent slides. Do not copy and paste the video from the first slide because if you do it will set the instance to Master Video on each slide. This "link" tells PTE to continue playing the master uninterrupted as the show progresses from slide to slide. With the transition set to a fade or dissolve, the display time for each subsequent slide set by Slide Options, and the size of the independent still slides adjusted so that you can actually see the video in the background, the stills will sequence without interrupting the background video. Best regards, Lin

Hi Gary, Just a bit more on what Dave explains... Sometimes people like to use a video playing as the backdrop for their slideshows. To make the video play continually as still slides or other videos are sequenced in the slideshow progression, it is set up as the "master" on slide one and in subsequent slides is linked so that the video plays uninterrupted as the show progresses. It appears, if you use a fade or dissolve as the transition, as if each slide just fades in and out while the uninterrupted background video continues to play until the end of the show or until you decide to no longer link it to the master. Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, Read the part about Add Video to Slide List from the link above for the explanation - it's near the bottom of this part. Best regards, Lin

Hi Melia, Text is an object. In the Objects and Animations screen on the Animations Tab, select the text object, create a keyframe on the timeline where you want to begin fading the text. Create another keyframe for the text object on the timeline where (when) you want the text to fade and set the opacity to zero. The text will begin to fade out at the keframe time of the second of the three keyframes and finish the fade at the time of the third keyframe. The initial (first) keyframe is automatically inserted at the beginning of the timeline when you add the text object. That's all there is to it... Best regards, Lin

Hi, This is fairly straight-forward to accomplish. First, go to Settings, Preferences, Toolbars and make certain you have the audio prompt enabled - I would suggest having every box checked. From the Slide List on the Main Screen, click on the slide where you wish the sound to start to select it. Next click on "Add Audio or Voice" (at the top right of the screen left of the default position for Preview). Navigate to your audio file and select it. Remember that if you want the audio to stop (finish) on the slide you have linked it to, you muse either use an audio which is limited to the time selected for that slide or make the time for each slide sufficiently long to allow the audio to finish. If you don't do this, the audio will continue on the subsequent slide(s). Of course you can go to the Timeline and use the Audio Waveform to mute the sound at any time. Best regards, Lin

Hi JT, Strange, I still see it on my screen - perhaps a cache thing. I'm not certain how you believe it should be corrected. I didn't write that section, but it says: "Rotate Y "flips" an object/image about its "vertical" axis (center) by xxx degrees as shown below." Which is essentially correct unless other conditions might exist where that is not always accurate. But you admit that trying to explain all the details might be beyond the scope of a beginner's user guide so my suggestion was to invite you to write a page to be linked as an addendum to the present which explains how this is an oversimplification. The idea of having a Wiki is to allow any user to comment on and help correct and tune the user guide so it is more helpful to more people. Those of us who are authoring the guide probably don't really need it either, but having it is a major and important feature for helping new users understand and use the software more effectively. You are invited, as are all other users to contribute, correct, amend and modify the guide where you find it lacking. Please feel free to contribute your knowledge and skills in helping perfect or at least vastly improve the work. Only by working together can we make the Wiki successful. Once it is finished, it can then be translated into multiple languages which will be beneficial to everyone I think - just my $.02..... Best regards, Lin

Hi John, It's explained in the Wiki (transparent to selection), but we need to still expand the "tools" button to explain the functions there including "ignore objects not selected." Best regards, Lin

The one linked on #27 above titled: Rot_Y_axis.zip http://www.picturest...&attach_id=7637 Best regards, Lin

Hi JT, Technically, it depends on the position of the image on the pitch, roll and yaw axis, a complex interaction which could probably only be described mathematically when precise angles are known, and then probably not at all from a practical perspective in real-time because of the possibilities for real-time variability along the timeline. The issue then becomes how to explain it to someone who is neither mathematically inclined nor experienced in the descriptive terms used to define and interpret three dimensional space? This is why I suggested that you might consider writing a page on the interactions of these variables which might satisfy the curiosity of the more mathematically inclined. This could include a link to your executable file for further elucidation. This would also include a note in the current descriptive that the explanation given was simplistic and only relevant should the opposite axis and the rotation coefficient be currently zero. Also the invitation for the curious to experiment with three dimensional transforms including the pan z feature to better apprehend the myriad possibilities. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, AFAIK, if the "Ignore Objects Not Selected" is defaulted to on in the "Tools" menu, then the "Transparent to Selection" feature of the "Common" tab is superfluous. If the Ignore Objects Not Selected" is toggled off, then the "Transparent to Selection" feature will perform the identical function, but only for the current project. The reasoning for this is that not everyone works in the same manner. Without either Transparent to Selection or Ignore Objects Not Selected selected, once a second keyframe has been placed on the timeline in Objects and Animations, clicking and holding the mouse cursor down allows only the top object in the stack to be manipulated without accidentally moving one of the other objects. Without this, it's fairly easy to forget which object is currently selected and accidentally move an object which wasn't intended. Some users like to move objects up and down in the stack to manipulate them, then place them in the order preferred. Other users like to simply click on an object in the stack and then click inside the bounding rectangle to move or manipulate the object. It's a user choice thing. Whether the feature is turned on or off by default then becomes quite arbitrary depending on one's workflow. The "Transparent To Selection" feature was originally located in the Tools set where "Ignore Objects Not Selected" currently resides. I believe that was changed with version 6.0 or 6.5. Where a consensus could be reached about whether to turn the features on or off by default is problematic. We all have different workflows so perhaps you could organize a "vote" on this to see what current thinking is. Best regards, Lin

Hi John, Which version of PTE are you working with?? There is no "transparent to selection" tool choice in Version 6.5, 7.5 or version 8 to my knowledge??? Do you mean "Ignore Objects not Selected? Best regards, Lin