Lin Evans

Hi Dave, Thanks! I probably should have - just didn't - no excuse - LOL It's difficult to decide what to actually show on YouTube. A beautifully crafted AVI slideshow will often go unnoticed by the masses even though that's precisely what the majority of PTE users do with this program. Because nearly all decent presentation slideshow software "can" produce a really nice show with a skilled user at the helm, it makes it exceedingly difficult to differentiate ease of use and versatility with a single example or even a few examples of what makes PTE different. Ease of use is something very difficult to portray unless done in a "tutorial" fashion. But for a tutorial to be actually "watched" by a potential buyer, something has to attract their attention. Because of this realization, I tend to post rather dramatic and hopefully unusual examples of PTE's use. I probably should comment on these that even though PTE "can" do these things, it's not intended as representative of what "should" be done with it - just examples of the great power and versatility in the program which sets it apart from the others. I watch carefully the comments and look at the analysis to see what people actually watch, and it's exactly those shows with the most animation and unusual application which attracts the most comments and number of "hits." So I suppose to attract more users it's a useful way of advertising for the product. At least I hope so... Best regards, Lin

(YouTube Link)For Best Quality Playback: Windows PC Link (54 Meg) Windows Web Safe Version (54 Meg) MacIntosh Native Exe Link (54 Meg) Lin

Hi Jeff, Yes, it's 3D Transform in 2D space so it is indeed an illusion but when viewed shortly after seeing the separation against a rotating 3D object the mind adds the depth even when viewing straight-on. If you want to enhance the 3D effect of text using the Pan Z feature, you may also want to consider using the "Show Back Side" check-box. When the backside of the text is visible when it is linked as a child object to a rotating three dimensional object, the 3D effect is enhanced I think. If you download the same link again - I have added a "Go Denver Broncos" text to one side of the cube and checked the "Show Back Side" for that one only. You can see the difference as the cube rotates and get an idea of how being able to see the back side of the text in reverse adds to the illusion. Best regards, Lin

Hi Colin, Thanks! Actually, the process is fairly straight-forward and not difficult to do. It just takes a bit of time and patience. I have a couple tutorials in the tutorials section (linked to Youtube) on creating the 3D Video Wall which explains how to construct the basic element of a video wall used in the creation of the cube. The same process can be used to create a wide variety of curved or flat displays which can then be incorporated in various 3D transform geometric patterns. It's mostly not relevant to serious presentation slideshows, but more toward animation fun. The nice thing is that PTE actually is much easier to use for some of these projects than some of my 3D software such as Blender and Maya. Best regards, Lin

Hi Judy, That's me about 28 years ago. In my youth, I was a musician. I was a trumpeter with the California School Band and Orchestra and I played guitar in several Bluegrass bands in my younger days - paid my way through college - After that, I did a little composing and the background music is one I called "Tranquility." Best regards, Lin

Hi Robert, Thanks! - it's just a fun project to keep me busy... Best regards, Lin

Hi Jeff, Thanks for checking it out!! Glad to see you back on the forums!! The text effect is done by adjusting the 3D parameter "Pan Z." In this particular example, a setting of -17 produces the distance from the rotating cube. If you put in two images as "objects" in the objects list and position them very close to each other, then set the 3D horizontal axis for each to about 45 degrees and play with the Pan Z value for one of them you will get a feel for how it works. Best regards, Lin

Hi Patrik Thanks!! Yes, it could definitely "mess" with one's mind!!! LOL. As I said, only an experiment as part of another project but does show that "multiple" videos are a distinct possibility with PTE Best Regards, Lin

Hi Ken, Thanks for checking it out. PTE is a pretty incredible environment to play in.... Best regards, Lin

Been working on a little project and thought it might be interesting to demo some of the amazing possibilities with PTE. Not that it's anything really useful for most slideshows, but just shows a little of what's possible with this unique software. I don't believe this can be done with any other presentation slideshow software. This was done "entirely" with PicturesToExe. One thousand seven hundred twenty eight independent displays running videos simultaneously on the six faces of this rotating cube. It's part of something else I'm doing, but I thought it might be interesting for some..... Link to zipped Windows Exe - about 50 meg Lin

Hi Les, Nice to see you over here! It's definitely been a while - I gradually stopped going there after Jimmie Burton passed away - he was a Facebook friend - Dave Thomas still is... PTE doesn't delete any project files - they "shouldn't" be deleted unless the user does it intentionally. It could be that something is going on which hasn't yet been documented since there are two examples and both with the same OS and configuration. When Igor gets back (He's away for a couple weeks) he will look into it I'm sure. It's probably a good idea to save the project in a couple places just for added insurance until this issue get's resolved. PTE has been really pretty much free of strange occurrences such as this. Actually, I have PTE project files from the late 90's from even before Igor first published PTE which still reside where I first put them so this is a new wrinkle which will need looking into. Best regards, Lin

Hi Bert, You can't control a video like you control an exe file using the keyboard commands. In order to control a video, you need to use the Video Navigation Bar. A video consists of a playback of stored multiple images while an exe file consists of a command structure which instructs the computer to behave in a certain way. When an image is zoomed, rotated, panned, etc., in an exe file, there is only a single relative image stored inside the exe file. The computer is then instructed in real time to create these intermediate images whether larger, smaller, rotated, panned, etc. But in a video, each of the images must be created first and then stored in the file itself. This is why video files are so much larger than exe files. So what has to happen with a command to stop or pause a video is to interrupt the playback via the player. This instruction is not contained in the video itself, but rather the result of commands given to the video playing device and that Navigation Bar actually only works while the video is being played back on the computer itself. When your video is played back on a television, etc., and the computer is no longer connected to the external device, the player associated with that device has its own set of commands embedded in the player and having no relationship with your computer. The bottom line is that you can not use the various command structure designed to control an exe file with video. Best regards, Lin

Did you add or remove any external devices from your computer such as a USB flash device, external hard driver, external DVD player, etc.? First, do a wild card search on all your attached devices for all PTE files. For example, let's say you have a C: and an E: drive. Search for *.pte on these devices and see if the pte file name shows up. If it does, right click on it and look at "Properties" to see where it is located and on which device. PTE does not save images, but rather creates a PTE file which tells the program where they are located. Anything which could alter the source of the files such as unplugging a device or plugging in a new device which might change the cascading device structure could effectively hide these source files from PTE. So the first order of business should be to search for the all PTE files on all devices attached to see whether or not your PTE file is actually somewhere you don't expect it to be. Even if the PTE file has been inadvertently "erased," unless you have added or deleted a significant amount of data since, it will still be somewhere even if the file name is not visible. Look in your deleted folder. Right click on the "trash" and make sure it's not in there. If all else fails and you can't find the PTE file anywhere, use a file recovery software to search for it on the hard disc before saving or deleting anything else. Best regards, Lin

A good way to start would be to just pick one of the slides that you are certain was in the show and do a Windows search to see where it turns up. When it's found, right click and look at properties to see which folder it's found in. The user has the choice of where to save project files such. PTE has also a feature "File" "Open Recent Project." You access it from the "File" in the tool bar on the upper left of your screen when you open PTE. That would be the first place I would look. Be absolutely certain you are opening the correct version of PTE. If you have downloaded both 7.5x and the version 8.0 beta, the icons look identical. Hover your mouse cursor over the PTE icon to see which version the icon calls. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jose, If it's possible to extract data from an exe file with Irfanview I haven't a clue how it could be done. It's really not a subject I can discuss on an open forum. Best regards, Lin

Hi Jeff, Out of old habits, I used "run application" then placed another run application in the separate shows. I did just try run slideshow and return with a show made with 5.3 and like with earlier version, the version number must still be the same for that feature (run slideshow with return) to work. I misunderstood your earlier question. Best regards, Lin

Hi Rich, Make us a show from your next outing and be sure to take some video to include! Best regards, Lin

Hi Geoff, Thanks! Actually, the menu doesn't really care about the version of the exe it calls so no rework was necessary. Most of the shows were done with the beta, but a couple were with 7.5 although I've tested it with some old 4.x shows and everything works as expected. It's great to have the options we get with the beta version of 8.0 and having the option of using video is a big plus I think. For clarity, I misunderstood what you were actually asking so to avoid confusion for the reader - yes the version number must be the same for "run slideshow and return" but adding a "run application" at the end of older slideshows to call the menu is indeed necessary if you want them to automatically return to the calling menu. Best regards, Lin

Hi, Thanks! Actually, I've already extracted the images and created a Web Safe exe, an MP4 h.264 and sent Rich links to his new PTE file so he should be in good shape. Best regards, Lin

Hi Folks, Thanks! This one is really just more of an "explanation" than a tutorial, but I have had a couple emails from forum members asking about this and I thought that perhaps actually seeing the effects might be useful. Please forgive me for calling the audio keypoints "keyframes," in the video but it's a long held habit which I frequently slip back into. Long ago when Igor first introduced the "Keyframe" concept, he called them "Keypoints" which made perfectly good logical sense, However, because with video software manipulation effects are done at "frame" intervals, the term "keyframe" had been in common use for a long time. In consideration of this, Igor decided to change the terminology for these points in time where we elect to make changes to keyframe. Well, keyframe was only really more meaningful when discussing video because the smallest division along the timeline for change with a video is at a single frame division. But with audio, the changes can be at virtually "any" time within the most discrete digital divisions provided by the audio frequency, so "Keypoint" is truly more meaningful. Truly, because we are dealing with a continuum of time with our original still images "Keypoint" makes more sense to me and I probably should be more careful with my descriptive language. Just keep in mind that pertaining to PTE these days when the term "Keypoint" is used it refers to those points along the timeline when changes to "Audio" are made. When "Keyframe" is used it refers to points along the timeline when some visual effect is implemented. I hope this hasn't been totally confusing - LOL Best regards, Lin

Hi Rich, If you could zip the exe file, post it on your own server or to an upload site such as Beechbrook or other and provide us with a link, I'll have a look and see if I can recover all the images and music and put it into a current PTE file, or the output format you choose. Best regards, Lin

Hi Barry, I can't be absolutely certain, but I "suspect" the reason for the default being glued is that this is required for linear action which is the default. What actually might" be a viable work-around would be to have a check-box to check all separate here positions with a single keystroke rather than having to attend to each separately. Of course we still would need the option of handling each individually for some special animation creations, but being able to perform the separate here function with a single keystroke rather than multiple mouse clicks might be a huge time saver. Best regards, Lin

Hi Mur, Actually, I have posted already several tutorials on this as well as a link to the free software to download to allow you to easily create some of the water effects. Here's the link - My link Tutorials number 42, 43, 44, 45 - scroll to near the bottom of the page for download links... Best regards, Lin

Added new tutorial for those who have not yet learned how to expand the audio waveform and/or audio timeline in 8.0 beta. Not a dissertation, but just a quick look at how the new waveform with keyframes and audio timeline works. Also includes a few comments about why I would use the slide list rather than the timeline to switch positions of slides. Here's a link - it's also linked in my main tutorials list as number 46. My Link - about 86 meg download... Lin

Hi Neil, Thanks! Thanks for the reminder! True, but the majority of our PTE users do not have CS6 nor are most on the Adobe Cloud so for the majority, the video capabilities are in the Extended versions. Best regards, Lin