fh1805

Umberto, Try using the headphones output jack on the laptop rather than line out. I had a similar experience on Saturday when I got hum on first connecting my laptop to the sound system being used. I simply switched off the sound system's amplifier, unplugged and re-plugged the headphones out jack and then switched the amplifier back on. This solved my problem. Sometimes these problems are caused by bad connections. Removing and re-inserting the connectors can sometimes clear these problems. My preference is always to use my own equipment or to provide just the exe files on a USB Memory stick and use the hosting organisations equipment. Whichever option I use, it is always clear who is responsible for sorting the problem out. regards, Peter

Ralph, Sorry to ask such an obvious question but: did you save the pte file after adding the lengthened music track? If you didn't that might, perhaps, explain why the last piece of music wasn't there when you came to produce the HD file. regards, Peter

I've got 175GB free. It surely cannot want more than that! regards, Peter

Further to Ray's post above... Audacity can be downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. A User Guide can be found here on this Forum: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7979 regards, Peter

Hi all, I'm getting to be like a dog with a bone. I just cannot let this one go! I've now got the next one. I decided to go one step further in my testing. The sequence which yesterday would not create an mp4 file at Lowest Quality but which today did, I have now used to try and create a Highest Quality mp4 file - and failed on two occasions. After the first fail I wondered whether the presence of an existing mp4 file of that name might be a contributing factor; so I renamed the existing file and tried a second time. No mp4 file was created from either attempt. This problem is really getting to me because it seems to defy all logical explanations. And as someone with over 30 years experience with computers, I know that the one thing that computers are is logical! regards, Peter

Lin, Thanks for the explanation. It's much appreciated. DaveG, As I have no real interest in mp4 files for my own use, I'll not load up any codec packs. But thanks for the pointer. regards, Peter

Alantha, I thought you might be on to something there! I had previously installed beta 2 and created an HD mp4 file and then tried a second sequence and failed to create an mp4 file. To investigate further, I've just tried to produce an HD mp4 file for a third sequence using beta 2. It failed to produce the file. I then uninstalled beta 2 and re-installed it and tried to produce the same mp4 file. Now it produced it successfully. (Maybe you are right.) I then tried to produce an HD mp4 from a fourth sequence (second mp4 file from this install of beta 2) - and it produced it successfully. (Oh no you're not!) Two files from the same install of beta 2 is possible. All of my successful creates of an mp4 file have come when I have taken default settings after clicking on the Create HD file option. I then renamed the last of the successfully created mp4 files and tried that sequence again but at "Lowest quality" - which is the setting that, for me, has not yet created an mp4 successfully. This one also created successfully. So the problem isn't one of "single usage" nor is it one of Middle quality vs Lowest quality. I then tried to create one of the mp4 files that had failed yesterday. It worked! I'm at a total loss to figure this out. All I can say is that, having uninstalled and re-installed beta 2, I now have no problems at all creating HD mp4 files - until the next one! I've just one final question: what use are mp4 files? I build sequences to project them via a digital projector and so am interested only in exe files. I've been creating these mp4 files simply to try and move the problem diagnosis along. Now that I've got them, what can I do with them? (and keep the answers clean and polite, please!) regards, Peter P.S. Oh, by the way, these tests have all been done on Vista Home Premium.

DaveG/Igor, I've just tried a 14 minute sequence. Everything seemed to go OK but there isn't an mp4 file anywhere on my system. Not true! I got a progress bar straightaway but I still didn't get an .mp4 file. As an aside, I've never heard the cooling fans running so hard for so long! Those CPUs must have been running hot! regards, Peter

I also use VLC, after having it recommended to me by Lin Evans. regards, Peter

Igor, This isn't an issue with all Vista Home Premium systems. I've just downloaded beta 2, installed it, created a five slide, 30-second sequence and produced an mp4 file taking all the default values along the way. It was placed in the same folder as my PTE project file and was named the same as the PTE project file except for .mp4 instead of .pte as the file extension. I played it back using VLC Player and the quality is superb. regards, Peter

Gary, I recall that when you first made this suggestion I wasn't exactly supportive of it. However, the more I think about it, the more I can sympathise. I, too wanted to be able to reset just the effects to defaults after I'd "messed around" with the 3D transitions. So, let us consider exactly what we mean when we talk of defaults. There are two kinds of defaults: As-Shipped defaults These are the settings that Igor provides in each version of PTE. Project defaults These are settings which we as users, might have stored in our own Template files, one of which we might have set as our default template for all new projects. If we haven't set up our own Template file then these values will be the same as the As-Shipped defaults. So when we talk about re-setting to defaults we need to be aware that there are two possible sets of defaults. If it was possible, from a coding point of view, I would suggest the following solution: When the "Set Defaults" button is clicked a pop-up window appears that contains a series of "tick" boxes, one for each tab of Project Options. It also would have two buttons: "Reset to As-Shipped values" and "Reset to Project values" The reset would then be applied only to the tabs that had been ticked and the choice of button would determine which actual values were put back in place. A full set of ticks should be present in the As-Shipped form; thus giving the same funtional effect as the existing Set Defaults. regards, Peter

Igor, When I add a small amount of text to images that are being transitioned using Swap 3D and Flip 3D I see a noticeable jerkiness in the transition. If I remove the text objects the transitions run smoothly. I've created two short sequences to show the problem. PTEv56b1Bug1.zip is on MediaFire here: http://www.mediafire.com/?dizmnem104q It contains two exe files: V56B1-1A - has no text V56B1-1B - has text (rasterized to png) The jerkiness is most pronounced on Swap3D Right-Left. I have not tested all the other 3D options. My PC is Intel Core2 Duo at 2.33GHz, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 8400 GS running Vista Home Premium SP1 regards, Peter

Igor, Two minor bugs. 1..If I do File...Open... and miskey the filename (therefore the file does not exist) I get a standard "Exception" error box instead of the "Can't find the file..." error box that I get in v5.5. 2..When I do Customize Slide I don't always see the text "Flip 3D" and "Swap 3D" on the Effects tab. The problem can be recreated as follows: - start a new project, setting Effect options to Fade in/out as default - add black slide, image1, image2, black slide - preview to confirm that all transitions are fades - select image1 and do "Customize Slide...Effect" - tick Use own transition effect - scroll down to Swap 3D and tick the "Right-Left" and OK - select image2 and do "Customize Slide...Effect" - the list of effects comes up greyed out and positioned at Swap 3D but neither Swap 3D nor Flip 3D text is present - just the radio buttons and tick boxes, etc for these options - ticking "Use own transition effect" changes the state from greyed out to active black and puts the missing text in place They're both only minor bugs. regards, Peter

Tom, You've picked a bad time to re-post this sequence for feedback - everyone will be playing with v5.6 beta! You've obviously taken onboard many of the suggestions offered to you. There's just two or three points where, in my opinion, your soundtrack needs a minor "tweak". Right at the end of the opening voice-over, you bring the music level up just a bit quick and partly mask the last word of the voice-over. All that needs is you to drag the fade up about 0.5secs to the right. The other two points are the rather intrusive pauses in the delivery of the voice over just before the two dates (one in the opening voice-over and an even bigger one in the closing voice-over). Again, these are easily remedied by simply cutting some of each pause out until the voice-over flows more naturally. Try cutting out half the gap for a first attempt. If this is too much then Undo and try a smaller bite. If half wasn't enough, take half of what's left out, and so on until you are satisfied. Just one point about the images. I found the dissolve from the last camp fire image somewhat disturbing as the red-hot fire dissolved into the eye of the soldier. This might flow better if you dissolved first to a monochrome of the camp scene (i.e. to a "grey" fire) and then dissolved that to the soldier. But, as I've said before, "it's your sequence". You must decide whether these comments have any merit or not. regards, Peter

Igor, I've just been exploring the O&A window and the way in which you've now added music playback. May I suggest the following be considered as further enhancements to this feature: 1..The ability to view the waveform in the O&A window 2..The ability to start the Play from the selected keyframe (equivalent to starting full screen preview from the currently selected slide) The ability to see the waveform will be a great help when trying to produce animation that synchronizes exactly with the musical beat. The ability to begin playing at a selected keyframe will speed up the production of complex animations on a single slide (once you've got the first 10 seconds sorted out you will not have to play through it every time you want to check the next 10 seconds) I hope you can include both of these. It will make the creation of animation much quicker. regards, Peter

Igor, The new slideshow engine is wonderful. I gave v5.6beta1 "Kaleidoscope" to play with - and the animations are so silky smooth, it's unbelieveable! Well done to everyone who has been involved with this work. And those 3D transitions are great, too!. Many thanks to you all. Peter

I use the menu approach myself. I talk "live" when the menu is displayed and then let the recorded voice do the work as each sequence runs. I think this adds variety to the experience for the audience. regards, Peter

Hi Umberto, I cannot think of a good way to do what you want. As far as your computer is concerned the menu sequence and the sequence which you start from it are simply two unrelated tasks. The only solution I can think of would be to build a Play and a Pause button into your menu sequence and use those to control the sound manually. It wouldn't be a neat and tidy solution but it would work. regards, Peter

Hi Jan, I think Lin has misunderstood your explanation of the problem. I've just done a little test setting up a project that uses just five slides as follows: BlackSlide, Image1, Image2, Image1, BlackSlide I then selected the first occurence of Image1 in the Slide List area, right-clicked on it and renamed it to Image1A. In the Slide List, both instances of the image showed their new name. In the File Panel above, the image showed its new name. But in the mini-player area there was a blue bar telling me that the image could not be found. I previewed the sequence using the Preview button and it worked as it should, no error messages. I did File...Save As... and saved the project, closed PTE, re-launched PTE and re-opened the project - and now there were no blue bar error messages in the mini-player. regards, Peter

Hello Jan, Welcome to the Forum. In another post elsewhere in the forum today, Igor has admitted that there are aspects of the mini-player (what you called the "small preview window") that are still not quite right. I think your problem might be resolved by saving the project, closing PTE, re-launching PTE and re-opening the project. To protect and preserve your existing project I would recommend that you do File...Save As... and give the project a new name. That way, if I am wrong, you will still have your previous version of the project to go back to. I hope you have many happy hours creating sequences using PTE. regards, Peter

Igor, I don't think you need to remove the feature. I get the impression from the posts that people make to the forum that this feature is used when they want a simple sequence building quickly. Those who want to build more complex sequences, (sequences where they are controlling what happens and when it happens), they are usually willing to accept that they must take full control. I would suggest that you make a small change to the Project Options...Main tab. At present you have a large gap between "Synchronize music and slides" and "Auto spread slides along music". I would suggest closing this gap and then putting underneath "Auto spread slides along music" the following text: (Works only with Create/Preview/Video buttons) In this way you leave the feature enabled for those who want to use it, but you warn them that it does have some limitations. regards, Peter

I think a new bug in v5.5 may have been identified today. See this post for more details. http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ost&p=57507 regards, Peter

Gary, I've just done a more comprehensive test along the same lines as before except that this time I removed a slide via the slide list, added a slide via the slide list, removed a slide via the timeline and added a slide via the timeline. After each change I Preview-ed the sequence. And each time I Preview-ed it, it spread the slides out evenly to the music. If, however, I run it in the mini-player area then it doesn't abide by the auto-spread request. So, by implication (but I haven't tested this), I would expect the Create to create an exe that behaved just like the Preview-ed version. Bottom line is that PTE is behaving very intuitively in all situations except when played back through the mini-player. Now, it's possible that Igor might regard this as a bug. I personally would do so. I believe the slide sequence (in terms of timings) should appear the same irrespective of whether it is Preview-ed or played in the mini-player. As far as I can see, there's absolutely no need for any of the options to be changed or moved around in any of the windows. Re your additional comment: "Synchronize music and slides" does not spread the slides along the music. It is not intended to do this. Read my previous post. "Auto spread..." is the option that is intended to do this - and it does it very well and every time! regards, Peter Added later: The whole idea of the values in the various Project Options tabs is that these are project-level global values; i.e. values that apply to the entire project. Keeping them on these tabs is simply keeping them where they should be.

Don, Yes I use Vista (Home Premium SP1) but it isn't a Vista issue. I've just done a quick test as follows: I created a sequence of seven slides, each of duration 7 seconds - total sequence time 49 seconds and gave it a piece of music (via Project Options...Music) that was 30 seconds long. With "Synchronize music and slides" ticked and "Auto spread slides along music" not ticked I then Preview-ed the show. The music ran for 30 seconds and the slides kept on going for 49 seconds - exactly as I expected. I then ticked "Auto spread slides along music" and Preview-ed again. This time the slides and the music both ran for 30 seconds. Finally, I removed one slide and Preview-ed once more. Again the slides (only 6 of them now) and the music ran through together for 30 seconds. Everything behaves just as I expected it would. When I look at the Timeline, all six slides are greyed out at their 7 second spacing, there's a red line at Music ends (also greyed out) and a long warning in blue text about Auto spread being ticked in Project Options. PTE is doing exactly what it should in this situation. I firmly believe that the real problem here is that "Synchronise music and slides" is misleading. It doesn't do what inexperienced users expect it to do. It doesn't synchronise the length of the slides to the length of the music. What it does is to ensure that, when you do a Preview from a slide other than the first slide, the position of the soundtrack is synchronized to the start point within the sequence: i.e. if you start at a slide that is 1 min and 43 secs into the sequence then the soundtrack file is positioned to 1 min 43 secs - and the sequence then runs from that point fully synchronized to real time. It isn't a fault in PTE. It isn't a problem with Vista. Everything is working as it is supposed to work. It's the user who thinks it should do something else. regards, Peter

Tom, I'm a firm believer in "If it ain't broke don't fix it!" too. But I'm also on the lookout for ways to "work smarter not harder". I now realise that I can omit a click or two (that's a reduced chance of RSI for me and a longer life expectancy for the little electronic rodent!) regards, Peter