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Gary, Intermittent problems are the hardest of all to resolve - precisely because you get so few chances to do any diagnosis. The tendency is always to jump in and try and correct things without thinking too much about doing any investigation first. Since this particular sequence of yours now has a "history" of causing problems might I suggest the following approach?: - instead of doing Save of the PTE project file, do File Save As and give each copy a simple version number (e.g. MyProjv2, MyProjv3, etc.) - instead of doing Create of the EXE file you do File Create Slideshow As and give each copy a simple version number The simplest way of operating this technique is, when you open the project at the start of each edit session, do an immediate File Save As to the next version number. Then, when you are ready to do your EXE file creation, the File Create As will automaticaly offer you the same name - and having done the Create As, if you close PTE down at that point, you will be prompted to Save the project. Saying Yes to this prompt means you end up with a *.pte file and a *.exe file that match in content and version number. Good luck. regards, Peter

Gary, Hit me with it! I've got all weekend in front of me! Seriously for a moment, if you get a recurrence of your resize problem, dig around and see if you can find something that is unique to the image (and its objects) that is causing the problem. Dont overlook things like file type and file size. If nothing strikes you, consider posting the .pte file as an attachment - or using nobeefstu's PTE Project Reporter to see if that finds anything unusual. Also, try and find a sequence of events that can reproduce the problem - guaranteed! If you can achieve this last, then we all have a chance of being able to recreate it ourselves and that will speed up problem diagnosis and resolution. regards, Peter

Hi Gary, Yet another one of your specials! I've never encountered this myself but checking the following might just give you a pointer: - is the Main Image of any of these slides one of the objects that is giving you this problem? - is the problem associated only with objects that are children? - do the faulty objects have any children of their own? - what O&A---Common---Mode value do the various objects have? - is there any suggestion that it happens only to one particular Mode value? - do you have any unwanted keyframes on any of the problem images? - do the problem images all have an "origin" keyframe for each object that is set at time offset = 0 (giving the objects initial state)? - do any of these objects have any "unusual" parameters set (i.e. different from the values you normally use)? In your position I'd be trying to spot a "pattern of occurence". Sorry I can't be more helpful at this stage. regards, Peter

Good work, Eric! I for one look forward to seeing Arthur's first offering. regards, Peter

Hi Arthur, Welcome to the Forum! I'm pleased to hear that the collective brain power of the forum has managed to get your system into full working order. Have fun with PTE! regards, Peter

I just hope I get to that age! regards, Peter

Hi Eric, Yes, the zip file that comes down to your machine when you download PTE from the WnSoft website is called apr-deluxe.zip. If you've got a file of this name on your machine then that is the file that you want to copy to your USB stick. regards, Peter

Eric, Step 1 and 2 are wrong, or I've misunderstood you! Somewhere on your machine you should still have the zip file that you downloaded from the WnSoft website in order to get the v5.52 software. You would then have used that zip file to install your copy of PTE v5.52. What you now need to copy to your memory stick at Step 1/Step 2 is that zip file - NOT the installed software files from C:\Program Files\WnSoft Pictures To Exe\. Unfortunately I have no way of knowing where you might have hidden the zip file on your system. If you cannot find the zip file, the simple solution is to download a fresh copy of it from the WnSoft website (www.wnsoft.com) and save that copy onto your memory stick. After that you seem to have the right idea. I know what it is like to try and teach "elder statesmen" about computers. I'm a tutor at a "Computing for Beginners" course in my village. Our oldest student is a gent of 83 years of age who has never used a computer or a typewriter in his life. It's a big challenge - but I'm enjoying it. More to the point - so is he! regards, Peter

OK, you caught me out! I didn't even process the file attachment in the manner that I described in the FAQ (I'll own up to that before you catch me out there as well!). Eric's problem is proving very useful for increasing my knowledge about the keys and the registry entries. Once we know we've solved the problem, I'll update the FAQ to take into account what we're learning here. regards, Peter

Eric (aka Yachtsman1) I've done the tests on the old XP-based laptop with results as follows: On my desktop system I navigated into the emails that you forwarded and found the attached file - reg.txt. I right-clicked on this and saved it to a USB memory stick as reg.txt. On a second memory stick I already had the zip file for v5.52 as a left-over from when I upgraded my Vista laptop to PTE V5.52. I next turned to the old XP-based laptop (Lost about two hours while it did some Norton updates and some Windows XP updates. As it hadn't been powered up for about two weeks, these didn't come as a surprise!). Once it was all up to date, I copied the PTE zip from the USB stick to the desktop and copied the reg.txt from the other stick to the desktop. I installed PTE 5.52 taking all the default options. When I ran it, it behaved as expected and even allowed me to preview a sequence of more than 10 slides - which did surprise me! I then remembered that this machine had had a version of PTE installed at one time but I had uninstalled it months ago. I closed down PTE and looked into the registry using regedit and, sure enough, there was the PTE key entry from the previously installed version. I deleted this key entry - as Xaver and nobeefstu have pointed out, you need to be looking at the entry for PTE and not those two for PicturesToExe that you found. Having delete the key entry, I ran PTE 5.52 again (no need to uninstall/install) and now I got the prompt to register, which I ignored at this point. When I tried to preview a 20 slide sequence I go the warning about having only 10 slides in a sequence. I closed PTE down and re-laucnhed it. This time I took the "Load a key" and navigated to the reg.txt file on the Windows Desktop. It took this and accepted it. Now, when I previewed the 20 slide sequence there was no warning. The key had been accepted and was working as expected. Whilst I was in regedit I had noticed that there was another key entry further down the list for WnSoft. When I expanded that, there was a "child" entry for Video-Builder. This entry contained the product key for Video-Builder. So, what you need to do, young man is, I believe: - Save Arthur's reg.txt file to a USB stick. Save your PTE v5.52 install zip to a USB stick - Go to Arthur's and uninstall his existing PTE v5.52 - Edit the registry using regedit; navigating as per the instructions you got from Xaver - Delete the entire entry for PTE and if there is one, the one for VideoBuilder under Wnsoft - Close regedit - Install PTE v5.52 from the zip file on your memory stick (or from Arthur's zip file if he still has it) - When PTE prompts for the "Load a key", point it at the reg.txt on your memory stick - Check out the key is working by building a sequence that uses more than 10 images and try and preview it. - If that test works, start the process of building a DVD-Video, if you're going to get a key warning it'll come up when you are assigning the .pte project into the DVD-Video project or shortly thereafter Hope this gets him going, regards, Peter

Gary, I'm pleased you've got it sorted. I've only ever used Photoshop Elements (v3 at first under XP and now v5 under Vista), so I can't help directly with any questions on other flavours of Photoshop. regards, Peter

Dom, Some wonderful macro images there and a very pleasing visual effect. Great work! Gary, It is possible to do the white border in PTE: by placing the image as a child of a plain white rectangle and adjusting the zoom values of the x and y axes separately. But it is easier to do it via Photoshop in one of two ways: Method 1 Open the image file in Photoshop, Select All and then do Edit...Stroke (Outline) Selection... (this is the command sequence in Photoshop Elements 5) Method 2 Use Photoshop to create a new transparent image and then apply method 1, saving the result as a png file. Then in PTE add this png file as a child object of the actual image and with the settings of "Fit to Slide". The outline frame will automatically sit around the edge of your main image. Note that the parent object doesn't have to be a main image; it could be a subsidiary image (i.e. a picture-in-picture). regards, Peter

If any of the members of this forum (or guests browsing this forum) live within easy reach of Middlesbrough in the north-east of England, you might be interested in this. A meeting is being held at 7:30pm on Wednesday 29th October 2008 in the Gallery Room of the Southlands Centre, Ormesby Road, Middlesbrough for the purpose of forming a group, within the local area, dedicated to digital Audio-Visual. You don't have to be a member of any existing photography society or camera club, or indeed any other organisation, to come along. Please pass this information on to anyone whom you think might be interested. regards, Peter

JF, You could also take a look at the PTE Usage FAQs in the Tutorials and Articles section of this forum. There is an item there about image sizes. regards, Peter

David, If I'm putting two and two together accurately, and am right in thinking you and Tom Court go to the same club then I can place you in the geography of the UK. So I think I know which club you are speaking about - and I could probably even put a name to the individual who keeps going on about voice-over (but as we say in the UK - no names, no pack drill!) I actually have quite a bit of sympathy with the individual's views in one respect. I've attended several A-V events in the UK that were organised by the Royal Photographic Society. At these events I have experienced some sequences with sound quality bordering on the atrocious on the voice-over. And yet those same sequences have been awarded distinctions by the RPS. Putting lines around images or presenting them in a windowed mount effect, as I frequently do, is an artistic choice that should be the call of the author of the sequence. Producing a soundtrack whose quality is at least equal to that of the images is a matter of technical competence. And that is where the RPS seems to operate double standards. It demands high technical and artistic ability for the images but lets sub-standard technical quality on the soundtrack get through. Don't be put off by the pontificators. My attitude on this is: "I build my sequence how I want it to be. If others don't like it - that's tough! I'm not going to change my ways for anyone." regards, Peter

Aard, You are absolutely right. A good choice of music can result in a very pleasing sequence. A poor choice of music can result in a sequence that fails to please. I look forward to seeing more of your work in future. regards, Peter

David, As I believe you know, in some parts of the UK there are Photographic Societies and Camera Clubs. Many of these have formed groups dedicated to Audio-Visual sequences. It is a perception among some people that some of these A-V groups have, shall we say, a restricted definition of what constitutes "good" Audio-Visual work. I'll be going along to one of these groups (one that seems to have a more liberal attitude than some others) in October and taking a sequence that has not a single photograph in it. But it does combine both images (Visuals) and music (Audio) and so. in my book, it is an A-V sequence. I'll be very interested in the reaction that it gets. regards, Peter

Arendsoog, For a first attempt that was very good. You certainly know how to control the lighting and the shadows when doing table-top photography! And that is one of the most demanding of all forms of photography. With a sequence such as this, where the images do not have a specific "mood", the choice of music is perhaps less critical than in other cases. I enjoyed the pan-pipes (that's my kind of music for chilling out to!) but others may not. I felt that one or two of the images were not as sharp as they should be. It looked as if you had lost control of either the depth of field or the plane of sharp focus on some of them. The deep zoom was an excellent idea and the choice of image for it was ideal - but it went perhaps a little too deep. The image was taken beyond the point where pixel interpolation (the adding of pixels by the software) became apparent. In some respects I felt the second part (after the deep zoom) was better than the first part. I say this because now you were mixing up the transition effects. The first part had a very steady rhythm and the transitions seemed to be all simple fades. In the second part there was variety, which made it a more interesting viewing experience. Your occasional use of animation (bouncing eggs, rocking eggs and the hopping bunny at the end) also introduced variety - although the final "bounce" of the middle egg seemed just a bit too high. If this is the standard you can achieve at your first attempt, a lot of us are going to have to work hard to stay ahead of you. Well done! and thanks for letting us share this work. regards, Peter

Ian, Especially the graphics card. This sounds as though it might be another example of the known problem with some ATi cards. regards, Peter

Folks, I sense there's a new FAQ lurking here. "Where do I post an Off-Topic subject?". I'll add it to the ToDo list for batch #4 (November), regards, Peter

Eric, You might also find Stu Rand's PTE Project Reporter tool useful for digging info out of a PTE project file. It analyses the .pte file, displays it in a graphical and user friendly way and allows the creation of a new text file that presents the original information in a more user friendly manner. He posted it on the forum a couple of weeks or so back. See here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8691 regards, Peter

My pleasure! Peter

Larry, Doesn't the Project Option...Screen tab section for Backgrounds give you some of this control? You can define an image to be your tiled background instead of the default of Black. If you pick one and size it to 100% instead of the default 20% you can then achieve a pleasant effect by using the Additional Options to reduce all the main images down to, say 85-90%, and set a drop shadow. regards, Peter

Hi arendsoog, Nice to know we've another happy customer! Be warned though, building A-V sequences in PTE can become very addictive. Enjoy the experience - and the friendship to be found here. regards, Peter

Hi Severn Bore, Let's get a few more facts before we try and make a decision as to what the cause is and how best to address it. How long is this sequence supposed to be? (it's total duration is displayed at the right hand side of the line under the mini-player window) What format are each of your music files, mp3, wav or something else? I've made a rough calculation based on the four music tracks being no longer than 4 minutes each. If they are mp3 files then they'll each be about 4MB in size. So, 16MB of your 232MB could be music. The remaining 216MB is taken up mostly by your image files. So each of the 252 image files averages about 870KB in this very hypothetical scenario. This seems a little on the large size to me; but then I build to a specific end-device: my digital projector which requires only 1024x768 pixels. So my files can be reduced down to around 180-280KB each. What is the device on which you eventually expect to play this sequence? Your PC monitor? A digital projector? Something else? And what is the native resolution of this device in terms of pxels by pixels? It would also help to know more about the PC system on which you are running (or trying to run) this sequence. If you could click on the Windows "Start" button and then take: Programs---Accessories---System Tools---System Information and let me know the OS Name and Version, Processor and Installed Physical Memory (RAM) values that should give me something to work on. Almost certainly we're looking at some kind of resource shortage but what, where and why we cannot say without more information. regards, Peter