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Gary, Time Range For each object, these two fields show the time offset (in milliseconds) into the entire sequence associated with the first and last keyframe for that object. Those keyframes might be the actual keyframes programmed by the user or the implied default keyframe that coincides with the end of the main image. The two fields allow the values to be changed by direct key entry or by using the Up/Down arrows. But having dabbled a little bit with them I cannot see what effect I am having by changing these values. Would someone with more understanding than myself please explain this function? I can understand the benefit of being able to see the start and end times of objects relative to the whole sequence as well as their start end and times relative to their main image. But I do not understand why I would want to change these values using these two fields.

DaveG, Thanks for that wonderfully simple, clear explanation. I know you've posted on this subject in other threads but I've never fully understood things until now. It seems to me that the options would be better titled FIT TO SCREEN and COVER SCREEN or FIT TO MONITOR and COVER MONITOR in the English language as these better describe what they actually do.

Hi Gary, I'll deal with just one of them in this post: Transparent to Selection Let's assume you have three objects overlaid on a main image. You have zoomed them down to 50% size and positioned them so that they overlap one another to a very great degree. You now want to make a change to the lowest one. If you try and select it with a mouse click you may find that one of the other two actually gets selected because it is on top and directly under the mouse pointer when you click. To get around this you make the top two objects transparent to selection. Now when you mouse click it will be the lowest object that gets selected. It's a setting that you will use infrequently and you will probably turn it off immediately after doing the changes. But it can save a lot of frustration!

Dave, Some of what you would like can be achieved already by setting up a Template and making it your default for all new projects. But I think bringing all the User Preference options into a single dialogue point would be another step in simplifying the user interface. It would definitely simplify things for all future new users. I'd like to add to the list of items to be included: - the default text font for text objects in the O&A window - the default text colour for text objects in the O&A window - the default Drop shadow for an Object (On or Off)

Hi Royo, Let me see if I can clarify matters for you: There are three points that need to be considered: the resolution (measured in pixels x pixels), the aspect ratio and the monitor size. Resolution is expressed by the two pixel counts. The first count (e.g. 1024) indicates how many pixels (dots of colour) there will be on each horizontal row and the second pixel count (e.g. 768) indicates how many dots of colour there will be in each vertical column. The aspect ratio is simply the ratio between the two numbers making up the resolution. So, a resolution of 1024x768 is an aspect ratio of 4:3 whilst a resolution of 1280x1024 is an aspect ratio of 5:4. Monitor size is most often expressed (in the UK) as a number of inches (e.g. 17inch, 19inch). This represents the approximate diagonal length of the viewable area. Any monitor could be running at any resolution. The maximum resolution is determined by the graphics card (in a desktop system) or graphics chipset (in a laptop). It is possible to set the graphics to a different resolution (one whose numbers are lower than the maximum) if so desired. To summarize: the resolution captures the detail, the monitor size allows you to see the detail and the aspect ratio determines whether you are looking at a nearly square picture or a wide-wcreen picture. Hope this has helped your understanding.

Jeff, re: Snods Edge - I'm currently booked to appear on 18th October.

Hi Jeff, I'm in a similar position to yourself. My Nikon D70 is 3:2 (3008x2000), my desktop system's monitor is 5:4 (1280x1024) and my digital projector is 1024x768. Just to add further complication, the laptop that I use to drive the projector is 16:9 (not sure what it's pixel x pixel size is). The main purpose of my sequences (other than satisfying my desire to be creative) is to be projected to audiences. Therefore I build them to 4:3 aspect ratio at 1024x768 (i.e. to meet the needs of the projector) and use the default of "Fit to screen". I get around the mismatch between the D70's 3:2 aspect ratio and the projector's 4:3 by presenting my images either against a background or overlaid with a "windowed mount". The background and the mount are built to 1024x768. The 3:2 image is usually presented at 85%. If you can get along to Snods Edge in October you can see some of my work for yourself and ask me all the questions that you want!

John (JEB), There would be nothing wrong with inserting mp3 versions of the sound files into the "rough mix" within PTE. I was simply advocating the same sort of discipline on sound files as I adopt on my image files. That means holding off all forms of post-processing until as late as possible. I often do a rough sequence assembly using the "out of camera" JPEG files and "ripped from CD" WAV files in order to get a better feel for how it might work. Once I'm satisfied which images I am really likely to use, then I set about processing them through Photoshop. Similary, once I am more certain which parts of which pieces of music I'm likely to use, then I'll set about processing them through Audacity. My proposal (see posts above) simply added some basic "rough mix" function into PTE. This would then allow an even better feel for how the end product might turn out prior to taking the image files into a specialist image editor and the sound files into a specialist sound editor before bringing those modified files back into PTE for final assembly. For those who just want to add some nice background music to their images, they don't need much extra function. For those, like me, who frequently want to combine music, voice-over and even some sound effects into their soundtracks, some functional enrichment of PTE along the lines I suggested would, I believe, be a very welcome addition. By the way, let me make it clear that there's nothing wrong in wanting only to add music to the images - many of my sequences are of that form.

I was thinking in terms of overall file size for the finished exe. Let's take a hypothetical example: I have a sequence that involves three sound files (all encoded as WAV format to preserve audio detail). The first is 2 minutes long, the second is 1 minute long and the third is 30 seconds long. The first and second run back to back, the third spans across the join. The first is going to be about 20MB in size, the second about 10MB and the third about 5MB. If they are not post-processed then all this data has to go into the exe file. If they are post-processed in a sound editor and "mixed" and exported as an mp3 format file, the resultant sound track file will be about 3MB in size (depending on the settings chosen for the mp3 conversion). The original WAV files still exist. The original PTE project file still exists (if I remember to do a File...Save As... or a Create Backup in zip). I have all the detail I need to do any future re-work or enhancement and I have a nice compact finished exe file as well. We all of us keep our full resolution images as well as our resized ones - dont we? I was thinking along similar lines for the sound files. Keep the full resolution ones (WAVs) as well as the resized one (the mp3).

Thanks for the debate fellas! I think I can begin to see a "best of both worlds" solution. We get a facility to bring in to PTE our individual sound track files and have, within PTE, the facility to slide them around along the timeline so that we get the positioning as we want it alongside the images and alongside one another. Then, have the facility non-destructively to add fade in/fade out and volume envelope to get a rough mix. And then be able to export the soundtracks to our preferred sound editor, preserving their time relationships to one another so that we can use the full, rich function of the sound editor to do the final post-processing. Now, wouldn't that be great flexibility?

Penguin, I've got to agree with you about building the soundtrack outside PTE. I, for one, sincerely hope Igor does not try and add sound editing or sound mixing to PTE. It is my opinion that to edit my images I should use an image editor (e.g. Photoshop), to edit my sound files I should use a sound editor (e.g. Audacity) and to bring sound files and images together into an AV sequence I choose use the best - PTE.

If you get the right combination of settings and use the right technique the answer is "yes". In Project Options...Main tab - select "Synchronize music and slides" In Project Options...Music tab - add your continuous soundtrack and untick all three boxes Select the slide on which you want to add commenatry via a separate file and click on the "Add sound" icon on the upper tool bar (over at the right hand side). You will have no control over the relative volume levels of the soundtrack music and the voice-over commentary. If you want such control you need to use a sound editor program. A popular choice with forum members is Audacity - a freeware program that can be downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. There is a User Guide to Audacity for AV workers available via a thread in the Tutorials section of the forum.

Hi geo, Welcome to the forum! You said "I've added a short audio" to a slide..." I am inferring from this that you used "Customize Slide...Music tab" to do it and not "Project Options...Music tab". I've been able to recreate your problem. I'm fairly certain that you have the option "Repeat music after playing" ticked in the "Project Options...Music Tab". It may be greyed out. You need to "untick" this option. To do so, you might need to add a piece of music in order to get the option into a selectable state. Once you have unticked this box (and removed any music file that you added in order to get the untick to take effect), you should find that the sound item you have already added to your single slide will play just the once. Igor, if you read this, did you expect the "Repeat music after playing" option to work in this way. I was expecting the values in the Project Options...Music tab to operate only on music items specified in the Project Options...Music tab.

Just place the button via the O&A window and then, using the Properties tab, reduce the Button Opacity to 0 and delete the word "Button" from the text area. Hey presto - button is invisible but still there! Just a word of advice, though. How will you know where the invisible buttons are and what they each do? Right now, while you are building the sequence their location and function is going to be fresh in your mind. But what about a few weeks later, when other things have pushed this knowledge out of your mind? Will you still remember it all? If, for some reason, you don't like the physical appearance of the buttons, have you considered using thumbnail images instead?

I also install new software versions into folders that are unique to that version, for the same reasons as John. I also save all the download zip files under names of my choosing that reflect the software and the version. For example: I currently have the following zip files for PTE in my Downloads folder:- - pte447 - pte449 - pte504 - pte510 - pte550 - pte552 And of those the following are currently installed as active versions: - v4.49 - v5.10 - v5.50 - v5.52 Yes, I know, I don't need all those versions - but when I'm giving a demonstration of PTE I like to be able to show the changes that have taken place recently. The only versions that get used on a regular basis are v4.49 and v5.50 (and that last will shortly get supplanted by v5.52). Keeping all the zip files means that I can quickly re-install a particular version if ever I need to check out something about that version.

Oh dear! Fill the lamp with oil and brew plenty of coffee; sounds like you will need both! I hope you get things sorted in time.

Igor, I've also just downloaded v5.52 and on first sight it seems to be OK. John, What steps did you go through to get the problem? If you let me have some details I'll see if I can recreate the problem on my installation.

The simplest solution is to not use the template feature at all. Prepare your special slide in a one-slide sequence and save this as normal. When you want to include this special slide in another sequence proceed as follows: Launch PTE and File...Open... your special slide sequence On the Slide List view, select the special slide and Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard In this same instance of PTE do File...Open... of the sequence that you want to add the special slide into In the Slide List view select the slide before which you want the special slide to appear and Ctrl+V to insert the slide from the clipboard It is vital that you do not close down PTE between the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V otherwise the clipboard contents get deleted. It's actually easier to do than to describe how to do it. If you know when you start a new sequence that you will want to include the special slide then simply open the special slide sequence into PTE and do File...Save As... to the name of your new project and add the remaining images.

There are several places where a decision made in respect of a setting value can influence how PTE v5.5 behaves with regard to the playing of the music alongside the slides. I am deliberately avoiding the word "synchronize" as I believe that PTE's use of this word is sometimes at odds with what might be thought of as "common usage" of the word. In the Project Options...Main tab there are two tick boxes: "Synchronize music and slides" and "Auto spread slides along music". If you tick "Synchronize..." and leave "Auto spread..." unticked then PTE will position the soundtrack file to the correct point for playback whenever you use the "Start Preview from the current slide" button on the lower toolbar. If you untick "Synchronize..." then PTE will commence playback of the soundtrack from the beginning no matter which slide you select when you use the "Start Preview from the current slide" button. No matter which setting you choose for "Synchronize...", the setting of the "Auto spread..." value has no effect. Tick it: nothing happens. Untick it: nothing happens. As Lin said in one of his posts above: it looks as though it is a redundant tick box. In the Timeline view, as an option behind the "Timed points" button can be found "Arrange all points". Click on this and your slides will be spread evenly along the durantion of your soundtrack file. The slides will be spread evenly no matter which setting you have chosen for "Synchronize..." as discussed above. Finally, keep an eye on the "Repeat music after playing" tick box on the Music tab of Project Options. This can have unwanted effects if not set correctly.

Ken, don't confuse the poor fellow! An exe file runs in its own window and doesn't require any "player" software.

The solution to your last point is already present in PTE v5. In the Common tab tick the box "Transparent to Selection" for the object that you do not want to be detected when you use the mouse to select and drag some other object.

But you would not then be able to run your PTE sequence on another PC that didn't have PTE installed.

Just confirming that I use "Auto-Scroll - Style 2".

Ron, I've just tried to re-create the problem as I understand it from your description using v5.50. I get the jump which you describe only in one set of circumstances, as follows: Using the Timeline display, if I try and select a slide that is within two seconds or less of the extreme right hand edge of the currently visible part of the timeline then the slide is selected but the Timeline display is scrolled to position this selected slide just off the extreme left-hand edge. If the selected slide is over two seconds away from the right hand edge I dont get the repositioning of the timeline, just the selection of the slide as expected. I am unable to recreate the "jump" when selecting a slide that is close to, or overlapped with, the left hand edge of the view.

Ian, Which version of PTE are you using? I've just followed the sequence of events that you describe and, when I close the O&A window, the image in the Slide List reflects that changes I've made. I used v5.5.