fh1805

Greg, I agree that there are users out there who want to do everything through PTE. Sometimes I do a "proof of concept" build in PTE, just to get a feel for how it all might come together. Those sequences usually have only two or three sound files involved. When it comes to assembling a complex soundtrack, I prefer something with a good graphical representation, including drag and drop capability. That's why I use Audacity (same thing as your "sound forge"?). I'm currently working on a ten and a half minute soundtrack for a sequence about Killhope Lead Mine in Weardale, in the north of England. It has 49 individual sound track items - 26 voice-over clips and 23 ambient sound recording clips - all recorded on location, all cross-faded into one another. For me, the advantage of Audacity over PTE is that I can see anywhere up to 20 tracks at the same time, rather than just one track at a time; and can have perhaps five or six of them opened at a size that I can do detailed work on. Once the Killhope sequence is finished, later this year, I'll be posting it to the forum as there are no copyright issues associated with so doing - I own all the copyright; images, sound and assembly. Peter

I know that feeling!

Dave, Now that's interesting! I, too, get the fade-in applied if there is only one piece of music. Further investigation finds that applying Crossfading has the effect of applying a fade-in to the start of the selected item and a fade-out to the end of the immediately previous item: which is quite logical. As you indicated in a subsequent post, Crossfading is irrelevant to a single item and so should be greyed-out until there are two or more items in that Track. I think I would go one stage further and suggest that, for Crossfading to become not greyed-out, two or more sound files should have been selected in the Project Options...Music tab. For now, however, the important thing is that we've got the rabbit back in the hutch! Gary, Yes I did! regards, Peter

No it doesn't! Following the sequence of events that I described above, and using PTE v7.0.3 with two MP3 files running under Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - it does NOT apply a fade-in to the start of music#1 in Track1 when adding a non-zero value to the "Crossfading" field of music#2 in Track1. If this software does one thing for me and something different for you guys, there's a rabbit loose somewhere. As far as I know I haven't changed any Project Options that would influence the way PTE handles its sound files. regards, Peter Editted to add two screen shots: Capture2 with 9 seconds crossfading on second item Capture3 with no crossfading on second item

Gary, No it hasn't! When I apply crossfading to music #2 there is no change to the start of music #1, only to the end of it where it overlaps with music#2. Are you 100% cast-iron sure that you are using the version of the piece of music that you think you are using? Peter

Dave, I rarely know precisely where I am along the timeline when I am compiling soundtracks - nor do I usually care. My concern is to align a particular part of one waveform with a particular part of another waveform. The assembly of the soundtrack, using Audacity, is done as much by eye as it is by ear - probably more so most of the time. The timing of the slides and their transitions are then fine-tuned to the soundtrack. Ignoring any software product differences, does this mean we work in different ways and are therefore looking for different features? Peter

Gary, What is this default cross-fade of 5 seconds? I do not see this. When I add a music item to a track and click on Customize, I see all zeros except for the duration and the volume level (100%). Also, I have just started a new project and added two pieces of music to Track 1. I then selected the second piece of music (music #2) and set Crossfading to 4 seconds. What happend was that the start point of music #2 was moved forward by four seconds to overlap the end of the first piece of music (music #1), the first 4 seconds of music#2 was faded in and the last four seconds of music #1 was faded out. This is exactly what I would expect to happen apply a cross-fade to two pieces of music in the same track. I do not believe PTE is written to apply a cross-fade across two music items that are in different Tracks. In this respect it lacks flexibility compared to Audacity, Audition, etc., where the user has total control over each individual piece irrespective of which track it is in. It is meaningless to set a value for "Crossfading" on the first item in a track as there is no other piece before it to be cross-faded with. You don't set a value for "Crossfading" on both items: only on the second item. Peter

Having spent a good deal of this morning trying to replicate the effect that Xaver and Howard achieved, I decided that I didn't like the wafer thin lid and so have abandoned all thought of going down this route. But I have learned a lot about distorting images in Photoshop Elements and you never know when new knowledge might come in useful! What I thought Howard was describing, and what I actually did, was to carefully cut out both the open lid and the closed lid into separate PNG files. I then created a new file that was the same size as my full image in the sequence (in the final form sequence that's 1624x1080) and used copy & paste to paste in the two PNG file images as layers - giving three layers in all. I then used Image...Transform...Distort in Photoshop Elements to distort the two PNG image layers to be as close to rectangular as I could get them. I then added these to a new image rectangle and used the Move tool to drag their edges until they completely filled the rectangle. At this point I then saved them under new names as PNG images. I finally added these images to my existing frame to observe the animation result -and at that point decided that a thin lid was not right. This exercise has been, for me, a typical "learning curve" session. At the end of the day, I haven't used the material - but I've learned much that is new to me and had some fun doing so. Oh, the joys of being retired! Peter

Oh, yes... and it would be very useful indeed to have the flags to show where each slide change starts (and the grey bars that indicate how long the transition runs for). regards, Peter P.S. I'm not sure that we need to have stereo waveforms, do we? An ability to show each waveform as mono would allow us to save some vertical space on the screen and thus see more individual pieces of waveform (four items instead of two in your illustration, Dave)

And we need to be able to drag those waveforms along the timeline, too. regards, Peter

John, If you click on the Mask object (not the container, not the real image in the container but the mask image object, and go to the Animation tab, you can "pop" the button and then adjust each zoom independently. "More ways of killing a cat..." regards, Peter

Gary, If you do not want fades then simply add the first MP3 with normal settings and then add the second MP3 to the same Track and assign it an Offset value that "moves" it along the timeline by the appropriate amount. For example if you want MP3 no.2 to begin after the first 2m45s of MP3 no.1, set the offset of no.2 to be 2m45s. However, the point that Lin has been making is that the way to achieve a smooth transition from one piece of music to the next is to have the first one slowly fade out as the second one slowly fades in (i.e. using what is called a "cross-fade"). I always use Audacity for all my sound assembly so cannot comment on how well PTE implements its cross-fade. regards, Peter

Lin, There is no installed lighting in the mine; it all comes from the flash gun attached to the camera. I wouldn't be able to achieve the same angle of lighting if I shot the lid "straight on". Peter

John, You can also click the button between the two zoom fields and then use the up/down arrows of each field to change the values independently. (At least, you can for other image objects, I've not tried this with a mask container). Peter

My thanks to Dave, Lin, Eric, Xaver and Howard for all your replies. I finally understood, from Howards post, the step I was missing out. I need to convert the open and closed lids into rectangular form before adding them to my animated frame. I'll not be able to follow up on this immediately as I'm out at friends this evening: but guess what I'll be doing tomorrow! Once again, thanks for the assistance. regards, Peter

I am working on a sequence about the lead-mining industry in Weardale, in the north of England. I have two images of a "thunderbox"; one with lid open and one with lid closed. They were taken using a tripod so the box is "in register" between the two images. I would like, if possible, to animate the opening and closing of the lid. I have included a link here to a "proof-of-concept" sequence. I reasoned that I would need a "frame" to carry the animated objects, and so used a PTE rectangle to experiment with distorting the frame to fit the perspective of the original images. My problem now is that, whilst I can successfully animate the rectangle to move as I want the lid to move, I don't understand how to add the two faces of the lid - and still retain their existing perspective through the animation. Hence my question in the title of this topic - am I asking the impossible? I think that the client will be pleased with the effects I have achieved in the full sequence, using the two images and carefully chosen and timed transitions, but if I could get the lid animated I know that would blow the clients mind! I sense that what I need is to be able to "free transform" a couple of PNG images of the two sides of the lid. But PTE doesn't support "free transform" (i.e. moving just one corner of the object), does it? Any thoughts, anyone? regards, Peter

Karl, Which "Publish" option are you using? When I want to output a video file I use "HD Video for PC and Mac", select the option appropriate for my image size and choose High Quality from the presets. Peter

Davy, The choice of music is always a subjective, personal decision. I didn't find that your choice detracted from the sequence in any way - but it wouldn't have been my choice. I'm not sure what my choice would have been as I don't take this kind of subject. I don't have the right kind of "seeing eye" when I'm out with my camera. I wish I did, because I just love shape and texture imagery. Thanks for sharing - and for inspiring me to keep looking until I do see. Peter

Gary, I don't like having to say this, but that is part of the problem. When you come up against a tricky problem on the computer, the worst thing you can do is try too many things too quickly. For the benefit of others reading this topic: When you get a problem - STOP! Think back carefully over the last few changes you have made - any change, every change, however small and innocuous it seemed at the time Think back to the last few minutes, earlier today, yesterday, earlier in the week, last week, last month. The further back you go, the more you consider just the significant or major changes Could any of these changes have triggered your problem? If so, STOP! Do you know how to reverse the suspected change? If you do: what changes that you made after that one were dependent upon that one? Build up an understanding of the knock-on effect; because if you undo that change you will have to deal with the knock on effect of doing so. One final point to consider: if you undo the suspect change, do you know how to redo it again? And do you understand what the new knock on effect will be? Now that you think you understand the situation that you face, you are ready to tackle to problem. You tackle it one small step at a time and you verify the effect of each step before moving on to the next. If, at any point, the result is unexpected: STOP! - and think it out again. The right course of action may be to reverse your last step and re-diagnose from there. regards, Peter

Brian, From your original post, I don't think you need the extra function of a colour mask. Why not try the simple approach of a black and white mask? I'm fairly confident it will do what you want (i.e. allow the outside world to zoom whilst the car interior remains static. Peter

PTE requires its mask images to be "black and white". It doesn't support coloured masks at present. Peter

Consider the following structure of objects: SlideA Mask Container --SlideB --Mask Image The black part of your mask image shows SlideA. The white part of your mask image shows SlideB. If you apply the zoom to the Mask Container, both the mask image and SlideB will be zoomed together. If you apply the zoom to just SlideB, only SlideB will move. regards, Peter

Moises, The term used in the fashion trade is "catwalk"; so - "catwalk models" Peter

Is copying the whole image and using a "Quick" transition an option? Peter

Having read some of the comments posted in response to your item, I am left wondering whether any of them fully understand what you need the PC for. Not one of them made any specific mention of any experience with PTE. Back your own judgement! Peter