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So that means you have added some soundfiles via "Customize Slides". You need to find these and remove them if all your music is also added via Project Options. I'm afraid there's no easy way to do that. You will have to check each slide in turn. regards, Peter

If you've added the music via Project Options|Music, what's stopping you from ticking the "sync music with slides" box? Doing this should solve your problem. The effect of ticking that box is to ensure that, whatever slide you ask PTE to display, the music is synchronised to the correct time point along the timeline. regards, Peter

Further to the debate about accuracy and precision... I've just opened my PTE project file in Notepad and had a look at what PTE has saved. Because I was folding three of my sides in from the "opened out" horizontal position, I entered the rotate value as 127.043 for these three sides (127.043 = 180-52.9573 rounded to three decimal places) and entered 52.957 for the fourth side. Within the PTE project file these values are stored as 127.042994 for side#4 and side#3, 127.040002 for side#2 and 52.957001 for side#1. Within the PTE O&A window, all four values are shown to just two decimal places. So, I think this confirms that PTE internally works to six decimal places. But why the different conversions of 127.043? Dave, this suggests to me that your push for absolute mathematical accuracy is, at times, likely to be thwarted by PTE's variation in its own precision. Or am I missing something highly significant in what PTE is doing? regards, Peter

Jean-Cyprien, Merci, mon ami. A little longer to view each slide would have been nice. But you have enabled keyboard control so it is possible to pause on each slide and really study what you are describing. Thank you for taking the time to provide these explanations. regards, Peter

Further to that last post of mine about accuracy... If I've got my trigonometry correct, the difference in height of a right angle triangle having a base angle of 52.9573 and one having a base angle of 52.96 is less than one quarter of a pixel on a base side of 1920 pixels. (See screenshot for spreadsheet values) regards, Peter

Dave, Can I go back to the accuracy debate, please? In your earlier postings in this topic you stressed the need for accuracy in respect of the "slope angle" and quoted a value at four decimal places. Did you notice that PTE apparently rounded down the X and Y rotation values to just two decimal places in the 3D Parameters fields? You can prove this as follows: key in a three decimal place value into either X Rotate or Y Rotate. For as long as you keep that object the selected object it shows three decimal places. Select a different object, do nothing and re-select the previous object and the values now show as two decimal places. (That test was done using v7 beta 9). The software may have retained full precision "under the covers"; but its external appearance is of rounding to two decimal places. Perhaps your desire for mathematical accuracy cannot be matched by the software? Another point to get clarified via Igor, I think. I'm not saying you're wrong to seek mathematical accuracy, just that there must now be some doubt as to the product's ability to deliver. It may just be a cosmetic issue in the way the data is presented back to the user: then again, it may not! regards, Peter

Dave, No, I'm afraid not. Like you, I understand its effect; but that's all. I suggest you PM or e-mail Igor and ask him to post some technical details here for everyone's benefit. When I did my empirical investigations (wth v6.0 betas) they seemed to show that the result of 100 of Pan Z was different at different object sizes and at different O&A Zoom settings of those objects. I never did try to get to the bottom of it because all I wanted was the right effect. And on the subject of accuracy: since our monitors (and projectors) cannot handle anything smaller than a whole pixel, just how precise do we have to be? Do we always need three decimal places of accuracy? I'm a firm believer in the creed "near enough is good enough". To me, if the position is looking right on screen then that is all I require. It doesn't have to be mathematically perfect. regards, Peter

Brian, Using PTE 6.5.7 and an existing sequence that didn't use a Start Window, all I did was go into Project Options...Main, clicked on the Customize Windows button alongside the descriptor "Windows (Help, Startup, Custom)". In the resultant pop-up window I ticked "Show Startup Window" and then clicked on the "Edit Startup" window. This took me to a panel where I could have added an image and text to my Startup window. I "OK"'d my way back out and ran a "Preview". The Startup window was displayed silently and the sequence began, with properly synchronized music when the Run button was clicked. Hope this helps. I'm not sure where these controls are in v6.0. regards, Peter

Dave, I build them the way that I think about them - and no doubt you do too! When doing Rubik's Cube with v6.0 I asked Igor if a non-visible object imposed any processing overhead. He replied that there was no overhead as far as the load on the graphics card was concerned. Ever since I have used frames plentifully; I find they help me to compartmentalize my thinking and my building of the animation. Each to their own. Now, all we have to do is get Sheila across the finish line, too. regards, Peter

Dave, Thanks for this challenge, it's been great fun to do a Great Pyramid! I've re-learned trigonometry that I hadn't used since sixth form (almost 45 years ago). But, it has to be said, doing it with Excel spreadsheets was a lot easier than looking values up in sine/cosine/tangent tables. And I've also learned how to use rulers set to pixels to help me get accurate placement of selections in Photoshop. All in all, a pleasant and instructive way to spend a wet bank Holiday Sunday afternoon. Once again, thanks for the idea. regards, Peter P.S. I think, in Sheila, we've discovered a kindred spirit!

Sheila, You're almost there. I had to do the last bit by trial and error as far as values were concerned. Try proceeding from what you've uploaded as follows: Return Frame2 to lie flush with Frame1. Turn Frame 1 through about 85-86 degrees around the Y-axis. Re-select Frame2 and use the little arrow buttons of Pan Z in order to push the pyramid through Frame1 into the picture. What you are looking for is how much pan Z is needed to get the apex of the pyramid just touching the plane of Frame1. You'll probably need to keep giving Frame1 the full 90 treatment to check how close you are. Once you are there, you need just one quarter of the pan Z value to position Frame2 so that it sits with its geometric centre on the plane of Frame1. Now just re-apply your original rotate back onto Frame2 - and that should be it! regards, Peter

Sussed it! (I hope!) Peter GreatPyramid 0v1_May29-2011_17-45-09.zip

I've built the basic pyramid shape using rectangular sides; and so I know I've got my maths right for the slope height and the internal slope angle. But now I've hit a "technology brick wall" and I'd welcome a point in the right direction: how does one create a precise triangle shape in Photoshop (Elements for preference)? I've tried using the Polygonal Lasso to select from the rectangular sides but cannot get a precise enough fit into the corner and onto the edges to be certain of getting all the pixels. I know that if I could get the triangles produced I will need only to substitute those images for the existing rectangles. My PTE skills are fine; it's my Photoshop skills that are letting me down. Peter

That's what right-clicks do on my system, too! Peter

Gayland, A thought for you to consider: sometimes it's best if an old dog doesn't try and learn new tricks. Remember: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"! regards, Peter

What is the status of "Permit control of show using keyboard" in Project Options...Advanced? I think it will need to be ticked to achieve what you want. regards, Peter

Steph, It sounds to me as though you need to tick "Synchronize music and slides" in Project Options...Main. This option, when ticked, instructs PTE to position the soundtrack to the same time point in the sequence as the slide that you are previewing from. regards, Peter

Paul, If you haven't already done so, place your cube assembly as a child of a Frame parent. Then, with the Frame object selected in the Objects list of the O&A window, go to the Animation tab and click on "3D parameters". Experiment with some Rotate X and Rotate Y values between two keyframes. regards, Peter

Dave, What you attached was the zipped EXE file. The Template would be much more useful! regards, Peter

You can turn off "Load Last Project" by using View...Advanced Options and unticking that item. With regards to the audio file size, I find that using MP3 at 192kbps provides a good quality of sound in a reasonably compact file (something under 1.5MB per minute). regards, Peter

Ave, If you rename the notepad .txt file to a .reg file and then double-click on the file name in Windows Explorer that should install the programme key. Double-click on the VideoBuilder .reg file should install that key. More recent versions of PTE have used a much shorter key and have packaged it differently to the very long text file form. But both forms of key are accepted by the current versions of PTE. regards, Peter

Paul, That's the way to keep the system healthy. I also periodically study the list of installed programs via Control Panel and uninstall those that I no longer use (usually ones I've downloaded and tried out but haven't stayed with). One other aspect that users need to be aware of: installing and running software under Windows is different on a multi-user system compared to a single user system. regards, Peter

Lin, I learned that trick when doing my Rubik's Cube sequence. I also had to split some of the slides like that in order to resolve some issues surrounding "Show Front/Show Back". Ideally I would have liked the ability to change the "Show..." settings at a keyframe. regards, Peter

Dave, No problems running it on my system. I gather that you hit the problem of "object stack order". Unfortunately, our intellect is greater than PTE's (no disrespect to Igor and his team). When doing X-axis or Y-axis transformations, we can look at objects moving in a 3D domain and work out that, at a particular point in time, Object A will disappear behind Object B because of their virtual displacement along the "Z-axis". PTE knows only their relative order in the object stack and will always show them in that order, irrespective of their virtual "Z-axis" displacements. regards, Peter

John, Yes, many modern TVs have a USB port that supports the playback of several different video file formats. I use "Create| HD Video for PC and Mac" to create H.264 MP4 files. regards, Peter