fh1805

Using v7.5.2, I am working on a larger than usual sequence: currently 196 slides with duration 19m40s. I have set the "Size of pictures..." slider in the upper toolbar to show me approximately half of the slides when I switch to Fullscreen mode of the Slides view. At this size I can still recognise each image easily. However, whenever I switch from normal Slides view to Fullscreen mode of the Slide view (using the "triangle") the display always positions itself to start from slide no.1. When I am working in the second half of the sequence I have to scroll the Fullscreen display vertically to bring up the currently selected slide. Would it not be better for PTE to adjust the vertical scroll position so that the selected slide is automatically visible? Addition: Also, PTE does not remember the slider setting across a shutdown/restart. (I did not save the project. I simply adjusted the slider to show me the desired number of images then closed down and restarted PTE). Even if I do save the project under a new name, PTE does not remember which view I was in nor does it remember what the slider settings were. regards, Peter

I wonder if the behaviour that I am experiencing when switching between the Slides view and the Timeline view is the most appropriate. Consider the following two sequences of actions: Sequence of actions 1: I am working in the normal Slides view I use the "triangle" icon to switch to Fullscreen mode of the Slides view I switch to the Timeline view Sequence of actions 2: I am working in the normal Timeline view I use the "triangle" icon to switch to Fullscreen mode of the Timeline view I switch to the Slides view In both cases, the final action reverts to normal mode on the selected view; it does not preserve the fact that I am working in Fullscreen mode. The question I am asking myself is: should it preserve the Fullscreen mode? I've started this topic to see what thoughts others have on this subject. regards, Peter

Ed, These two topics may have relevant information in them: regards, Peter

PTE didn't used to remember your folders at all until about v6.0 or 6.5, at which point Igor changed the code so that it did remember the folder that you last accessed for each project. Note that phrase: "last accessed". If you opened an old project in the newer release and did nothing other than File Save As, you gained nothing. You had to add an image file to the project in order for the folder to have been "accessed". I think you could actually delete that image file before doing the File Save As and the folder would still be regarded as having been "accessed" and would thus be remembered in the project. All projects started since that version of PTE should remember the folder automatically. Note further that I think this applies only to image files - but I may be wrong and it might apply also to audio and video files. regards, Peter

Gary, You might wish to add some comments to the following topic: regards, Peter

You are only single clicking to launch off the Show page element, aren't you? If you double click, that can launch two copies; one of which runs slightly late compared to the other. In that situation, all sorts of weird problems with sound and vision can occur. Of course, to launch from the folder you must double-click. regards, Peter

Jose, The "What's New" for v7.5 made no mention of Unsharp mask. However, the "What's New" document for v7.0 had this to say: "Unsharp Mask for Sharp Picture This feature dramatically increases sharpness of picture. PicturesToExe adds unsharp mask for entire screen in real-time, even for slides with animation." I interpret the statement "...even for slides with animation" as meaning that unsharp mask is applied to each rendered frame. regards, Peter

Jose, Have you done a test to investigate? In the attached, do you think the third slide is the same quality as the second? regards, Peter Test Zoom Degradation_Jan5-2013_7-32-57.zip

The existing structure should be given time to settle down before making another change to it. It is still early days yet. In any case, Templates and Transitions are two very different things. Peter

PTE v7.5 provides an option under the Publish command to publish to three different resolutions of Tablet. It also provides options for a variety of iDevices. I have used the iPhone4 option to publish a video file of one of my sequences and then successfully downloaded that to my Samsung smartphone and run it there. A little trial and error with a test sequence should allow you to find which option and settings works for you. Hope this helps you. regards, Peter

Excellent service, Igor. Thank you. Peter

Whilst using v7.5.2, I have encountered the error condition shown in the attached screengrab. It is a repeatable condition. In the Slide List, I select a slide and modify its duration by clicking in the duration field and scrolling the mouse wheel to the desired new value (e.g. from 6.0 down to 2.0). Then, without clicking anywhere else, I initiate a Preview from the Toolbar. The error pops up immediately. Clicking the OK in the error pop-up removes the pop-up and the Preview runs successfully. regards, Peter

Dave, Firstly, let me say how much I enjoyed your interpretation of the architecture of Oxford. There was much about your sequence that was excellent: especially the quality of the individual images. The primary objectives of any audio-visual sequence should be that it flows (with the images and music working together in harmony) and that it has variety (of image content, of image style, of pace and, if appropriate, of transition types - although this last needs handling with great care). It is in the area of "flow" where I think you need to focus most attention. The use of both landscape and portrait orientation can be a major pitfall for breaking the flow - and that is how I found it. Each change into a set of verticals and then back out again was an interruption. Can I suggest the following technique may work with the sort of images you had: To go into a set of verticals: Make a soft focus version of the preceding horizontal and set the verticals within that as a background. You will end up with the soft focus image as a background on your existing background image. I find that 10-20 pixels of gaussian blur works nicely most of the time. To exit from a run of verticals: Try and find a horizontal with a strong vertical element offset to the appropriate side, make a soft focus version of that and also a vertical crop of the relevant part. Then, at some point during the run of verticals, change the background soft focus image. Your actual exit happens when you place your last vertical on it - in register of course! - and then fade through to the sharp focus version (I hope you can follow what I mean) You and Ralph have discussed the bicycle handlebars image (I liked it, too!). However, I think it comes in the wrong place. To me, it should have been introduced with the wider angle shots of students with their bikes around the colleges that came towards the end of the sequence. On the subject of transitions, the sequence seemed a bit one-paced, in terms of both slide duration and transition times. I accept, however, that it can be difficult to get change of pace when the music has a slow and even tempo. One final point on "flow": I didn't see any necessity for the town centre shot with crowds of people and the double decker buses. That shot was not in keeping with the rest of the sequence - which was about the architecture of the colleges and similar buildings. And one final point about the presentation of the images: I loved the bevel edges. I presume it was done in Photoshop? regards, Peter

David, There are no simple answers to your request other than: it depends... For example: what is your definition of "adequately"? The ReadMe.rtf file shipped with v7.5 includes the following: "System Requirements PC with CPU 1.4 GHz, 512 MB of system memory, video card with 128 MB of video memory, sound card. Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP. DirectX 9 or newer. DVD-RW drive for burning of DVD-Video discs." Statements about System Requirements, from all software vendors, generally need to be taken with a pinch of salt. I recall Microsoft stating that XP would run on 256MB and that Vista would run on 512MB. So they would - like a sick pig! It quickly became apparent that XP was happiest if given 1GB of RAM and Vista needed 2GB (particularly if you wanted to run resource hungry applications like Photoshop). Both my desktop and my laptop systems can run most PTE sequences that I build with no problems. Occasionally, if I do something more complex, particularly with HD images (1920x1080) things get a little jerky. The graphics in the desktop is only an nVidia GeForce 210 but it has 1GB of onboard memory. I'm hoping Santa is going to bring me a new laptop with much more powerful graphics. I will then need to upgrade the graphics card in the desktop to match that in the laptop. You have to be prepared to upgrade or replace your equipment when it can no longer handle the work that you are asking it to do. My current laptop can no longer handle what gets thrown at it - so it is going to be replaced. When it is replaced, the desktop will not be able to handle sequences that the new laptop can, so the desktop then gets upgraded. That's the way things are these days. regards, Peter

Tom, If I understand you correctly, you are thinking of nesting a mask container inside another mask container? That cannot be done in PTE. Whether it could be programmed into PTE by Igor and his wizards will depend upon the library of graphics handling routines that they use. What are you trying to achieve by your proposed improvement? A more realistic impression of the curvature of the Earth? regards, Peter

That same menu could also provide links to the three editors (graphical, video, audio) that have been defined via Settings > Preferences > System. regards, Peter

I also simply delete the spam posts, ban the user from any further posting and notify Igor of the userid that needs to be deleted. I do not notify anyone else of my actions as I have done all that is necessary to eradicate that particular spam item and to prevent any more spam from that user. regards, Peter

The purpose of PTE's "Convert video clip" feature is to convert the file into a format that will enable the video to play smoothly on as many different system configurations as possible. That means converting to a relatively low compression level. The likelihood is that the video clip file will end up larger (possibly significantly so). But the demand for computer resource during playback will be much lower. Peter

Xaver, Not just an XP problem. It is the same on my Win 7 system. Peter

Going from an EXE to a video will always result in "massive" upsizing. In the EXE, each static slide is stored just once. The playback of the EXE holds it on screen for however long you want. Convert that sequence to video at, say, 24 frames per second, and that same slide will now be stored 24 times for every second that it is on screen. Assuming a full HD sequence that's the difference between 1920x1080 and 1920x1080x24 x how ever many seconds for that one image. If your original 1920x1080 image was 1MB in size, in the video that will expand to 24MB per second of on screen time. Different video formats use different amounts of compression. Think in terms of the difference between RAW, TIFF and JPEG for single images. If you convert from, say, TIFF to JPEG you expect the file size to drop depending upon how much JPEG compression you go for. If you convert JPEG to TIFF you expect a "massive" increase in file size. Also, in the world of video file sizes MOV does not equal AVI does not equal MP4; nor does MP4 equal MP4 or AVI equal AVI. Once again it depends on the degree of compression being applied by the video codec in use. regards, Peter

Aaah... It is all about "user expectation", i.e. mine! I thought that, because Gary's screengrab was showing the "Slide" command drop down menu, that "Move to End" was going to move the selected slide to the end of the sequence. By implication, "Move to Top" was going to move the selected slide to the top (i.e. front) of the sequence. What actually happens is what I would expect to happen in any other Windows application: it repositions the cursor to the beginning or end as appropriate. It is working for me. I was confused but now am not. Peter

Artem, It is all your fault: you gave us too much new function! Peter

Not for me, they don't! At least, not in Fullscreen Slide view where they would be of most use. Peter

I do not understand what you mean by "to Top" and "to End". Could please explain in more detail? The reason why anything was removed is a question that will have to be answered by someone from Wnsoft. Peter

Fullscreen view of the Slide List can be obtained by clicking on the little triangle icon just to the left of the "Slides" tab down at the bottom right. Peter