fh1805

Barry, If you did that test with beta 3 then I think you have found a similar bug to the one that I reported last night (UK time). The playback of H264 MP4 (1920x1080) is not right. The image stream gain time over the sound stream and finishes several seconds ahead of it after just two minutes. regards, Peter

Igor, The test project that I was using to establish the limitations of my graphics environment can now be converted to HD Video with the sound present. Thanks for fixing that problem. I have also found that beta 3 produces a smoother playback during Preview than did beta2: but the playback quality via Preview still shows some jerkiness. I realise that using H264 video is the most demanding way of doing things; but if I can get near acceptable results with this approach then I know the results from a slight de-tune of the video will be superb! I created a new H264 mp4 file from this project and then used that mp4 file as the video on a single slide PTE project. The playback quality is much better but the sound slowly drifts out of sync with the images, which now end much sooner than does the soundtrack of the video. The PTE project file and the H264 video can be found here on Dropbox. regards, Peter

Igor, In beta 3, using F6 to switch between Slides and Timeline works OK but doesn't change the highlighting of the tab: that is, from Slides press F6 and we see the Timeline but the Slides tab is still the highlighted tab. Peter

Hi Jan, No this was made using v6.5. I find that one of the secrets of sharpness is to start with images that are larger than the final size of the show. This show is 1920x1080 pixels. Therefore all the original images were at least that size. They were then taken into Photoshop Elements v9 and cropped and/or resized to the size that I actually wanted: the backgrounds to 1920x1080 JPEG, the flags to 500x500 PNG, the mission patches just 90x90 PNG (to preserve the transparency around the emblems), the six Shuttle images 1500x1500 (to give me freedom to choose the file zoom factor) and the Kennedy and Gagarin images at their size as downloaded from the web. Each image was given a little Unsharp mask in Photoshop Elements (varying from 50% to 150%). Another secret is to very slightly oversharpen compared to the amount you would apply to an image that was to be printed. regards, Peter

Bonjour Jean-Cyprien, We must have been working and posting at the same time this morning. I've just prepared and posted this () under the "50 Years..." topic. Your solution is a neat one. I used that technique (of two identical cubes) to solve the problem of having the rearmost faces of the exploding cube come from behind the revealed cube: but I never thought of using it to turn on the inside faces. regards, Peter

To anyone who might be interested, I have prepared a short demonstration sequence of the technique I used to build the exploding cube. It can be downloaded from Dropbox here. I hope the included PDF file will explain things in sufficient details. My apologies to those for whom English is not their native language. regards, Peter

Davy, Thanks for the clarification! Yes, the show could have much more material in it - Skylab, Mir, ISS, Chinese astronauts; and that would almost certainly double or even triple its length. You captured the essence of this project in your original post: "...Compressing 50 years of human endeavour in manned spaceflight into 2 minutes and 8 seconds..." The choice of music determined the duration: the choice of events (Gagarin and the retirement of the Shuttle) determined the beginning and end points (both in calendar terms and in the sequence). The middle had to be addressed with some savage editorial decisions. To extend the show I would need at least one and probably two more pieces of music. If I find some more music that inspires me, I'll then consider an extended version. However, sometimes it doesn't pay to mess around with something that works well. Just think back to the movies: how many sequels surpass or even match the original? The bane of the movie industry is this insane desire to squeeze every last cent of commercial profit out of the original concept. I don't want to fall into the same trap. Not that I do what I do for profit. I do it for the fun of it! Now, time for me to step down off my soap-box. Once again, thanks for your praise of this sequence. regards, Peter

Davy, Having now done some research into Edward D Wood Jr. and "Plan 9 from Outer Space" I'm not sure your comments were meant to be complimentary. That movie is touted as being one of the worst movies ever made. Peter

Jean-Cyprien/Colin, Thank you both. See my post #7 above. I know the launch videos are spectacular sights but the launch is the beginning of something. I needed to end with the end of something so chose the Shuttle landing with parachute deployed. Although, thinking about it as I write this post, a launch video would convey the message that the exploration goes on. Interesting idea... Davy, High praise indeed, thank you! I am not familiar with Edward D. Wood Jr. but perhaps I should find out more: my inspiration was Kubrik's "2001: A Space Odyssey". It's a film full of allegorical motifs and I tried to include one or two of my own in the sequence. regards, Peter

Jean-Cyprien, I'll try and explain in words tonight - if I have time tomorrow I'll try and build an example. Imagine a cube with six images. Imagine that we then want to "explode" this cube and see the image on both sides of each face as the faces move away. To show this cube properly in its assembled state, it is necessary to turn off the "inside" faces. But as the cube explodes it is necessary to turn the inside faces back "on". The ability to change the visibility state at a single point in time would be very useful in this situation. regards, Peter

Thanks, Mick. Peter

Maureen, Thanks. I don't know whether you ever saw my Rubik's Cube sequence. This one started out as an idea for a "Son of Rubik" sequence but I couldn't get a clear mental vision of what I was wanting to achieve. And without that mental vision, I cannot build a sequence. Then I remembered that I'd used the music in a menu sequence that never saw the light of day; and as I played the music once more a vision started to form in my mind. As I started work on the sequence, last Wednesday, I knew how I wanted to begin and had a feel of how I might want to finish: but I wasn't clear about what should go into the middle bit. As the build progressed through the "six days of creation", the form of the sequence slowly evolved. I'll take the credit for the production but I think that I was being directed and guided from elsewhere. regards, Peter

Hi Maureen, What a lovely sequence of images of my home county. Watching it made me feel quite homesick: and I live there! So many reminders of places I haven't re-visited in the "digital age", places where I have been - but only back in the days of slide film. I think you and your son have inspired me to get out into my own "backyard" more often this year. Thanks for sharing this with me. The three goes it took to get a complete download were worth the effort (Don't ask me what went wrong, I don't know). regards, Peter

Eric, I didn't like simple black faces on my monitor: I couldn't be certain which face was which. That's why I added the grey borders. I've just tried a quick re-work using a "paler shade of black" on two of the faces and, for me, it doesn't work in the same way that the paler shades of the purple, green, yellow and aubergine do on the next four cubes. I'm sorry that you're not getting the best possible playback. regards, Peter

It was, indeed, black - with a 2 pixel medium grey border to each face applied via PTE's Borders feature. All the other cubes also had the same grey border but were built of two colours - one a slightly paler shade. This seemed to give better definition to the shape of the cube - but I wasn't sure about trying a dark grey/black combination on the first cube. Maybe I should give that a go. regards, Peter

Lin/Eric/Ken, Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you seem to have enjoyed it. Lin, I think HAL would regard it as another example of the boring behaviour of the human race. Eric, By first cube did you mean the black one or the one depicting the Mercury logo? The coloured cubes took their colours from the final Hubble image - to try and keep some colour harmony within the various elements of the images. Ken, These animation sequences aren't as "heavy" on the graphics as some folks might think. But it's always nice to know that it runs as I hoped it would on other folks's systems. regards, Peter

I had considered a different ending: exploding the purple cube to reveal a video of the Shuttle blasting off the pad. But I wanted the sequence to show a "logical" time period - from Gagarin's flight through to the retirement of the Shuttles. So the cube was the better option: ending with the shot of the Shuttle landing with the parachute deployed. I also had a previous iteration that faded to black and then displayed a roll of honour of the two Shuttle crews that didn't make it home (STS-51-L "Challenger" and STS-107 "Columbia"). But on reflection that was failing to pay equal respects to Gus Grissom and the crew of Apollo that died in the fire on the launch pad during training - and to the various known and unknown Soviet cosmonauts that also perished during the "Space Race". What I've ended up with has a nice beginning, middle and end - and fits the theme and title. regards, Peter

This sequence has been made to commemorate the first successful manned spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin on 12th April 1961, and in expectation of the forthcoming retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet later this year. Format: HD 1920x1080, running time 2m08s, size 11MB. Thanks to Bill for hosting this on Beechbrook. Those with any interest in the movie industry will recognise the source of my inspiration. As with all my work, I'm open to all comments (good, bad or indifferent) but especially those that could lead to further improvement in this, or future sequences. regards, Peter

Gary, The attached screen grabs show that this little icon does work in beta2 (and did in beta 1). Unfortunately I wasn't able to grab the icon actually visible - but that was what I used to change the Slide List size. regards, Peter

I have found, when building my animated sequences, that there are times when it would be extremely useful to be able to change the status of the 3D Parameters "Show front side" and "Show back side" at a keyframe - effectively turning on or off the visibility of that object instantaneously. I recently wanted to have a cube that had different images on the outside and inside faces and which then "exploded" revealing both sets of images. To achieve this using keyframes and opacity control would be very time-consuming. Had I been able to switch the state of "Show front side"/"Show back side" at a single keyframe, the programming of the sequence would become much simpler. regards, Peter

This may be of interest only to those who build complex multi-object images with complex animations. I would find it very useful to be able to add a text object to the object stack that I could then use to document the details of the technique I have used on that slide - and the reasons I had for doing it that particular way. At present I do this by adding a zero-opacity text object. But the viewable area for a text object is so very small in the Properties tab. What I have in mind is a new object type: e.g. Comment - using icon C. When added to the slide this would open up a large pop-up window into which the documentation details could then be added. I would not want any fancy text formatting in this window - although word-wrap would be very, very helpful. This new object would never be part of the visible slide at any time. It would be there simply to remind the user, at a later date, why the slide was put together the way that it was. regards, Peter

+1 !!! Peter

Gary, Do you mean the icon that looks like a double horizontal bar with little vertical arrows? If so, I'm still using beta 1 and it works in that version as it always has done. regards, Peter

Gary, You can see all the images in the Slide List by pressing F4 key. Press again to return to Slide List. regards, Peter

Hi Yorky, I'm afraid my experience with VideoBuilder is very limited. I have used it perhaps half a dozen times to create HD Video (H.264 MP4) files to playback through my TV via a USB memory device. The best that I can suggest, based on what I've seen posted here on the forum in the past, is to try creating a custom AVI file and then using your external burner software to burn the DVD. I admit that is only a work-around. Unfortunately you have hit this problem just as PTE v7.0 has started its beta programme. That means that both the expert users here on the forum and the programming team at WnSoft will be focussed on testing the new version and in investigating and resolving bugs in it. I don't know whether time is a pressing factor for you or not? If it isn't it might pay you to monitor the V7.0 topics here on the forum for a couple of weeks and when it seems as though the initial fires have died down, try downloading the then current v7.0 beta to see what that does. If you still have problems when you use v7.0 then Igor and the team will certainly get to work on finding a solution. Sorry I can't offer anything more constructive. regards, Peter