fh1805

Roel, I believe I am right in saying that PTE does not support MP4 files as part of its soundtrack - only WAV,MP3,OGG. Ensure that you choose only one of these three types. Also, were you adding the music via Project Options|Music or via Customize Slide or via Add Sound icon? regards, Peter

Gary, But you are talking about Zoom; at present you just don't realise it. Try this simple little test. Set up a new project containing just two images. Leave one of these images alone and zoom the other to your 121% value that you found filled the screen area. Go into O&A and note their zoom values. Now use Project Options|Screen to set the 80% of slide value and Set for existing slides. Now go back into O&A and study the zoom values. "% slide..." works by using the zoom value field. So, when you ask for 100% that is exactly what you get - all slides returned to their original unammended sizes. If you want them all back to your original size (=121%) then that is what you must code. regards, Peter

Thanks folks. It is a bug in the Forum software (or the way Igor has customised it). I'll bring it to his attention. regards, Peter

Gary, Last point first: you would simply use the Zoom control in the Animation tab if you want to affect only one image, wouldn't you? Zoom operates equally all around the centre point of the image. The centre never moves during a zoom. For the centre point to move as well, there has to be a change in the Pan values. (Think you need another night's rest!!) regards, Peter

OK, so it works the same for a couple of Moderators. What about an ordinary user? Someone please check this out and report back please! regards, Peter

I suspect that the .1 version level is irrelevant to this particular problem - but I may be wrong.

As part of dealing with a spammer useid I tried to call up the list of members by clicking on the Members tab on the forum home page. It takes me to the Messenger (my conversations via PM exchanges). Does it do this for anyone else? regards, Peter

Stu, OK. Tests done. Put name in quotes - still doesn't launch in Preview. Use short name (AVOTest.doc) - still doesn't launch in Preview. Note that the project was saved, PTE closed and re-launched before trying to use the button to do the Run app in Preview mode in both tests. This is a very "hard" fault in that particular project file; and one that I cannot re-create in a new project that was built using the same techniques. Baffling! regards, Peter

Stu, I don't see the value in adding quotes around the filename string or in removing any characters from that string. Everything works as it should when I run the exe file that I created from the project file; so my system can quite happily find and access these files. But when I use the Preview button within PTE on that self same project file, the buttons do not have any effect. regards, Peter

Gary, I've attempted to re-create this problem and have failed to do so. You mention that you have "cropped (zoomed) the image". It would be nice to be able to see the contents of the Animation tab showing the values before you made the global zoom change. In my experience, confirmed by my test today, if you have applied some zoom to individual slides and then decide to use the Project Options|Screen feature to apply a global zoom to all the slides, this change over-rides your previous individual changes, it doesn't add to them. Can you please confirm that, when you "cropped" the image, you did not inadvertently apply some Pan values as well? If you did, these will, at the very least, be muddying the waters so to speak. regards, Peter

Lin, Have a great vacation. I'm envious! regards, Peter

For the attention of Igor and team: The two project files in the attached zip file exhibit different behaviour on my system. In "Adding Voice-over v3.pte" the buttons on Slide #10 and Slide #20 (Slide names Slide10 and Slide22) do not function at all when Preview is used but do function correctly when I run the exe file that has been created from this project. In "TestRunApp.pte" the buttons on slides 2 and 3 work correctly in both Preview and in exe file. In both cases, the project file was created using v6.5.1 of PTE, starting with a File...New... operation. I cannot explain why they should behave differently - and that worries me. As you will see from my post above, I can observe differences in the two project files in sections where, apart from the path and file names, I would expect the code to be identical. This apparent inconsistency worries me. I'd welcome the opinion of yourself or one of your team. regards, Peter TestRunApp.zip

Brian, We were keying at the same time!. Thanks for confirming that I wasn't imagining things. regards, Peter

Thanks for the input guys - but I'm simply getting more confused. I decided to try and re-create the problem by building a new sequence, stripped down to just the essentials. I created a test Word document file (called Testdoc.doc) and placed that in a folder. Then I created a test Audacity project (called Testaup.aup) in the same folder. I checked, via double-clicking on each of them, that they launched successfully. I then created a new project in PTE with just four slides: Black, Black plus Button1, Black plus Button2, Black. I set the Project Options to: Wait for a keypress..., Show mouse cursor always, Left button=Next, Right button=Previous, Transition effect=None (i.e. Quick changes). I saved this project and then re-launched PTE and customized the buttons as follows: Button1 to Run app=Testdoc.doc and Button2 to Run app=Testaup.aup. And then, without saving the PTE project did a Preview. Hey presto - it worked, no problems! I then opened the other PTE project (the one that would not let me run apps in Preview mode) - and it still refuses to run them! So I have two PTE projects both built using the same features of PTE: one will run apps off buttons in Preview and the other will not. I've opened both project files in Notepad and tiled the windows alongside each other and done a visual compare of the parts that I think should be very similar if not identical (except for path and file names) - and they ain't! There are commands present in one that are not present in the other. There are lines placed differently in one compared to the other. I think the next step is to upload the two pte files to the forum and ask Igor and team to have a look-see. At first glance to my untutored eye it appears as though PTE is not 100% consistent in the way it builds the project file. Stu, do you have an alpha-code version of PTE Reporter yet that supports v6.5 of PTE? Ideally I'd like to let your baby take a shufti at these two projects but I realise that you may not yet have a version that is compliant with PTE v6.5 regards, Peter

I'm working on a manually controlled sequence and, at one point in the sequence, I am using a Button object to do Run application or open file... The file in question is a Microsoft Word 97-2003 document (a .doc file). When I built the sequence and tried to preview it, this button remained inactive. It was only after I had done Create of the exe file and was running the exe file that the button became active. The Word document file is in the same folder as the PTE project file. The exe file is in that same folder. The Button was set to use just the filename (I was relying on the existing file association to launch Word). Has it always been the case that Run application or open file.. works only in the exe file and not in a Preview? I feel sure that, in the past, I have successfully opened a file whilst only doing the Preview of the sequence. regards, Peter

Mark, Yes. See Gary's post above. Add the music via Project Options|Music In Project Options|Main tick Auto-spread slides along music In the Timeline view, under Timed Points, select Arrange All Points Preview the result regards, Peter

I'll now try and clean up this thread a little by removing and/or editing the existing posts. Bear with me. Posted later: I've overdone the cleanup. I've inadvertently deleted my initial reply to Mark. But he included that in its entirety in his first response. So all the facts are now present and all the extraneous material has been removed. Peter

Mark, Welcome to the forum. You'll find plenty of advice here to get you familiar with the workings of PTE. Now to your immediate specific concerns: Firstly, if you haven't already done so I would recommend downloading and reading the User Manual. That will explain many of the features and options that PTE offers you. In that you will discover that PTE offers you two ways of arranging your slides to the music. Gary has explained one such way - that of spreading the slides out evenly along the length of the music. But many creators of AV sequences prefer to choose where each slide should start and end so that the changes of the slides are better coordinated with the mood and emphases within the music. This can be done only by placing each slide exactly where you want it in respect to the music. The "Synchronize music and slides" option is used to ensure that, when you use the "Start preview from current slide" button, the music playback is repositioned to start from the same time point. You might ask why anyone would want it to behave in any other manner; and if you did I'd be right there standing at your shoulder supporting you becuase I cannot conceive of wanting it any other way. But this is an example of one of PTEs strengths. If an option can exist then PTE offers it. Many of the options are obvious but some are not. To manually position your slides exactly where you want them in relation to the music simply switch to the Timeline view and then drag the "flags" to and fro along the timeline. You can call up the music waveform by clicking on the blue waveform button at bottom right of this view. regards, Peter

Steve, It doesn't matter whether your sequence is an EXE file or a video format such as AVI, the file size is going to be several megabytes. Remember, each minute of music (at 128bit MP3 encoding) is going to require 1MB of filesize; and if it is video format then there will be 25 images per second - that really jacks up the file size compared to the EXE file. And most ISPs set a limit on the size of each attachment as well as the total size of a message including all its attachments. I'm based in the UK and use Virgin Media as my ISP. It's a long time since I last checked but I think their limit is something like 2MB per attachment and 20MB in total. In anycase these limits are usually set to match the speed of your connection. As DaveG has said, you will do better using a file hosting service such as MediaFire or YouSendIt or similar. Most of the players in this market sector offer a free service option as well as their subscription services. You upload your file and they supply you with a URL for it that you can then e-mail to whoever you want to be able to download the file. So you are in control of who has access to the file. regards, Peter

Nordlicht, Have you installed PTE as a 32-bit application or as a 64-bit application? PTE is a 32-bit application and must be installed as such under Win7 64-bit OS. regards, Peter

Gary, I'm not familiar with Mac technology but, if you were to convert the sound files to MP3s I'm fairly certain there would be no problems at all (and the file size will be much smaller, too). I have a suspicion that WAV is a file format that is proprietary to the Windows/Intel platform - but I may be wrong. I await the advice of those who do know the real answer with interest as I will learn something new! regards, Peter

It's sometimes a very fine line between the two. I find that, quite often, near enough is, indeed, good enough provided that the definition of "near enough" has set the bar high enough. regards, Peter

Colin, I think we can agree to settle out of court! As you said at the start of your post: it was just a "terminological differentiation". regards, Peter

Gary, There's no PSR.exe on my Vista Home Premium system. regards, Peter

Igor, I cannot re-create the problem so cannot give you much additional information. Perhaps Eric (baumettes) and his colleagues will be able to. I very rarely have two projects open at the same time so I do not think that this was the case when I did have the problem but I cannot be sure. When the waveform does display normally then, yes, I do see the green progress bar. On the occasion when the waveform failed to appear there was no obvious activity on the screen. The mouse click on the button was apparently accepted but there was no change to the Timeline window contents. I realise that these intermittent bugs are the worst kind for you and your team. You know your product isn't perfect and yet, until the fault can be recreated consistently, you have very little diagnostic data to aid you in finding the solution. It is very frustrating for us all! regards, Peter