fh1805

Steph, There are so many different parameters involved, no two "readings" will ever be the same. Explorer gives you the size of the file in terms of how many bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, etc. the file occupies on the disk. Photoshop Image Size is giving you how many bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes of memory (RAM) the image occupies. Two examples from a sequence I'm currently working one: Image1 - Explorer = 281K, Photoshop = 5.79M - Photoshop is bigger than Explorer Image2 - Explorer = 157M, Photoshop = 49.9M - Explorer is bigger than Photoshop Image1 is a JPEG. The file on disk is heavily compressed. The file in memory is heavily expanded. Image2 is a PSD. The file on disk holds 9 layers that have been "stitched" into a panorama. The stitched image takes up 49.9MB in memory. You see, no easy answers. You have to understand just what each file is - and isn't. And also what each number relates to - or doesn't. regards, Peter

Dave, I've attached three screen shots to show what is happening to me. ScreenGrab012 - after adding the music file (all I've done is add the music, OK that, and then go back into Project Options|Music to show the values ScreenGrab013 - after setting the Start Time to 8 seconds (then OK and re-display the options as above) ScreenGrab014 - after selecting Offset and setting it to 4 seconds (then OK, etc. as above) I was expecting ScreenGrab014 to show the same waveform as ScreenGrab013 but pushed 4 seconds along the timeline. I could, at a pinch, have accepted it showing the waveform from ScreenGrab012 but with this pulled 4 seconds to the left. This would depend entirely on how PTE interpreted the two events. I did them in the order "Start Time" and then "Offset". Had I done them in the order "Offset" then "Start Time" I would have expected the second result. What I see in the waveform reflects neither of these possible customisations. As well as the obvious bug which I am seeing, I think I have identified a wider issue. The actual result of applying a series of customizations to the same piece of music will depend, in the thinking of the user, on the order in which they are applied. I don't believe that PTE takes this into account. "A before B" and "B before A" will, I believe, give the same result when, to the user, they would give different results. regards, Peter

Igor, Is this a new bug in beta 9? I have a sequence with no music. I then add a piece of music (WAV 16bit PCM). This previews OK. I decide that I want the music to start at its 8 second point, so I customise the music to have 8 seconds Start Time. This previews OK. I then decide that I want the initial black slide to have silence rather than the music, so I select Offset and set the offset value to 4 seconds. When previewed this ignores all the music customisation and plays the music in its original form. regards, Peter

John, Have you asked yourself: What, that I really want to do, can I not do with Audacity? If Audacity does all that you want it to, why look to change? "Product hopping" is, in my opinion, rarely a good practice. It tends to mean that the user never gets properly "comfortable" with each product. Only when a user is totally comfortable with a product can he or she then concentrate on the creative and technical mastery of the audio-visual medium. Until that point has been reached they will, inevitably, be concentrating on learning the product rather than using the product almost instinctively within the overall A-V workflow. regards, Peter

Mary, This is a fairly common occurence. The simplest solution is to open the WAV file in a sound editor program such as Audacity (free from http://audacity.sourceforge.net) and then Export it as either a WAV or an MP3 file. There are different types of WAV and not all of them work properly with PTE. regards, Peter P.S. Attaching a file is a three step process: - use the Browse button to select the source file on your PC - use the Attach This File button to upload a copy of the file to the forum's server - add the uploaded file to the post using the Add to Post link which will appear over to the right on the line that gives the details of the file

Linda, Elsewhere on the forum there was a report recently of problems that were caused by combining mono and stereo audio tracks. Is this a possiblity with your problem? regards, Peter

Could, and perhaps should, be for festival and competition organisers. Not an issue for me showing my own sequences. regards, Peter

Dave, If you've already got it racked right out in order to keep the equipment behind the audience as much as possible, then what you suggest just isn't possible! regards, Peter

Julian, You've just discovered one of the "hidden features" of PTE. Whatever you want to do with it, there is often a way (perhaps crude and perhaps complex) in which it can be done. It is the discovery and sharing of these tips and techniques that makes membership of this forum so valuable to us all. Welcome to the wonderful world of PTE. regards, Peter

Ken, That's an excellent suggestion in one respect. It is possible to set the same Customize values to as many slides as you want simply by collecting them with a series of Ctrl+Click actions before going into the Customize Slide button. On the down side, the existing placement of this control allows the choice of mode at the level of each individual object. The best of both worlds would be to have the Mode feature for the main image on each slide as part of the Customize Slide button whilst retaining the Mode feature at the object level within the O&A window. regards, Peter

Jean-Cyprien, My friend, that one needs to carry a "Health Warning"!!. Apart from now having a headache (only joking!) I'm not sure I'm any wiser. I think I need to watch it again a few times - but all that shimmering is hard on my eyes. I got the impression that the middle two on the bottom row were always (or almost always) the least shimmering. regards, Peter

Lin, I'd never considered animated GIFs as a feature that I might use. You've changed my mind for me. This feature obviously opens up a whole new aspect of adding a professional "look and feel" to the opening or closing part of a sequence. Thanks for this insight into the possibilities. regards, Peter

Joy, Copying the .exe files onto the CD and letting Windows do the burning should have given you what was needed. If you used a re-writeable CD, did you remember to "Finalise" the CD before you ejected it? Failure to do this would mean the CD would then work only in the PC which had done the burn. Could this be the problem? regards, Peter

David, I'm also using beta8 and have not encountered this problem. What setting do you have for View...Advanced Options...Auto Save Project? I run with this "unticked". regards, Peter

Gary, This is not going to help you directly but I'm using Firefox 3.6.4 quite happily on my Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 system. Whilst your problem might be related to the Firefox update, it isn't affecting all Firefox users. Have you changed anything else recently? regards, Peter

Brian, If you mean "Can I change my userid myself?" then I believe the answer is: "No, you cannot do that". I think it requires Administrator privilege to change a userid once it has been set up and used. regards, Peter

I've e-mailed Igor to make sure that he is aware of this topic. I'm wondering if forum usage has risen to the point where we've hit a "usage limit" and the bandwidth is now capped by the service provider. I'm usually on first thing in the morning UK time and normally have no problems. Later in the day when the colonials like Ken and Lin start hitting the system it slows noticeably. Colin, living in "upside down" time also has no problems; which would fit this explanation. Anyhow, the ball is in Igor's court. I seem to recall that about 18-24 months ago Igor had to pay extra to raise the usage limit. It might be time for him to get his credit card out again! regards, Peter

Dom, Just tried your way with Photoshop Elements 7. Had to paint the initial layer with a solid colour before PSE would accept the Select All and then hold that selection through the Canvas Size increase. I couldn't get it to hold onto the Select All of the original transparent layer. regards, Peter

Gary, Interesting that you are experiencing instability on the forum site. I've had it for a couple of weeks now and thought it was probably my system getting "dirty" or some kind of fault at my ISP. I've been concentrating on "cleaning" my system (which is no bad thing to do!) But perhaps there is a more fundamental problem at the forum hosting site. regards, Peter

Peter, Because my sequences are seen mostly as projected sequences using my own projector I make them at 1024x768. However, I have dabbled with the 1920x1080 format (primarily to understand the compositional implications going from a 3:2 original image to a 16:9 crop). When I used PNG files in animation I built a mask image that I applied to every slide. I created that mask in Photoshop. You would need to make a mask that was 4:3 aspect with a width of 1920 (which I think means an image that is 1920x1440). Assuming my maths is correct proceed as follows in Photoshop: - Create a new image that will have a transparent base and that is sized at 1920x1440 pixels - Set the foreground colour to black - Use the Paint Bucket to fill this image with Black - Create a second new image also based on transparent and sized at 1920x1080 - Switch the foreground colour to white - Use the Paint Bucket to fill this image with white - Display these two images cascaded - Select the Move tool and drag the white image onto the black image - Select the combined image and fill the display area with it - Adjust the position of the white image if needed until it sits squarely across the middle of the black image - Select the white layer and use the magic wand to select all the white pixels - Hide the white layer - Select the black layer - Use Edit...Cut to remove the area that was occupied by the white pixels You should now have an image with two black bands and a transparent centre. Save this as a PNG file to preserve its transparency. Add this as the topmost object on every slide. Create a fresh exe file and re-test on all your equipment that it does the job that you want. I'm fairly sure that it will. Come back with more questions if needed. I'll be around most of the day today. regards, Peter

Igor, I confirm this now works as expected on the sequence that highlighted the problem. Thank you for the quick resolution of the problem. regards, Peter

John, The .pte file can be opened in Notepad and then Find and Replace can be used to change text strings. But first ALWAYS make a copy of the .pte file under a new name and then work on this copy. However, did you Extract the zip file to a new folder or did you simply try and open the .pte file from within the zip file? If you didn't do the Extract then this may be your stumbling block. regards, Peter

Jose, I'm afraid that I do not know of any tool that can do what you need. I am sure that you will be establishing a good backup system now to prevent any similar disaster occuring in future. regards, Peter

Congratulations Guido! Enjoy this special day. regards, Peter

Davy, The simplest way to transfer PTE from one machine to another is to copy across the downloaded zip file and then do a full install from that. As you already have a key from WnSoft which you know works, simply re-input that when you get prompted to register the product. regards, Peter