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Jim, If I recall correctly what you have said elsewhere on the forum today, your systems are XP based. Mine are Vista based. XP systems never exhibited the "flashback" problem. It came in with the Vista "Aero" interface and is, I understand, associated with the way in which the Graphics Processor Unit is used: only one task can have control of it at any one time. That is why WnSoft introduced the "Run Slideshow..." feature; so that PTE could retain control of the GPU throughout the entire set of sequences. The downside is that all the sequences have to be created using the same level of PTE. Earlier this afternoon I found an old Menu exe and its associated target exes that had been built using PTE v5.52. This showed no "flashback" at all on my Vista systems. So I'm now playing around with v5.52 to check this out some more. regards, Peter

Jim, That's not how my system behaves! Strangely enough, I'm spending today playing around with various software products to create Menu sequences (trying to eliminate or at least minimise the dreaded "flashback" problem) I currently have a menu built using PTE 4.49, PTE 6.00 and Powerpoint. With both versions of PTE I can take the Menu into Preview, launch one of the other exe files from its thumbnail image and then Esc out and I get taken back to the Menu sequence within PTE. All exactly as I would expect it to be. I did, at one stage, get a "corrupt" warning but found that I was doing a "Run Slideshow" but had specified the .pte filename instead of the .exe filename. BTW the reason I'm experimenting is that later this year my local AV group is giving a public showing and the work will have been produced using a mixture of PTE and ProShow. Obviously I cannot use "Run Slideshow" feature to launch the ProShow sequences. regards, Peter

Jim, Are you running Win7 on that PC? Is the operating system the common denominator? regards, Peter

Andrew, Yes, you can. You need to add two rectangles, one of them the child of the other and then zoom the child rectangle to a slighter lower zoom value so that its parent appears all around the edge. regards, Peter

Geoff, If you are getting this pop-up when you run the downloaded sequence, it suggests to me that one of several things is happening or has happened: 1. Your Anti-Vir/Firewall software is detecting "false positives" 2. Your PC has an infection of some sort on it 3. Bill's website has an infection of some sort on it I propose the following line of investigation: 1. If you send me a PM or e-mail with the name of one of the sequences that exhibits this behaviour, I'll download it myself and take a look at it on my system. (Make it one of the smaller sequences, please!). 2. Upload your copy of the same sequence to a sharing site (e.g. MediaFire) where I can download it. If 1. results in me seeing the problem, it's Bill's site that is shipping out damaged/infected sequences and he needs alerting ASAP. If 1. is clean but 2. shows the problem, it's your machine that becomes suspect If neither 1 nor 2 show the problem, it strongly suggests "false positive" and you can relax a little. regards, Peter

Dan, Further to the replies from Xaver and DaveG, as an alterantive you can also try customising the drop shadow of the text object to help it stand out more. See O&A Common tab for the button to take you there. regards, Peter

Don, Have you tried Googling for "Royalty free music download"? I just got over 4million hits doing this. regards, Peter

Joy, It isn't clear whether you are talking about the same object on two alides or two different objects that you want to appear in the same position on two different slides. If it is the same object across several slides then simply set the object where you want it on the first slide, then select that object in the Objects List in the O&A window and use the Copy icon on the toolbar to copy it to the clipboard, then move to the next slide and use the Paste icon on the toolbar to paste it onto the second slide. If you are animating the object (pan, zoom, rotate) during the duration of the first slide, then make a note of the numbers in the boxes on the Animation tab at the end of the animation and make sure that these numbers are the ones used at the beginning of the next slide. You should be able to achieve what you want with a combination of these two techniques. regards, Peter

Neat! I forgot about the "Copyright logo" feature - because I've never used it. But that is much simpler than my suggested technique; and as I do sometimes use a windowed mount in my sequences, I'll have to remember this little trick. Thanks! regards, Peter

Danny, You have 252 seconds of music so each of the 63 slides needs a duration of 4seconds 200 milliseconds. Set this duration value as follows: Project Options...Main tab, at the bottom is Time interval for new slides Set value = 4 in the seconds box and value = 200 in the milliseconds box and then click on Set for existing slides The last step is crucial. Without it you have set time values only for any new slides that you add. regards, Peter

John, 'Fraid so! The implementation in V6 allows the border to be changed only at the individual image level. An alternative approach would be to use your image editor to create a "windowed mount" border image as a .png file and then add this to each slide. But again, you would have to process each slide individually. However, the number of mouse clicks will be fewer and it will be a repetitive task that your brain will quickly adapt to. regards, Peter

Yes, you use Text objects in the O&A window. But I think you have already tried this when you say: "...The only way I have found for adding the titles and suthors name to the image as they go through is to type each one individually..." regards, Peter

Steev, I've moved this topic to a more appropriate part of the forum. I certainly support your point about the O&A tree display. I would like to see PTE "memorize" the state of expansion for each slide. This could be held in a file (.ini or .dat or similar) separate from the .pte file as the information is of interest only to the developer during the actual development of the sequence. regards, Peter

Joy, I don't know whether this will work or not but... -what happens if you select just the slides from after the last of Dom's templates as a group (Left click the first of these slides and then Shift+Left Click the last) and then do Timeline...Timed Points...Arrange all points? If this spreads those slides out as you want, then use the same technique for any other groups of slides that are not part of Dom's templates. I've never tried this myself but, from reading posts that others have made in the past, I think there's a chance that it will do what you want. regards, Peter

Joy, If your problem is just with the final slide then go into the Timeline view, click on Timed Points and then select "Set End of Last Slide at End of Music". This will adjust the duration of the final slide so that it ends when the soundtrack ends. Note that this changes only the final slide. It doesn't adjust any other slide. regards, Peter

Jim, I'll leave that ball in your court. regards, Peter

Den, Thanks. I'm not sure whether Eric's comment about the lines was to do with apparent shimmer in them or more to do with them being visually intrusive in the landscape. My own view on this latter aspect is that they are there and so I have to work with them. I'm prepared to bet that they helped Photoshop do the panorama merge! regards, Peter

Jim, See my reply to Ken and Eric above. Now, not wishing to re-open old scar tissue but... when you, I and Ed were trying to resolve those problems with your club's projector, did we try turning mip-mapping on? I'm not suggesting it's a "magic bullet" but it seems it can work wonders in certain situations. Perhaps worth a try for you both? regards, Peter

Ken, I have noticed with other shows that they sometimes run smoother on the second pass than on the first. I can only assume that the Graphics Card memory is still loaded with image data and thus the resource demand is lower the second time around. Eric, My first reaction to your comment was: Why would I want to? I associate mip-mapping as a mechanism for reducing or eliminating Moire flicker in a pan or zoom. That wasn't what I was seeing. I was seeing a noticeable "jerk" or "stutter" rather than a persistent flicker. But then I thought: What harm can it do? So I ticked it and the problem has been eliminated on my system! Marvellous! regards, Peter

I took the shots to make this panorama this morning. But when I Preview it, I see a noticeable jerk at the completion of the transition from slide 1 to slide 2 and again at the completion of the transition from slide 2 to slide 3. Am I the only one to see it? regards, Peter P.S. Had to use MediaFire as the file, SnowPano.zip, is 2.47MB in size. The sequence is just three slides: Black, Pano, Black built at 16:9 AR

No two AV workers will agree on this subject! It is a matter of personal choice. The alternatives are: 1. Don't do it Preferred by many because they feel that the change of image orientation disrupts the smooth flow of images. 2. Group them all together into a "mini-sequence" of their own and then transition into and out of that mini-sequence Provided that the two edge point transitions are carefully handled, I find that this can work well. The ideal is to have the same subject in the horizontal-vertical pair and the same (but different) subject in the vertical-horizontal pair. In that way the subject itself helps to bridge across the orientation change. 3. Superimpose them at a slightly reduced size on a horizontal image, keeping them within the bounds of the horizontal image. This technique is sometimes called picture-in-picture. I find this works well using two verticals superimposed at the same time. This then allows you to change one vertical at a time. To get clear visual separation of the verticals from the horizontal you should consider using a dropped shadow and also consider blurring the background image. Hope this helps. Basically, try all the options (and others that come to you) and then go with the one that you prefer. regards, Peter

Hi Ripigio, Simply copy all the slides from each sequence into one master sequence using the instructions to be found in the relevant FAQ on the forum and add all the music tracks, one after the other, via Project Options...Music tab. regards, Peter

Dan, The key that you have (and which you describe above) is the VideoBuilder key. You also need your original "Base PTE" key. PTE requires two keys: one for the basic function and another for the VideoBuilder feature. You seem to have the second but not the first. If your old PC is still available and bootable, try downloading and running KeyCopy utility then transfer the salvaged files over to your new PC. regards, Peter

Dan, Just download the latest version from www.wnsoft.com and apply the key that you have. That will give you a working version of "Basic PTE". If you want the VideoBuilder you might have to buy the upgrade. But your last key (March 2008) should still have a couple of months life left on it. regards, Peter

It seems I must have been lucky over the years. I've owned auto-focus SLRs since 1990 and a dSLR since 2005 and have never noticed any problem with incorrect auto-focus. But then again, I've never owned a camera with mirror lock-up and have used a tripod only for low-light work or ultra telephoto work. Perhaps the camera manufacturers are guilty only of building their products to meet the needs of the typical user - the one who hand holds almost every shot and who never pushes the equipment anywhere near "the edge of the envelope". Just a thought... regards, Peter