fh1805

Hi Dom, That had to be done outside PTE by building three different variants of the cube. Could you please explain what you mean by the "smooth speed option"? What is it and what effect will it have? It will be in the final form; but I need to scramble it first in order to have a known start point and a process that I can run in reverse in order to re-compose the finished form. I've now got a fully-functional project complete with music that goes from scrambled to re-composed but I have some more "tweaks" in mind so I'm not posting that just yet. regards, Peter

Dom, You missed out a not in there, didn't you? regards, Peter

Chris, PTE v6.0 was released only on Monday 2nd November. On what day did you download your copy? regards, Peter

Eric, I've had SP2 installed on both the lap-top and desk-top systems since mid-October and no evidence of any problem attributable to it. I found this bug purely by chance whilst working on the Rubik's Cube project. I intended to zero-ise the Rotate field but inadvertently selected the Zoom field just above it. The rest, as they say, is history. I realized what I had done and repeated the actions to see if the problem was re-creatable - and it was. So I then tried the same steps in a new project. Same result. Finally ran PTE v5.6.4 and got the same again. It's a bug that most folks would never find but I recall TheDom was asking recently for PTE to be able to blur images. It can - but not in a controllable manner! The blur doesn't survive after you close the O&A window. regards, Peter

The following sequence of events causes the image in the O&A window to display blurred. Create a simple one slide sequence. Use the O&A window to add an image object as a child of the parent main image Reduce the zoom on both parent and child to 60% Save project and close PTE Launch PTE and re-open the project In O&A window reduce the zoom value of the child object to 0 Close the O&A window Go back into O&A window and set the zoom of the child object back to 60% The child object displays extremely blurred on my system. PC spec: See attached report from nobeefstu's PC-Reporter program Problem was found using PTE v6.00 Final but also occurs with v5.6.4 regards, Peter PC_SF Report_2009-11-07.txt

You deserve a good one. Enjoy! regards, Peter P.S. If you're heading to England I'd like to try and arrange to meet you.

Manfre, Stop and Pause - yes. Loop - don't know, but doubt it. Just ensure that you have ticked "Permit control of show using keyboard" in Project Options...Advance tab. The spacebar will toggle Pause/Play and the arrow keys will let you move backward/forwards and, I think, will retain synchronization. regards, Peter

I'm not sure that you have understood my concern here. When an object has "Transparent to Selection" ticked then that object cannot be selected by clicking in its image area. It can only be selected by clicking on its name in the object list. This I understand and agree with. But I do not understand why a second object, one that lies beneath that first object, cannot be selected by clicking in the image area of that second object. In my project file that I sent: why, after clicking on the Black Slide object name in the object list, can I not then click into the image area of A1500 and get that object selected? That would be my understanding of what the "Transparent to Selection" setting on the "Black Slide" should be allowing. You seem to be saying that "Transparent to Selection" is actually "Selection by clicking the image is disabled". regards, Peter

Hi Igor, Thanks for the quick reply. I understand what you are saying and agree that moving the Black Slide object down the object stack clears the problem. However, I have set that Black Slide object to be "Transparent to Selection". I thought this meant that PTE would ignore its presence in the stack and select the next item down the stack. But PTE didn't do that. regards, Peter.

The "Great Northern Audio-Visual Weekend" is an annual event that takes place this year on Friday 4th December to Sunday 6th December at the Wilmslow Guild, Cheshire. The event consists of three days of lectures, competition, presentations, advice, demonstrations etc connected with the art of Audio-Visual. Full details, booking forms and contact details for any queries can be found at this website: www.wilmslowguildav.org.uk under the link labelled "Great Northern." This information has been posted on behalf of the organisers of this event. regards, Peter

Igor, I posted on this subject into the discussion topic about v6.0 beta but it seems to have been overlooked so I'm re-posting here. If I open the attached project in PTE v6.0 I observe the following behaviour: On opening the project, the one and only slide is selected in the Slide List I click on the Objects and Animation button The A-background image is highlighted in the Objects list and the green outline and handles are visible around it I click within the area of the image of the steam train The green outline and handles moves to be around just the image area and the object name A1500 becomes highlighted I click within the area of the Black Slide image (Note that this image is set to zero opacity and to be “Transparent to Selection”) The green outline and handles vanish and no object is selected So far, PTE is behaving exactly as I expected it would. I now continue as follows: I click on the Object name “Black Slide” The green outline and handles appear around the Black Slide image area and the Object name is highlighted I click within the area of the image of the steam train Nothing happens I click within the area of the A-Background Nothing happens It would seem that after selecting the Black Slide by name I can only select any of the other objects by name and not by simply clicking within their image areas. Is this the behaviour that you would expect? I cannot see the logic (from the user’s perspective) of being unable to select by clicking within the image area. regards, Peter TransSelBug.zip

Hi folks, No, I hadn't forgotten this challenge. I've had a week's vacation but now I'm back in harness once more. As an update on my progress, I'm posting here the current state of this project. What you see in the EXE file is the third version of the third line of attack on this challenge. The previous two versions of this line of attack were simply stepping stones along the build. The previous two lines of attack proved to be, in one case, a totally wrong approach and in the other case, an excessively over-complicated approach. After stalling on attack #2 I downloaded and watched Lin's AVI tutorial on building and animation a 3D cube. His build technique for the cube was simpler than mine and so I adopted that (thanks, Lin!). With a much simpler structure of Objects, it became easier for me to keep track in my head of what was happening to each object. I estimate that, to date, I have spent about 20 hours on R&D (which is how I think of the work that went into the two abortive attacks) plus a further 4 hours on R&D for this third attack (mostly spent solving the problems posed by the ability of each small cube to be part of three different planes of the entire cube: i.e. a small cube has to be able to change its parentage between one animation event and the next). I've also spent another 4-5 hours actually building the three variants of my current line of attack. I'm convinced in my own mind that I now have solutions for all the technical problems; and I'm now working towards a very definite vision for a sequence. Rubik2v3.zip

Just a thought on this, is it a "user error" brought about by not fully understanding the implications of the file associations between the .pte extension and the two versions of PTE that are installed? Although Windows will happily let you associate the same file extension with many programs, only one such association can be "the default association" that is used when you double-click on a file of that particular extension. Could it be that the default association is still with PTE v5.6.4 whereas the user thinks it is with PTE v6.0? As other posts in the past have proven, this can be a source of confusion for PTE users with multiple versions installed. I'll admit, it even catches me out occasionally if I don't concentrate on exactly what I'm doing! regards, Peter

Eric, Thanks for pointing that out. Serves me right for doing things in a rush. Have now editted that post to give the correct emphasis. regards, Peter

Jeff, The problem that arises when discussing the subject of sound within PTE is that word "editing". None of us want to be able to edit sound files in PTE, just as none of us want to edit image files in PTE. Those who say use a specialist product to do the sound and image editing are quite correct. But what many of us would like to see is the sound files being treated equally to the image files. We'd like to be able to place one or more sound files precisely on the timeline of the sequence. And then we'd like to be able to define a fade up or fade down (image equivalent = transition) from one sound file to the next. Or reduce the volume (image equivalent = opacity) for all or part of the sound file's duration. Applying transitions and opacity changes to image files isn't editing the image file; and neither would applying fades be editing of the sound file. PTE is the world's best A-V software product but what Jim, Dom, I and many others would like it to become is the world's best A-V product. regards, Peter

To Igor and every member of the PTE development team - a big, big Well Done! I hope you all now take a very well-earned vacation. regards, Peter

Hi Geoff, Copy text object in O&A - yes. Paste to multiple slides in one move - no, not that I know of. My technique is to copy as normal and then, in the O&A window, use the next slide arrow button (top right) and the Paste icon (off the toolbar) repeatedly. It's a bit of a bind but I find I quickly get a rhythm going. Just check the "parentage" when pasting. regards, Peter

Someone from WnSoft can give the definitive answer but I believe that the standard licence terms allow the software to be installed on two systems. It would seem that Igor has kindly thought of those of us who build on a desktop system and then project using a laptop. regards, Peter

Gary, Yes. Take at look at this offering. It shows one technique that I have used to fold a cube up from six images. Study the keyframes of the individual faces during the first six seconds and the keyframes of FrameZ during the next six seconds. Make sure you have the 3D Parameters window opened. To unfold the cube I simply have to add more keyframes that will reverse the previous actions. regards, Peter 3D-Cube-Trialsv1.zip

Gary, I'm not familiar with the "little book" sequence that you refer to so I cannot give an answer that I know is correct. However, I would study the keyframe of the animations and also the transition timings and types. I suspect that the answer lies in those areas somewhere. The upside-down Y and the reversed R are a consequence of my adding the text in a "quick and dirty" manner. What I should have done was unfolded each of those two little cubes to a flat form, added the text in its proper orientation, and then folded the cube back up. I didn't, I just chose two faces that were still visible at the end of the animation and added the text to those - without considering how the animation may have changed their orientation. regards, Peter

Gary, I've added text to three of the small cube faces (one blue, one yellow and one red). Study the Objects list. To help you understand better, the big cube is made up of three layers. The objects called Face1, Face 2 and Face3 are just frames that control the entire contents of that particular layer. Each layer is made up of nine small cubes. Each cube is made up of the same six coloured squares. regards, Peter Rubikv5-with-Text.zip

Da dah!! I might be jumping the gun, but I think I might just have solved all the major problems. The cube moves in very slow motion at present: but that is to allow me to check for any visual anomalies. And only one face rotates: but rotating the others will not involve anything new - or so I currently believe and fervently hope! regards, Peter Rubikv5.zip

FS, It's not stupidity at all! Do you have a "standard" set of Project Option values that you use on all (or nearly all) of your projects? If you do then, have you created a personalized Template with these values pre-defined? If not, creating such a template and making it your default template will ensure that each new project always has the same Project Options values pre-defined. I created a FAQ entry on this subject see here. Take a look at it and see if you think this might help. regards, Peter

OK, so I've wasted the whole morning playing around with this challenge but it's been fun - if, so far, frustrating. I can build the three layers of the cube (currently with no colour on the top and bottom faces). I can rotate each layer separately about the Y axis in either direction. But if I try and contra-rotate two layers at once it appears as though the chosen Y axis is positioned at one edge of the layer rather than through the middle. It's probably all about how I've tried to construct things. In the words of Fagin from the musical "Oliver!" - "I think I'd better think it out again!" regards, Peter

FS, Try "Synchronize music and slides" under Project Options...Main tab. regards, Peter