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Congratulations Guido! I'm sure the Italian fans of PTE will find them useful. I wish all the users of these guides the very best of success! Auguro a tutti gli utenti di queste guide molto migliori di successo! (I hope that is a good translation) regards, Peter

The "Unofficial" User Guide, created by two knowlegdeable gentlemen, Lin Evans and Jeff Evans, can be found as one of the Pinned items in the Tutorials section of the forum here: http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7202 It was written for v5.0 but the Objects and Animation section is still relevant today in v5.6. You might spot some differences in the screenshots in the User Guide compared to your v5.11 but they should be reasonably self-evident as to how they relate to what you actually see on your screen. regards, Peter

Treat the text as you would any other object. Just give it a pair of keyframes and change the pan values between the two time points. If this makes no sense to you, down load the User Guides and read them! regards Peter

How much RAM have you got installed? Both Vista nd Photoshop Elments are notoriously "memory-hungry". regards, Peter

Tony, My understanding, which may be flawed, is that the projector is simply cloning what the monitor is displaying. So the questions that you really need to answer are: - how does a PTE sequence built to 1024x768 appear when played on a 1400x1050 monitor? - how does a PTE sequence built to 1920x1200 appear when played on a 1400x1050 monitor? Those two tests will demonstrate what happens when you run an "undersize" sequence and an "oversize" sequence. Once you know what happens on the monitor, then you can connect the projector and verify that the behaviour is the same (I think it should be). And I think the answer to the first two questions is going to have to include a lot of "it depends...". For example: - it depends on which version of PTE has been used to do the build - it depends on which settings have been chosen in Project Options...Screen tab We all must realise that the world has changed radically over the last four-five years. It used to be the case that the standard resolution for PC monitors was 1024x768 and that the standard resolution for projectors was 1024x768 and that the default resolution in PTE was 1024x768. Life was easy; everything was the same - and it all worked predictably. Now we have no standard resolution for PC monitors; they come in all shapes and sizes as the plethora of aspect ratios shows (4:3, 5:4, 15;10, 16:9, etc.). Nor is there any standardisation in the projectors, as yet. You can choose from: 1024x768, 1400x1050, 1920x1200, etc. And in PTE v5.6 you can choose from a wealth of settings under Project Options...Screen tab. The only "simple" facts, as I understand them, are: - PTE will "up-sample" a small sized sequence to fit on a larger monitor (I build to 1024x768 on a 1280x1024 monitor so I know that this happens). But that sequence should project at its stated resolution of 1024x768 through the projector. Unless the projector has menu setings that have told it to "up-size" a small image. - PTE will "down-sample" an over-size sequence to fit on the monitor; and will maintain pretty good visual quality whilst it does it (I have tested this by building a 1920x1200 sequence on my 1280x1024 monitor) In that latter case, the 1024x768 projector then "down-sizes" the sequence when I project it. Over a short throw projecting at home I do not see any visual degradation. What it would be like over a long throw on to a large screen in a hall I do not know. There are just too many damned variables now! regards, Peter

Ray, I would never build a slide the way that you have. More than once in the past, Lin Evans has cautioned about trying to use objects that do not have an "origin" keyframe (i.e. one positioned at offset zero on the main image's timeline). When we first place a text object, PTE gives it an offset=0 keyframe. There must be a good reason for that. I would have built the slide with all three text objects having their origin keyframe set to zero opacity. Then, at the point where I want the text to appear on screen I would place a pair of keyframes (zero opacity and 100% respectively) to give the fade in of the text. If I wanted a "Quick" appearance of the text I would set the time difference between the pair of keyframes to 50ms. I don't know whether what you are seeing is a bug in v5.6 or whether what you were achieving in earlier versions was actually exploiting a loophole in the PTE code that has now been closed. Only Igor and the Wnsoft team can answer that. regards, Peter

Hi Dave, PTE does not support video clips within a sequence; only still images. I have no idea whether or not WnSoft have any plans to include such support in a future version. regards, Peter

Al, Re your music synchro problem: have you ticked "Synchronize music and slides" in the Project Options...Main tab? regards, Peter

Hi!, and welcome to the Forum. Now let's see if we can get your problems resolved. As with all fault diagnosis we need to take things one step at a time. And, of course, I cannot see what is happening on your system. So to begin with please provide some basic information: - what version of PTE are you using? - what operating system does your PC use? - typically, how large are your images (please express your answer in terms of pixels wide by pixels high) - what format are your music tracks? - does the sequence play correctly in PTE when you use the Preview button? - does the EXE file play correctly on your own PC? What exactly did you burn to the CD? - a simple copy of the EXE file? awaiting your reply, regards, Peter

Eric, But do you have "Fixed size of slides" ticked on the Screen tab of Project Options? This discussion is about PTE's behaviour when that option is ticked. Provided that PTE is behaving for you in the way that you want it to behave, then it ain't broke; so don't try and fix it! regards, Peter

Hi Paul, Yes and No respectively. I've just done a couple of quick tests. A show built to Fixed size 1024x768 using 1024x768 images ran on my 1280x1024 monitor with a broad black band all around it. A show built to Fixed size 1920x1200 using 1920x1200 images ran OK on the monitor and filled the width (with no loss of any part of the image) but left a black band top and bottom. My interpretation of my results is that using Fixed size of slide will not expand the image to fit a larger monitor; and it will down-sample the image to get "best fit" on a smaller monitor. regards, Peter

Hi David, I don't know which version of PTE introduced the feature, but yes, you can mix manual and timed slides in a sequence. I am currently building what is essentially a manually controlled "illustrated lecture" but at one or two points I want the slides to advance automatically with no intervention by me on the mouse or keyboard. The Customize Slide...Main tab offers an option to "Show next slide after indicated time interval". It is possible that this feature exists in v4.49 also? If you do decide to upgrade, then remember that you can have both v4.49 and v5.6 installed at the same time. They co-exist quite peacefully! Also remember that the user interface was changed quite extensively during v5's life. You would be well advised to download the various user manuals - and read them! regards, Peter

Ivor, Just a random thought...how long is it since you cleaned out your Registry and de-fragged it? regards, Peter

Eric, If you look at the Properties tab in O&A for a Text Object, there is a tick box "Auto font quality". Most of the time, most users will leave this ticked. But if you un-tick it you get a box into which you can enter a numeric value for font size. In this manner you can ensure that all text across all slides has exactly the same font size. I confess I didn't know this until Igor opened this topic on the forum. Just goes to show that even the so-called experts are still learning new things about PTE. regards, Peter

Igor, As part of your rework of the text handling in PTE v5.7 would it be possible to include the ability for the user to nominate, perhaps in Project Options somewhere, which font and colour they want as their default values for Text objects; and for this nomination to be kept separate from the nominations for the font and colour of Comments text. As you will be aware, this point has been raised several times in the past; but, as you are obviously working in this particular area as part of 5.7 development, it seems appropriate to mention it again under this topic. regards, Peter

Bob, The solution that comes most readily to my mind is to produce two variants of each sequence. The first variant is made to function as a stand-alone sequence and is the one called off the Location button. The second variant is the one that is coded to call the next sequence in the chain. The head of this chain is the one that is called off the View All button. Obviously you do not need to do the full sequence build everytime on both variants. You simply create the stand-alone version first and then save the pte file as a variant name and modify the variant pte to call the next sequence in the chain. To be sure that you do not over-write the previous exe file use Create...Create As... to create the variant exe file. Not neat but it will work and requires a minimum of extra effort from yourself. That's the best I can do! regards, Peter

Hi Lin, My very best wishes to you and your family for the best possible outcome to your current problems. Everyone on the forum will miss your advice and expertise whilst you are absent. My thoughts and prayers will be with you. regards, Peter

Hi Bob, Yes, "Run Slideshow" or "Run Slideshow with Return" can be used to chain/link sequences together. All sequences involved must be "Created" using v5.6 (they can be built in any version but the final create of the EXE must be done using v5.6). To drive off a "Menu" sequence, use a background image of your choice and then add buttons or thumbnails and give these the "Run Slideshow" or "Run Slideshow and Return" action under Action on mouse click on the Common tab in the O&A window. To chain one sequence off the back of another use the Project Options...More tab option to Run application/slideshow on exit. Have a play, its easier to do than it is to describe how to do it. regards, Peter

Jim, Well, that's the last of my ideas blown out of the water! Are you aware of this other active thread in a similar area? http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9429 regards, Peter

Dave, As I hope you will understand, my concerns when I have a problem are: - to find a workaround (so that my sequence build is not delayed) - to document the problem clearly for Igor and his team - to alert other users to the problem So I do not always have the time or the inclination to keep diagnosing any problem exhaustively. I have had buttons misbehave both as children of some other object and as stand-alone buttons. The Return button on #20 is a stand-alone button but it misbehaved. The Return button on #19 is also a stand-alone button but it has never misbehaved. I cannot explain why increasing the slide duration (which isn't actually controlling the sequence as I have "Wait for a key press..." ticked in Project Options...Main) should bypass the problem. But since Igor gave this as a temporary solution, clearly he and his team do understand what is going on. regards, Peter

Further to my immediately preceeding post... I have now upped the slide durations to 4000 and all problems have gone away. This does, indeed, seem to be another manifestation of the previously reported bug with Menu slides. Thanks, Stu, for pointing me in the direction of the circumvention. Now all we need is for the WnSoft Wizards to provide a permanent solution, hopefully, in v5.6.1. regards, Peter

Stu, Still using Preview under v5.6 ... I have continued the development of this illustrated talk sequence but, on seeing your posts above, I stopped work on it and followed up on that suggestion. The slides originally all had a duration of 1 second. After I increased that to 4 seconds most, but not all, of the problems went away. Slide #21's Continue button now requires two clicks (not a double-click but two slightly spaced out clicks) to advance the sequence but does go to the correct slide. All other buttons behave correctly on first click. And if I select Slide #21 and "Preview from selected slide" then the Continue button reacts correctly to the first click. While doing the testing I noticed that I did have one programming error. Slide #30's Continue button was programmed to go to slide #43. It should have been going to slide #39. I corrected this error. And now that button takes me to slide #28. Talk about being confused - I am and so, it would seem, is PTE. regards, PTE

Jim, Are these sound bites added via Customize Slide...Music tab or via the "Add Sound" icon top right in main window? regards, Peter

Agreed! regards, Peter

Ed, The Directory Tree already is hideable very easily. Look down its left hand margin and you will see some fine lines. Click on these and, Hey presto, the lady has vanished! Alternatively you can use the View...Show Tree command to toggle it on and off. regards, Peter