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Patrick, I'll try and explain these as I currently understand them. Firstly, the easier one to answer: "Hardware acceleration...". If you are using the PTE v5 features of animation (Pan, Zoom or rotate), then this needs to be ticked. PTE v5 makes extensive use of the capabilities of the graphics processor unit (GPU) that is part of the graphics card in order to provide smooth animation movement. It does no harm to leave this ticked all the time. (I'll use an example to explain the "Fixed size of slide". Let us assume that I am working to a 4:3 aspect ratio but on a monitor having 1280x1024 resolution. Also, let us assume that, in my sequence, I have one image that I have sized to 1024x768 and all the others are 1280x960. If I leave "Fixed size of slides" unticked, PTE will increase the size of the small image up to 1280x960. If I have ticked "Fixed size..." then this small image will be kept at its small size.) (The text in italics is an incorrect explanation. A corrected statement will be made in due course.) "Aspect ratio...." can be used to specify, for example, that the sequence is to be built for wide-screen (e.g at 16:9) even though the working monitor is of a different aspect ratio. I hope those explanations have helped you to understand these options. And if my understanding is wrong, we can be sure that someone will tell us both! regards, Peter Edited: 17:15GMT on 11 December 2009 - to advise of incorrect statements about "Fixed Size..." feature

Geoff, Thanks for that link. I've installed it to Elements v5 on my Vista desktop PC and can now see file extensions ICO on Open and Save As dialogues, so it does seem to work. I had a bit of a fight with Vista to get it installed but eventually tamed the beast! I was trying to extract the file straight from the zip into the PlugIns\FileFormats folder. It seemed to have done it, but when I checked, the file wasn't there. It had been placed in a sub-folder of FileFormats for "Compatability Files". I simply copied and pasted this file from there into the FileFormats main folder and deleted the file from the Compatability sub-folder. Having done that, when I launched Elements, the plug in appeared in the Help About PlugIns. All seems OK now. I'll try the function later on today. If I hit any problems I'll come back and post details here. regards, Peter

Steve, Do other files take longer to open as well e.g. Word, Excel, images into Photoshop? If so, it could be something like anti-virus checks. Just a thought! regards, Peter

Just to ensure that any further discussion on the subject of PTE code size is based on solid facts, I've just created a sequence comprising a single Black Slide and no music. Using PTE v4.49 the exe file was 288K; using PTE V5.52 the exe file was 324K and using v5.6 beta12 it was 342K. That is just 54K of code increase from v4.49 to v5.6. And for that we get all the wonderfully rich features of Pan, Zoom, Rotate as well as all those fantastic transition effects including the 3D ones. The size of the final exe is dictated by the following factors: - the music files (if WAV then expect around 10MB per minute; if MP3 then expect around 1MB per minute) - the image files (suitably sized 1024x768 files will be of the order 150KB-250KB each; suitably sized 1920x1200 files will be of the order 425KB-525KB each) The PTE overhead, in comparison, is miniscule. Just to complete the statistical analysis: the PTE project file itself contained 196 lines of code in v4.49, 228 lines of code in v5.52 and 230 lines of code in v5.6 beta12. So, yes, the pte file is getting more complex. But we must expect that. We cannot have all the new function without an increase in the complexity of the software and the project file. In response to Steve Newcomb's comment about it taking longer to Create exe's. I haven't noticed this. Steve, are your new sound files the same format (and therefore a similar size) as the older ones? Are your new image files of a comparable size to your older ones? Are the new sequences of comparable running time and complexity compared to the older ones? Is the background activity in your PC (firewall, anti-virus, etc.) the same as it was in days gone by? It is easy to point the accusatory finger at new software when, in fact, we have overlooked a more fundamental change in our own methods and/or material. regards, Peter

Patrick, I wish I lived close to a landscape that offered such wonderful colour in the autumn. You are very fortunate, indeed! As for the music, I admit that, at first, it seemed out of place with the images. But then, as the sequence progressed and the geometric patterns of yellow lines came to dominate the images I found that I liked the overall effect. Thank you for sharing this with us all. regards, Peter

AbdolReza, I have sent you a Personal Message. regards, Peter

Xaver, Thanks, got it! AbdolReza, I've successfully downloaded your file now. I will take a look at it and post a reply. regards, Peter

Hi AbdolReza, I've been away for a few days and am just catching up on the activity on the forum. I've just tried to download your project from MediaFire but when I click on the link that you gave, the MediaFire site tells me that there are no documents. The link obviously did work when you posted it because Xaver (xahu34) was successful in downloading your project file. If you could please check that the link is still valid; and if not please upload the project again, I will certainly take a look at it for you. regards, Peter

Whilst checking out PTE's behaviour in order to reply to a post elsewhere on the forum I spotted something I'd never noticed before. Just in case there are more of you out there who are as blind as me, I've brought it to your attention here. If you have built some animation on an image and then feel that you want to adjust the length of that main image, there is an option in Customize Slide...Main tab that allows you to decide whether or not you want the existing keyframes to be scaled to match the new duration. It's that little tick box labelled: Scale keyframes in objects (on time change) regards, Peter

Robin, You used the phrase “…when I change photo’s around…”. I am inferring from this that you are doing something like drag and drop within the digital light-box view or within the SlideList. What you are seeing is the normal behaviour of PTE. When you first place a slide into the slide list, it is given the default duration, the default transition effect and the default transition duration. You can then change these three values by various means including: Customize Slide, dragging the “flag” on the timeline, dragging the end of the transition on the timeline. Any changes that you make in any of these ways will be retained if you then change that slides place in the sequence by dragging and dropping or by cut and paste. To give an example: Assume you have customized slide 4 to be 10 seconds long instead of a default of 5 seconds. You’ve done this so that you can use a long fade on it and also to get slide 5 to appear synchronised to a musical emphasis in the soundtrack. You then decide that you want to swap the images for slide 4 and slide 6. If you do this via drag-and-drop, your new slide 4 will have the attributes of your old slide 6 and your new slide 6 will have the 10 second duration and long fade. These attributes are associated directly with the image and not with the position. They get carried along everywhere that the image is taken. If you simply want to substitute one image for another, whilst retaining all the attributes of the original image, use the “Change Image file for current slide” icon on the top toolbar, to the right of the Comment field. Regards, Peter

Hi Robin, I've been away for a few days and so am now a few days behind on all my activities. Once I'm caught up I'll enter into a dialogue with you, unless someone else has helped out beforehand. regards, Peter

I would draw everybody's attention to post #21 of this topic (from which I quote above). This is an English-language forum. Would ALL users of it please observe this forum rule at all times. regards, Peter

Hi AbdolReza, As I explained when you posted this problem report in the beta10 thread, in a PTE sequence no slide exists in isolation from the other slides. Each slide shares a transition with the slide that comes before it and with the slide that follows it. So, if you ask PTE to preview your sequence from, let us say, slide C, PTE must show you slide B first in order to then show you the transition from slide B to slide C. This is not a bug in PTE. It is how it has to be in order to show you exactly how slide C comes into view after slide B. I hope this helps you to understand what is happening. If I have not understood your problem, I apologise. regards, Peter

Gary, This also is probably of no help to you but... I have Quicktime installed and also have VLC Media Player. On my Vista systems the mp4 files are associated with VLC and not with Quicktime. Do you really need Quicktime? Is it worth trying an Uninstall of Quicktime, then set the desired association, and then - if you feel you must - re-install Quicktime? regards, Peter P.S. If you do uninstall/reinstall, always watch out for prompts about changing file associations and take a conscious decision rather than the default decision. In a different thread, Eric (yachtsman1) is having problems because he allowed PTE v5.6beta to take over the association for the .pte files.

Admiral, I cannot help you with your use of v5.6 as I never used Original in the earlier versions. But you can have both v5.52 and v5.6 installed at the same time. You could do those parts of the sequence build that you feel need Original mode in v5.52 and then take the project into v5.6 to exploit things like the 3D transitions. Just an idea! regards, Peter

Gary, It may not be relevant but, after setting the HomeCinema exe file to be the "Always open with" program, have you re-booted? When you find yourself struggling to get setting changes to stay "locked in" in can sometimes be resolved by re-booting. regaards, Peter

Xaver, In my opinion you make some very good points; points that all users of the forum, whatever their nationality, would do well to keep in mind when posting. I am taking this opportunity to convey a gentle reminder to all. This is an international forum; we have members from all continents. The forum language is English; but for many of the users this is not their native language. Therefore, to prevent mis-understandings and unintentional insults, it is always wise to write in simple, clear English. I would further suggest that use of local colloquialisms or short-hand should be restricted to those occasions when you are replying to a specific individual whom you know will understand what you have written. I feel that I am well placed to offer these suggestions as I am also a participating member on a French language forum and so I have experience of both sides of this particular subject. regards, Peter

Daniel/Patrick/Xaver/Ken, Please fellas, be kind to this poor moderator! I'm working hard at becoming bi-lingual - English/French. But I'm not yet ready for tri-lingual - English/French/German. I know that I studied German for two years at school - but that was over 40 years ago and there's not much left in the memory banks! regards, Peter

Ken, Yes, you're is correct! And neither Xaver nor I are disagreeing with you. Xaver's post was simply documenting a technique to restore the association with Eric's existing v5.52 copy. Let me try and summarise all the "best practice" that has been discussed in this thread: - Each of our AV sequences should have its own folder - Every component (image file, sound file) used within each sequence should reside in that folder, or a sub-folder thereof. - The *.pte file should be saved into that folder. It should remain in that folder. - The *.exe file should be created in that folder. It can be moved or copied elsewhere later if so desired. - The option File...Save As... should be used to establish versions of the sequence (thus allowing the user to go back to a previous point in the build) - When installing new PTE versions, the user must watch out for any options to place an icon on the desktop - and should take this option every time - When installing new PTE versions, the user must watch out for any options to change the file associations - and should take these options only if they are 100% certain of the implication - Each desktop icon added by the install process should be immediately renamed to reflect the version to which it applies (e.g. PTE v5.52, PTE v5.6b11, etc.) Does that cover everything? regards, Peter

Eric and all others, It is the same technique under Windows Vista, too! regards, Peter

Eric, The default installation process of v5.6beta11 includes a screen with three "tick boxes" on it to the effect of: - place an icon on the desktop (unticked by default) - associate this version with .pte file extension (ticked by default) - associate this version with .ptv file extension (ticked by default) Almost certainly you left the ticks as they were. (To my mind, Igor got this wrong and should have had all the ticks reversed. It would have produced a "safer" install for the user). The result is that Windows now believes that you want all .pte files opening into PTE v5.6beta11. It is permissible to have mutiple programs all associated with the same file extension (just think how many programs there are that can handle .jpg files, for instance). But only one program can be the Windows default program for that file extension (i.e. the program that gets launched when you double click on a file having that extension). When you have multiple versions of PTE installed (as I have at present: v4.49, v5.52 and all the v5.6 beta releases), you have to take extra care not to change the Windows settings that dictate which of the versions is the Windows default for the .pte files. Right now I operate with v5.52 as the Windows default program for .pte files. My working method is to launch PTE from its desktop icon (currently a choice of three: PTE v4.49, PTE v5.52 and PTE v5.6b11) and then to use File...Open...to navigate to and open the actual sequence that I want to work on. I know this doesn't solve your problem but I hope you now understand why things are happening and what to watch out for next time around. A simple uninstall/re-install of PTE v5.52 should put your settings back as you would like them. regards, Peter

Hi AbdolReza, In a PTE sequence no slide exists in isolation from the other slides. Each slide shares a transition with the slide that comes before it and with the slide that follows it. So, if you ask PTE to preview your sequence from, let us say, slide C, PTE must show you slide B first in order to then show you the transition from slide B to slide C. This is not a bug in PTE. It is how it has to be in order to show you exactly how slide C comes into view after slide B. I hope this helps you to understand what is happening. regards, Peter

Steve, I don't have a single method of working. I adjust my work method to the needs of each sequence. Some sequences are built as an image sequence first, and then suitable music is found. With other sequences, it is the music that comes first and the images are added to that. Images first: music second I would use the "digital light box" to lay out the images in the approximate order that I felt was right. Each slide would have the Project Option default duration, the default transition effect and that effect would be at default duration (for me, that would be 4 to 7 seconds per slide depending on the tempo of the music, Fade effect, transition lasting 1500ms). I would then search for some music of an approximately suitable length and of a suitable mood. I would then play that music through whilst stepping through the images on the digital light box. In this way I would build up a feel for which images were in the right place and which were out of place. I would adjust the order of the images on the digital light box until I was happy with the order. (At this stage I might be discarding images or finding alternative ones). This phase gets repeated until I am satisfied that I have the main elements firmly fixed in my mind. I would then switch to the timeline view and position the images at approximately the required place on the timeline using the waveform display to guide me and making use of the mini-player to do an in-window preview. Then I would Preview the sequence for the first time. After that it is usually just a case of refining and fine-tuning; getting the slide positions precisely on the beat of the music (if that is the effect that I want), choosing a more appropriate effect and deciding how long the effect should last. All of this I would do using the Timeline view and the mini-player. Music first: images second I would listen to the music several times to fix in my mind where the "must have" slide changes had to go. I would then identify which images I thought should go at these "must have" points. These would be positioned using the timeline view in conjunction with the waveform display (default effect and default effect duration as in the previous method). I think of these as "anchored" images. I would then fill in the gaps between the "anchored" images using the Timeline view and the waveform to guide me. As and when necessary I would switch to the digital light box in order to check on the visual flow of the images. Then I would give the sequence its first Preview. After that it is refine and fine tune as in the previous method. And sometimes I find myself switching back and forth between the two methods of working. Whatever I am trying to achieve, and however I am trying to achieve it, I can always find a feature of PTE, or a combination of features, that helps me get the job done. The v5.5 user interface is very different to that of earlier versions and it does require time to become familiar with what it has to offer. When it was going through its beta releases there was much heated debate on the forum about it - and about perceived loss of function. But I feel sure that none of us would now be willing to go back to the previous user interface. This one offers so much more. regards, Peter

Steve, I do all my final tweaking in the timeline. I can easily change the duration of a slide (by dragging the numbered "flag"), the duration of a transition (by dragging the grey bar) , the actual slide image (by using the "Change image" icon on the upper toolbar) and I can see the waveform of the soundtrack to help me identify the musical emphases points. I can see a preview image of any selected slide in the mini-player area; and by using the mini-player, I can see and hear my changes straight away without having to switch between the Timeline window and the Main window as used to be the case. If I need to I can zoom in on the timeline to see the tenth-of-a-second "tick marks" more clearly for better precision of placement of slides and transitions. I find the v5.5 user interface a great improvement over the previous version. regards, Peter

A nice touch would the ability to choose between Timeline replacing SlideList in the main window and both Timeline and Slide List visible together one above the other. On a 5:4 aspect monitor you could probably work with both in view; on a 16:10 you might not want to do that. But having the option...now that would be nice! regards, Peter