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Hello Igor, from a practical, implementation related point of view, I totally agree - but not in terms of mathematical aesthetic Best regards Xaver H. Munich

Hello Cor, If you use a master show just with black images (not daisy-chaining), which initiates the real shows, then turn off hardware acceleration, but only in this master show. The others which are started by slides of the master show (via "customize slide") should remain as they are. It may not be good to run 2 applications in parallel both of which use D3D. If you do not take care for the taskbar (Windows XP), in the way I mentioned above, it will show up whenever a new show starts. Here the tool of Marcovelo can help. Best regards Xaver Munich

It seems to be folklore, not my solution, used by many others before I even knew that PTE exists. Best regards Xaver Munich

Hello, I also think that the word "shift" would be the better choice. A minor remark: The grey area on the timeline (showing the effect duration) is a little bit too short. The attachment shows an example for exactly 1 second (1000 ms). Kind regards Xaver H. Munich

Barry, this is again an excellent show, and there is no need for repeating what others have already said. Really a minor comment: I, personally, would prefer to apply a little bit less sharpening, not least to avoid the halos along several dark edges. Best regards Xaver Munich

Hello Filip, You can proceed as follows: You create a show where hardware acceleration is turned off, and which shows nothing but 12 black images. Customize each image such that it starts one of your shows (Customize Slide, Field: Run external application). Under Win XP configure the taskbar such that it is not on top of other windows. Starting this new show (menu show) should start all your 12 shows without any further actions. Kind regards Xaver H. Munich

Barry, For me your position here seems to be a mixed bag (hopefully a correct expression). You present images as kind of prototypes with a quality which a beginner will hardly be able to achieve. John’s position isn’t less demanding. So, if we discuss on this level it may also be allowed to talk about the “higher theories” of resizing. A beginner who is overburdened with resizing will have trouble with the other requirements, as well. Best regards Xaver Munich

So, what do we learn from this thread: We shall shoot images like a professional Our shows are rubbish if they contain a single bad image Even resizing is a science in its own. Really a motivation for beginners;-) Best regards Xaver H. Munich

Hello all, we all seem to like smooth animations. Pans via several keypoints always follow a polygonal curve, if the components are set to "smooth" or not. Wouldn't it be a nice feature to to have really smooth curves? Best regards Xaver H. Munich

Hello Jean-Pierre, When I progam a pan and a zoom at the same time, I normally use for for both exactly the same keypoints, and for each consecutive pair of keypoints I use for pan and zoom exactly the same speed profile. Best regards Xaver Munich

Hello John, I do not want to repeat the comments on darkness and timing from several of the previous posts. It would be of interest what you think about these comments. I tried to make screen shots of some of the dark images of your show in order to play with them a little bit in Photoshop - but you did not allow this! Kind regards Xaver H. Munich

Hello André, you are right, but ... So let us consider your example: 2 given points for a linear zoom, and then a new one to be put in between, say for changing opacity. If you did not manage to place it exactly where you want to (using the mouse on the blue cursor), you may change its time via the keyboard after creation. But then the given zoom is no longer linear. As a workaround one can manage the situation using a dummy object for which you create keypoints just for placing the blue cursor at particular positions. Best regards Xaver Munich

Hello André, You made a valuable suggestion, but what I mean is slightly different. Assume that I have an object with 2 keypoints, and I want to place a 3rd one between the 2 existing ones. This new point inherits animation data from the existing points (some intermediate values). If I then place the new point after creation to its exact time, the existing animation will be modified in a way which I may not like. So I would like to enter the precise keypoint time in advance. Best regards Xaver Munich

bbdigital, This is an article which is very worth reading! The principle “Expose to the Right” is really important (i.e. place the histogram as far to the right as possible). Then, in order to reactivate almost clipped highlights (and for other reasons, as well) it is beneficial to shoot raw. For some background information, let me again refer to some papers of Bruce Fraser; for the links look at one of my previous posts, here. Best regards, Xaver H. Munich

bbdigital There is no doubt that you are right. I would never use 16-bit images for a slideshow. I think that beamers and standard monitors are not in the position to show 16 bits per channel. I just wanted to point out that one should be careful when using IrfanView (a good viewer anyway). The other remark on colour management is more serious. I have seen it again and again that people work with AdobeRGB and wonder why their images look so strange when projected using an old version of ACDsee, or IrfanView. Best regards Xaver H. Munich

Hello Colin, there are some drawbacks with resizing when using IrfanView, a program which I like very much. 1. If you apply it to a 16-bit image (say PNG), the resampled output has only 8 bits per channel. 2. People working with colour spaces like AdobeRGB have the problem that IrfanView does not support colour management. In PS you can resize and transform the images to sRGB in one step. Best regards Xaver Munich

Just a remark on the ATI problem, In our family we have a seven year old PC (Win XP SP2) having a GC with an ATI rage128 chipset (not to be recommended for PRZ). Here, when using PTE in the D3D fullscreen mode, two independent effects occur: The loaded colour profile is gone, and an increase of lightness occurs. As far as I remember, this effect was also reported by Al Robinson, last year. When running shows in D3D windowed mode, the problems vanish. I already asked for a further PTE option, the “simulated fullscreen mode”, (a window with masks that automatically fits to the monitor, maybe m.objects does it this way), but Igor does not seem to like it that much. Let us wait and see what will happen! Best regards, Xaver Munich

Hello Felix, I think that the published Gamma fix changes the driver settings. WnSoft works on a solution to be integrated into the PTE engine, and this would help on any computer with ATI card. Best regards Xaver Munich By the way: Are you German?

Hello Felix, as far as I know there is an issue with ATI drivers under Win XP and programs using D3D fullscreen mode (as PTE does, provided that you do no choose the windowed mode, Project options>Screen>Screen options). These drivers do not respect color profiles. Igor has been working on a solution for some time. Search the forum for "ATI Gamma Fix" (with quotation marks). Try out if the effect vanishes if you use windowed mode! Kind regards Xaher H. Munich

Hello Felix, what kind/type of graphics card does your computer use? Kind regards Xaver H. Munich

Wouldn't it be helpful to have in the O&A window an input field for the precise position of the blue cursor? Best regards Xaver H. Munich

Hello Igor, Version 5.5 provides a lot of improvements. Is it possible to give an answer to Mary's question? Best regards Xaver H. Munich

Hello Fabrizio, maybe, you just work with version 5.1. Please try the new beta version of 5.5, and see if this one solves your problems. Best regards Xaver Munich

Hello Fabrizio, I think that additive blending is not easy to realize, maybe at least not in realtime. Programs like m.objects, which offer this feature, apply pre-processing (they generate so-called textures in advance, not very elegant). In PTE, as far as I know, many transitions are based on alpha-compositing. Simple fade in/out compares to the situation, where two images are in Photoshop layers with blending mode “normal”, and where you shift the slider for opacity (of the upper image) from one end to the other. Additive blending can be modelled in PS as follows. Again, put two images in separate layers, reduce their lightness independently, and then use blending mode “screen” (German: umgekehrt multiplizieren). This process can be automated a little bit using an appropriate PS-action. You can simulate additive blending within PTE by generating the “third” (intermediate) image in PS, and apply simple fade in/out transitions via this externally generated intermediate image. Best regards Xaver H. Munich

Idofout, A simple method for keeping your shows in good order: Copy (not move) the candidates (images) for your new slideshow into a single new folder. Create your show and during this process, save all versions (pte-files) into this particular folder. Resample the copied images to appropriate pixel dimensions (without renaming them, probably apply some sharpening). Delete the images in the new folder which are no longer needed. You may move this folder at any place on your computer. Kind regards Xaver H. Munich