MikeV99

Thank you. Information on the latest version is available in thread. Mike

Lin, Thanks again. I have set up my left/right mouse for previous/next and they work like a charm. I had looked at the object & animations and saw where one could set the properties of the buttons in the demo you sent me. I also saw that one could use add/button to add an ellipical button. However, I assume (bad choice, I know) that you designed your own exit button (add/image)? Does a source of common button templates exist (other than starting from scratch in CS4)? Hi Mike, Actually, I only used a different "theme" for the "Exit" button, you might want to experiment with the themes and also with the advanced button properties. The shape is variable as well. Actually though, the buttons I wanted to modify are the navigation buttons included in the navigation screen (i.e., C:\Program Files\WnSoft PicturesToExe\5.6\All\NavBar\Air style.pt\NavBar.ini). This file contains detail definitions for the navigation buttons. I wanted to modify them to contain small text descriptions along with the images. Where are style properties defined? The actual default navigation buttons shouldn't be modified, but you can create any number and type and save them as new "styles" in separate folders. I suspect the style properties are hard coded for these, but you can download nearly an endless stream of "buttons" via the web, some of them free, and there are inexpensive software applications designed to create buttons. Here are a few: http://www.crystalbutton.com/ ($39) http://free-web-buttons1.software.informer.com/ (bunch of free ones here) Though you can, of course, create them from scratch in Photoshop, etc., it's easier I think to just use one of these programs and modify them to suit.. Best regards, Lin

Ton of info here as well! PTE AV Tutorials http://www.learntomakeslideshows.net lin@learntomakeslideshows.net

Ken Very impressive! Thank you very much. I have also been looking at Lin's tutorial which contains a lot of info. Do you know of any information about a style editor or a definition of the file layout? Mike

That did not change anything. I can click on the pause icon, then click on the forward/backward navigation buttons to accomplish that action. Maybe it is because I have navigation buttons enabled? I am using the air style buttons which are nice. Does a style editor exist or a description of the settings in the ini file? I would like to add some text to the buttons. I will go experiment some more. Has anyone written a book in English for P2E? The BeechBrook web page has quite a bit of information. Thank you for the time you have spent with me. The more I learn about P2E the more I am impressed with its capabilities. Mike

Dumb question probably, but where do I find these instructions? That makes sense. I read a little on that on another thread. Are there other sources I should read? Thanks Mike

Thank you. Yet another program to learn. One would think that audio would be as important as video when creating AV shows and that both capabilities would be included in the AV software. Interestingly enough (at least to me) one of the features that PSP is touted to have over P2E is the audio editing capability. However, in my limited testing it appears that one must use audacity with PSP. I have not quite figured out exactly what PSP has over P2E as far as audio is concerned. Anyone have a tutorial and pte example showing this? I have learned how to add basic navigation buttons to an exe. What I have not been able to figure out is if there is a way to have buttons that allow one to navigate one slide at a time (next slide and previous slide) in the exe? Thanks again Mike

Which audio editor and how difficult to use and incorporate the results into P2E? I see in project options the ability to add background music to the project. I assume I would have to customize each slide to accomplish the background music with voice over? Do you have any demos on your web site that demonstrate that capability? If the resolution of the computer screen is smaller than 1920x1080 the project I created is shown in a smaller window with a larger black border (both exe and preview mode). The mp4 I created would size on my monitor using Quicktime view options, but lost the navigation buttons (took 30 minutes to create for 6 slides). However, the show pretty much bombs after about 6 seconds. The DVD I created (created the iso then burned it with imgburn) plays well on computer and TV. It is OK, but nothing to write home about. The underlying image is mpeg-2 -- don't know if that is good or bad. My attempt at menu building left a lot to be desired. Still concerned about audio management. Thanks Again.

What are reasonable expectations for the quality of DVDs made with P2E? One might expect a show to look better on a computer screen during development and not have the same quality when played on a TV DVD player. However, is the primary focus of P2E on making high quality exe's with a much lower of concern with DVDs? I would like to be able to make DVDs (non-HD at this point) that the folks watching enjoy without concerns about sharpness, brightness, and so on. Obviously slideshows on the computer monitor will most likely always look better; however, the folks that will watch my shows will typically not be using a computer. What are reasonable expectations? I assume that the best way to build shows that will be shown on someone else's Laptop/projector is to create exe's. I have been reading the discussions about resolution and am getting overloaded with information. Since one might not know the resolution of the projector, what is the "best" approach to make the exe look good (i.e., to get automatic resolution changes without loss of clarity or border shrinking)? A lot of the shows I have been watching have a single audio track throughout the slideshow. How difficult (if it is even possible) to have spoken narrative included for each slide along with background music (voice over music)? Also, can that background music be changed during the slideshow (and with what difficulty)? If all of this is possible, do examples (with source code) and tutorials with the audio features exist anywhere? Thanks

Would not that mean that the image would be viewed in whatever browser is installed on the user's PC? It is certainly an option. I was trying to avoid XML or VB6 sort of things and hoping to do it all within PTE. Also, I am not a real big fan of most browsers. It is certainly an option to think about though. Thanks. Mike

Peter, I see you have done this a time or two. Thank you for the information, it is now enshrined in a word doco in my PTE folder. If you program your sequence using this option and then add an extra slide into the middle of the sequence, these relative numbers are not automatically recalculated. Ouch -- that could be a real pain. It even more complicated than that if one considers my initial thinking. Create contact sheets with thumbnails with the relative number as part of the image name. One looks at a contact sheet image, sees the relative number, clicks the mouse using the Go to slide number... action, puts in the number and away it goes. Very nice. Or, if each thumbnail could be placed on an image as an object with a "Jump" associated with it, then could not one just click on the thumbnail to go to the selected image? That would require that PTE inserts the relative number into the jump rather than the user. Is that possible? How are you handling giving your user the slide number to put into the query? Speaking of documentation updates, I have read the 4.4.2 Delete Slide/Insert Slide buttons section several times and seem to know less each time. I assume this relates to the discussion above. Run application or open file... If one inserts a file name, rather than application name, I assume the result will be as though the file name were double clicked in Windows Explorer (i.e., it starts the application associated with the file extension)? In your experience using the jump technique, does the compilation of the exe have any compression? I could see a very large exe file being created if one had a lot of images and action items. If sufficient room exists on the DVD-Data one could also include a folder containing the original image files for archival purposes? Do you know if a source project file illustrating this feature is available? I saw a tutorial somewhere that discussed creating a DVD-Video that contained a PTE exe so that one could view it on a TV or run the exe on a PC. That might be an interesting combination. Is what I am saying making any sense? Is it feasible using PTE? Maybe I should work on creating an archival exe as discussed in this thread before doing the DVD-Video. Dumb question ... if one creates the exe as discussed with the "jump" features (navigation bar) and click on thumbnail object one would normally Create EXE. If one took the project and did a Create DVD-Video, what would happen with all the navigation items associated with objects having mouse clicks since one does not have a mouse on a TV? Wow, I gotta go think about this some more and try some things out. Thank you very much. Your comments have been most useful and have triggered a lot of my gray matter into a frenzy of activity. Mike

The "Permit control of show using keyboard option" allows one to control the show via keyboard commands. The doco says, "A complete set of Keyboard Shortcuts is included at the end of this document." This part is a little confusing to me. My take is that the APPENDIX A – PTE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS lists keyboard shortcuts that can be used within PTE, not to control the flow of the compiled exe show. Is that correct? (BTW, Preview for F5 is misspelled in appendix A). Thanks Mike

The manual says, "As demonstrated in some online tutorials, you may even create your own menus to jump to any slide in the slideshow." Which tutorials demo that feature? Is it something that one can do within PTE, or does one have to use an additional application? I am toying around with a how one might create an index for archived images stored on a DVD. For example, lets say one wants to store 100 images (as jpeg or whatever files) on an archival DVD (not a video DVD, just copy the files to the DVD). One could mount that DVD on a PC, and use anyone of several different image viewer to find and view one of the files. However, lets say one wants to see a specific image. Based on the paragraph quoted above, can one use a PTE exe to find and view anyone of those stored images. Maybe create contact sheets showing thumbnails of the images with their relative number that are stored on the DVD? One could also print a copy of those same contact sheets as a means to quickly view what is on each DVD. Then could one would specify which image to view while running the PTE exe? Can something such as this be done? Using PTE alone or with an additional application? That would really be neat if it can "easily" be accomplished. Would the images have to be in the compiled exe or could they be stored as the original file format? (My apologies if my explanation is a little unclear; just trying to visualize what I want and whether it is feasible.) Advice or ideas? Thanks Mike

The Create Slideshow and Create Slideshow As options allow you to create an executable file. My assumption is that the exe can be run on a PC using a copy on portable media such as flash memory or as a copy on a CD or DVD. Correct? The "Permit control of show using keyboard option" allows one to control the show via keyboard commands. The doco says, "A complete set of Keyboard Shortcuts is included at the end of this document." This part is a little confusing to me. My take is that the APPENDIX A – PTE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS lists keyboard shortcuts that can be used within PTE, not to control the flow of the compiled exe show. Is that correct? (BTW, Preview for F5 is misspelled in appendix A). The manual also says, "As demonstrated in some online tutorials, you may even create your own menus to jump to any slide in the slideshow." Which tutorials demo that feature? Is it something that one can do within PTE, or does one have to use an additional application? I am toying around with a how one might create an index for archived images stored on a DVD. For example, lets say one wants to store 100 images (as jpeg or whatever files) on an archival DVD (not a video DVD, just copy the files to the DVD). One could mount that DVD on a PC, and use anyone of several different image viewer to find and view one of the files. However, lets say one wants to see a specific image. Based on the paragraph quoted above, can one use a PTE exe to find and view anyone of those stored images. Maybe create contact sheets showing thumbnails of the images with their relative number that are stored on the DVD? One could also print a copy of those same contact sheets as a means to quickly view what is on each DVD. Then could one would specify which image to view while running the PTE exe? Can something such as this be done? Using PTE alone or with an additional application? That would really be neat if it can "easily" be accomplished. Would the images have to be in the compiled exe or could they be stored as the original file format? (My apologies if my explanation is a little unclear; just trying to visualize what I want and whether it is feasible.) Advice or ideas? Thanks. Mike

Jeff, I thought that might be the case, but missed it. One can input the sound filename on the Preview Window and Project Options - Music tab. That is a little confusing to have two places to name slide sound files. Will the right click work on only filenames entered on the Preview Window (I'd test it before asking, but am on a different computer)? Also, I will be curious to see the answer about a project sound file as opposed to a slide sound file. Thanks, Mike

Thanks all. That is very helpful. Looks like it is easier to just have a slide with no image on it to insert (just a white background). It would be nice if one could preview just a single slide, including the sound without having to start a show. Mike

Wow, that was a lot of work and thought. I assume by competition work you mean environments where you wish to execute an EXE on a PC as opposed to running a DVD show on a TV DVD reader? Thank you for a very well thought out analysis. It was very helpful. Mike

Is it correct that PTE does not have a built in audio recorder (e.g., for adding narrative to a slide)? I have added some text to the slides. If I preview each slide, I can see the changes. However, when I view all the slides in the Slide List, the changes are not visible. Evidently, the Slide List is just that. Is there anyway to view all the slides in a slide list (or whatever) that will show the slides with the changes being made? I'd like to see thumbnails of all the slides that reflect the changes I have added. Also, to insert a blank slide one must first create one using CS3 and then insert that image, correct. I.e., no insert blank slide feature exists? Thanks, Mike A couple more questions: One can use Path and Name of Sound Editor to set the path/name of a sound editor. However, I can find nowhere in the program that uses that information. The doco says 3.3.6 discusses it use, but it does not. After adding sound to a specific slide using the Sound drop down arrow, how does one preview that slide and hear the sound? If I click "Click Here to Preview the Slide" the slide is previewed, but not the sound. I do not want to run the entire slide show. I just want to preview the slide to which I have added sound.

André, Thanks, that resolves the Lightroom file format in my mind (raw/dng for printing and PS editing; jpeg max quality export, no resolution change for PTE). Colorspace: From what I have read? For RAW save as 16 bit ProPhoto (Lightroom default) for CS3 editing and Lightroom printing. My camera is set to take Adobe RGB with jpegs. Hence, for editing in CS3 and printing in Lightroom, I will keep that format. Files exported for use in PTE, convert to sRGB. I have no idea about colorspace once I am using PTE since I barely know how to spell PTE. Mike

The demo from Dom definitely does not magnify. I was going to look at his approach and the one within PSP to see what technique was used. I do not remember how the magnification effect was accomplished. IRC, I managed to do it in Elements as well. If you are correct, what feature needs to be added to PTE to accomplish that task? Mike

André, Thank you for the advice. I have got to come up with a scheme for managing my image formats (both for within CS3 and then later in PTE). Within Bridge/CS3 and for camera raw I most likely will save as psd or dng. For jpeg I can do the same or save as tiff (I have been told that tiff has less loss than save as jpeg). When I prepare files for input to PTE I suspect I would need to convert them to jpeg. Based on your comments, I will try sRGB and original resolution (as done within CS3). Thanks, Mike

Ah, but just think of the learning experience! I started out with Elements/Premiere. I got a good deal on Lightroom/CS3 and it had some feature not available in Elements. I had thought of keeping Elements for creating my slide shows, but noticed other products easier to use and with more features. I thought I would need Lightroom for photo management, but am coming to the conclusion I can do all that I really need to do with Bridge. Lightroom has the advantage of not changing the original photo when adding tags and so on. However, I am starting to think that it really does not matter. I am still not sure how I want to manage the image formats. For camera raw I most likely will save as psd or dng. For jpeg I can do the same or save as tiff. Of course, when I prepare files for input to PTE I suspect I would need to convert them to jpeg. I started out playing with printing, but then decided that having a bunch of prints laying around or on the wall was not going to be a good long term approach. I have tons of prints and 35mm slides that I want eventually to convert to digital images. Having a bunch of raw photos on a DVDs does not seem reasonable either. After all, my kids are going to have to figure out what to do with all this stuff after I am gone. So, my strategy is first to create TV DVDs of the best and most interesting images. For the ones not quite as interesting, but that I would like to keep, I would like to be able to archive them, but have an index of thumbnails that one could click on to see a specific image. So, for the first goal, I need slideshow and TV DVD software. Many folks on different forums suggested I look at Proshow. I got the PSG/PSP trials and decided PSP would be needed to do some of the keyframe stuff. During my testing a couple of folks suggested that I consider PTE as well. So that brings me here. I have downloaded the PTE trial and am redoing the tutorials I did with the other products to see how I would do them in PTE. I have noticed that PTE really focuses on the slideshow portion and leaves other actions to other applications (not saying this is bad, just that it is the way it works). For example, to insert a blank slide in PSP is just a click whereas in PTE I had to go to CS3, create the blank slide, and then add it in PTE. However, thus far PTE is doing everything that I did with the other apps. I need to finish my test tutorial and then play around with talk bubbles and a moving magnifying glass to see how or if that would/could be done. A previous post in this thread suggested that Bridge/CS3, Cooledit, and PTE would be a pretty complete toolbox. I don't need major audio mixing just yet, but would be happy if I could narrow it done to Bridge/CS3 and PTE. Mike

Your memory is working great. He has it as a for sale template. Audition is pricey; Soundbooth is a little more bearable. If I need an audio editor I may be able to get by with Audacity which is free. Your use of just CS3 and PTE is what I am hoping to accomplish, get down to a simple set of tools. Thank you for your advice. Mike

What other setting should one use when exporting images using Lightroom for use in P2E (jpeg quality @ 100, sRGB, Resize ?, Resolution ?)? Thanks Mike

Got the user guide. I had also downloaded pteguide81707pdf.zip which contains something called jeffnew.pdf. I don't remember from where I downloaded it, or the difference between that and PicturesToExe_v50_UserManual_en.pdf. Tons of stuff out there. Could you please direct me to a couple with source that would be a good start for creating video DVDs. Thank you. Mike