Barry Beckham

I always get a little nervous when I hear requests like this to be included in PTE5, I have a similar view to requests for sound editing to be included too. I think PTE5 is a superb product, but when software tries to be all things to all people, don't we then risk losing something. That old saying Jack of all trades, master of none, come to mind. Software that does this is often over complicated, difficult for new users to find their way through the myriad of add ons and then doesn't do what it's supposed to that well. There are already software packages that do the sort of thing asked, probably better than PTE could and they have the ability to keep league tables etc. Check our the camera club sites or the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain. They are bound to have some listed. I have used two systems as a judge and they both performed fine.

I had a great feedback line following a full days demo, where 2-3 of my latest slide shows were played. It was a written comment, sent on later, but I thought it summed up pretty well some of the riduculous things people say. Now what do you suppose he/she meant by this? "Don't pass off pictures and music as AV" I would love to meet that person and ask to see what they have created. Stupidity alive and well.

Him - Canon 1Ds Mk3 Her - Canon 5D

I am sure you have to save a new project file after renaming an image, but isn't PTE much like Photoshop when you create an action of add some filters. The software needs to be closed down and relaunched and then all the correct labels will be reflected. Havn't tried it in relation to this thread, but just a guess?

Lin 1. a display size choice could be preserved such as 1000x400 pixels 2. a frame of several pixels in the users choice of color could be maintained 3. a background scaled to fit the display could be used which would prevent the extra display area on the display device from showing at all times. Yes, that is what I would like to see. I would agree that this could be an advantage but for me certainly not at the expense of giving up the option of scaling to fit the available display. Then we need to have both options. Size and format are an issue to grapple with and no matter what Igor can do, it will not solve that, but to be able to create your show at any format and animate it easily without frames or hassle seems to be a goal worth aiming for. If it's possible of course.

JPD I accept what you say, but remember the vast majority of users to PTE do not have our knowledge and skill level. I don't want to have to use utilities and complicate the slide show process, it should be simple. I want all you saw in that demo as part of PTE, if it is possible

Try this little demo too Download the following zipped files http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/demo.zip The zip contains two files, but don't click the familiar PTE icon, keep both files in the one folder they are unzipped to and click the one called Start. You will see that I have created a very small window (so I know the 1000*400 demo slide show will cover it) that contains a start button. That start button will fire up a short animated slide show with just a few images at 1000*400. (no sound) If I am right here, this will play a restricted slide show on a solid black background on all resolution monitors from 1024*768 upwards. I have created the white line too, but that has been done as a png frame.

Well, as far as I am aware the original mode and the diable scaling are the same. One affects just one image via the O&A screen and the other does it globally from project options. I suppose the question was not put as a solution for me, I know how I could do this, but it would mean making 2-3 different shows. It is one of those issues that baffle the hell out of newer users of PTE, PSG is the same. It is tied into the automatic scaling up of images to a larger monitor, which I/we don't want. (do we?) Especially as we have spent so much time getting the right size, sharpness and quality. I want the show to run at 1000*400 on a textured background and I want that show to play at 1000*400 on any PC (1024*768 and higher) The background colour, texture should then fill any space between the edge of the image and the monitor limits. I use a piece of Multi Media software to create menus for DVD's, I have mentioned this before. I can create a small window for the menus and have that placed on a background of my colour choice. I can also set the background to be full screen and I assume that full screen colour will be applied to any resolution. ________________________________________________ Take a look at the example below. http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/example.zip Just unzip and double click the exe file inside. You should see your entire screen in white with a 1000*400 pixel image in the centre. You should be able to click and drag that image around too as it is just a frameless window. Escape will end the demo That is how we should be able to present our slide shows, but with the added advantage of being able to use textures and edge lines

I have been using a set of speakers from Acoustic systems for about 4 years for our lectures and AV shows and they are superb http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/Product_r...ries/Aego_M.asp They have filled the largest hall with sound and seem to amaze people with their quality. You get one base box and 2 tiny table top speakers and the cost is around £100.

Igoforit Are you any closer to finding a solution to your problem, or have you just lost the will to live.

Igor I have mentioned this before in the distant past and I raise it again not knowing of course what the technical difficulties are. It is the issue of presentation, how our slide show is finally seen on screen, not only by the author who created it, but also by others running different screen resolutions. For me AV is all about presentation and I think this issue is an important one to tackle if it is technically possible to do so of course. I want to have the ability to create a slide show at any resolution I like. For the sake of my explanation, let's assume I want it to be 1000 pixels wide and 400 pixels high. I want to be able to animate that slide show and present it on any screen colour of my choosing or any texture of my choosing. I want to be able to animate the show, but have the animation restricted to within those 1000*400 pixels so that anyone with a higher resolution monitor does not see any animation outside of the 1000*400 format. I don't want to have to use Png frames to accomplish that. We are close to it with the window mode option in Project Options, but that has limitations. If I restrict my slide show to 1000*400 pixels, anyone running my 1000*400 format show will still see parts of the desktop of the PC it is being played on. That is what is unacceptable to me as it destroys the visual effect of the slide show. If that is not enough, I also want the opportunity to create a fine line around the edge of the 1000*400 format for those times when I want to present dark images on a dark background or light images on a light one. This all has to be tied in with that other option on the effect tab "Disable scaling of images". To accomplish what I am asking images would have to be displayed at the size the author created them, rather than expanded by the software to fit a higher resolution monitor. I want my 1000*400 pixel show to display perfectly for 1024*768, 1280*1024, 1280*800 etc. No black bands anywhere on the screen at all. If I choose a textured background I want it the same on all monitors edge to edge. Left, right, top and bottom. I also want a button in PTE that tells me what the winning lottery numbers are for next week. Only joking about the last part. Barry

Oh please don't have an argument over the word animation. All this laughing is putting a strain on my heart The word has settled into the PTE talk to mean movement of an image or object. I suspect most forum members will accept the word animation to mean............... Some form of movement in PTE We can accept that can't we? Please? Pretty Please? PS, Lets have another one about image quality, that's much more fun

I have had a similar problem to this, but it was caused totally by me. I created a second variation of the show I was making and saved that to another location on my PC. Then I had a break for a couple of days and did nothing to it. My show was almost identical, but now in two places. On coming back I forgot about the variation show I made. I was then looking at one set of images (in preview) and all was well with the changes I had made. When I created the EXE file it was being created in the wrong location and I was continually opening the original exe and wondering why it did not reflect my changes. I though I was going mad until the penny dropped. Could this be that simple because you wouldn't have an issue with just two images in a sequence, well it's unlikely?

I have to be honest here and say this was a thrown together slide show, everything the Purists hate. Just a some pretty pictures hung to some music and not much thought al all the which image appeared with which image. Just a lucky batch of pics I guess.

Isn't this just a Beta thing? I seem to recall PTE did this all the way through the V5 beta testing, but all came right at the end. I think it may just be a Beta issue that Igor as to unhook so to speak until the final version is released.

Geoff Is your question more aimed towards the image looking right when it is converted to a DVD and played on a widescreen TV. Currently people can look short and fat(er) when the image in played back on a widescreen TV. Was that your question?

Sorry Xaver, I don't understand what your telling me !

Igor I put a slide show together this morning with Beta 8 and it all seems to be coming together now. I know what I did was only basic, but it's as good a test as any. Just one tiny nit pick if I may. When we are in the time line, it is the most natural thing in the world to highlight a transition point and hit the delete key. However, if we do that we not only delete the transition point, but also remove the slide from the slide list. I appreciate we now have the cut transition option instead and in time I will get used to a different way of working. If the new version could be made to delete (with the delete key) just the transition point and not the slide itself, it would be marginally better. Of course I could be asking the impossible, forgive me if I am. Oh and one other thing !! I would like to be able to delete an image that I know I do not want to use from the file panel. I mean delete it for good from the PC into the recycle bin. I could have used that function a 1000 times over the past couple of years and if it could be added easily. it would really help the fuctionality of PTE even more

I spotted the image with the border missing and tried to upload a new show, but the PC decided to play silly whatsits. It let me ddlete the old one, but not put up the new. Its going up as I type

A slide show I put together in a few hours this morning as I have not yet got into Beta 8. The filter effect, texture and saving of the images was created using an action in Photoshop, so creating the images was fairly quick and easy. I also went back to 2001 to the days when my Camera was a Canon D30 at 3 million pixels. This came about because I was wondering how older images could be re-worked using Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS-3 along with the techniques that I currently use. These images where all shot as Jpegs at that time and I have some fiddling to do with some of the images, that I will do after I have viewed the show a few times myself. However, this is a simple show, no animation and just the standard fade and it is best viewed at 1280*1024 http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/slideshow/impressions.zip

John Now your talking. Make mine something strong

Dear Claire I have a serious problem and don't know where to turn. I don't do technical very well and that is why I buy software to take care of all that mumbo jumbo for me. I prefer to use my time producing images, slide shows, running my web site, listening to music, etc etc. Can you tell me what is wrong with my Vista busines Operating System. The reason I ask is that it appears to do all I want it to do. I can use Photoshop, create slide shows, surf the net, send emails etc etc, it never crashes, it has the odd wobble, but is that Vista, my PC componants or the tons of software I have piled onto my machine. However, all advice tells me I should avoid Vista like the plague and I am now very confused. If I was the worrying kind I could become suicidal reading about the dreads of Vista. I suppose I should start to worry that any day now it will all implode on me and I will lose all my work. Should I format without delay and get out my original copy of Windows XP and begin installing it, or perhaps see if my Windows 95 disk still works. Confused of Ely

Igor 5.5 seems to be coming along very well, with the release of beta 7. Can I ask one question. Why does the "Repeat Music after Playing" box come up ticked as a default in the project options > music tab I don't know about others, but I have to untick that every time I produce an AV or demo and have lost count of how many times I have suggested it is unticked in demos and videos. Should it not be left unticked as a default?

Thinking about the Moire effect further, there is one way to defeat it. (well, most of the time) Keep the animation subtle, which I find looks better anyway. In those circumstances I have also found that you don't need to increase the image size very much. For eample:- If I were producing a slide show at 1024*768 and wanted a gentle pan (not one that lasts 50 seconds) An image size of 1280*768 often has all the space I need. Even a reasonable zoom doesn't need very much more and 1280*1024 will allow a fair amount of movement. The problem comes with long zooms because then you need a much bigger image and at some stage it has to be made small, either at the start or the end of the zoom. If an author is contemplating a long zoom, I would suggest they ask themselves a couple of questions, especially if the Moire effect is an issue. 1. Does your zoom need to be that long? 2. Is the image strong enough to be on screen for the length of time you will need to complete the zoom? Remember, movement does not improve an image that already lacks impact.