Barry Beckham

Peter Thanks for spotting that I thought you would all miss it as the image wasn't on screen long . Actually I did fix it, but then had reason to rework the image and forgot it the second time. Regarding voice recording, I sort the advice of Medwyn Goodall a few years ago who suggested paying for a decent microphone so I bought a Beyer headphone and mike set. It was about £100, but it did need a pre-amp to make it work. I got one that is a little mixer too for about £70. I suppose compared to the usual £20 mike in PC World that was a bit steep, but it works well and you only need to make the outlay once. Who is Judy Kay, have I missed something ? Almark Well, the only way to fix that now that wide screen monitors are appearing is to change from full screen to window mode in the screen tab. For those already viewing with 1280*1024, I hope there is no affect at all, their certainly isn't for me. That should restict any animation on your monitor to 1280*1024. Perhaps you will download my show again tomorrow and do a test for me. I will make a few changes and upload it again. I would be grateful if you can report back how it plays on your 1920x 1440 screen. Your comment about the horizontal lines was well spotted and I agree, its changed. Dave Glad you enjoyed the show, not bad from a non believer is it. I don't have a religious bone in my body, but I do find that Churches and Cathedrals have lots of appeal. The idea and inspiration for this show came from Alan Rushmer a visitor to my own forum who created a show based on Norwich Cathedral. I had no idea this Cathedral was so photogenic and we paid it a visit too.

Mike I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I think you are making a classic error here. You say you currently own Photoshop Elements 5, Photoshop Elements Premiere 3, Lightroom 1.x, and Photoshop CS3 Extended, all of this is quite new and becoming overwhelming and to that you have added Proshow Gold and Producer trial versions. I am not surprised that lot are overwhelming and your biting off far more than anyone can chew. In an effort to find the absolute best combination of software you run a real risk of missing the best of all of them. There are not enough hours in the day to get to grips with that lot. Watch some of the slide shows on offer from this site and ask those authors whose work you admire what combination of software they use. Start from there and you will not go too far wrong. You can then move onto other software for particular reasons later. However, ask yourself this question. Why do the most able photographers and AV enthusiasts gravitate to Photoshop and PicturesToExe. Could it be that its because they are considered the best?

Potwnc If you use pan and zoom with images of this size you will very likely have viewers of your show reaching for the escape key. Before you do heaps of work on this, run a couple of lower res tests, you will be surprised that you don't need huge images to get very good pan and zoom.

This is still in sort of draft form until I am satisfied nothing needs changing http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffdigslidesw3.htm

Well, this could be a long answer, firstly I am greatful you think the slide show was artistic because that was my aim from the start. I took a lot of time and trouble to create the images and make the slide show, because I wanted to try and capture a mood and the artistic approach was one way to do that. The muted colours wasn't such a leap as I have found this technique attractive years ago and often return to it when the subject is right. In addition the images didn't have any colour that was worth playing around with so it was either black and white, sepia or perhaps even a light blue tone. Sepia was way out in front of the others when viewed. If you download the correct show for your 1024*768 monitor you should not now have bars down the left and right. I have corrected the file sizes for that size monitor so it fills the entire screen, well the framing does, not the images. Generally speaking I am not a great lover of slide shows that fill the entire screen. If we crop the images from our camera for a 1024*768 - 4:3 ratio screen we lose quite a bit of the left and right of the image. If that is what you are happy with, then there is no problem with that. If we do the same with 1280*1024 - 5:4 format we lose even more and our image is now beginning to get to close to a square for my liking. Most of us now use screens of 1280*1024 for this type of work and when I create a show, I want to retain the format from my camera. I also don't like the practice of images being stretched to touch the left and right of the screen, while leaving a gap top and bottom. What I do is to reduce the image size, so I not only retain the format that I feel gives the best image to view, but I create a border around the whole image. This is much more pleasant on the eye in my view and is pictorially far better than bars top and bottom. If I am going to have a gap anywhere, it will be around the entire edge of the image just like a frame or border of a print. For my 1280 monitor I size the images at 1000 pixels or thereabouts and let the height take care of itself. The problem comes of course if I want to animate an image, any animation would then be seen outside my base size of my image between that and the monitor edge. Thats where the frame comes in and it serves two purposes. 1. To alow me to animate and retain format. (any format I choose) 2. It allows me to select the colour, tone, texture around my images for the best pictorial result I can get. The only issue for me when I want to make sure those with 1024*768 monitors can also view the show. Then I have to resize the images and the frame. Not a great chore, but one that tripped me up earlier because I never checked it on my 1024*768 monitor before posting The size of my show doesn't have a great bearing on the projector. When I am doing a demo and running 1024*768 through a Digital Projector and I want to show a slide show made for 1280*1024 pixel monitors, I simply change the resolution of the screen to 1280*1024 while I run the show, then change it back to continue the demo.

Further to this, I would say that I would never take the sharpness of a picture to the stage where it was easily seen in a slide show image. If you really have the need to sharpen an image to the degree that you start to see that ugly pixelization effect, something is wrong with your basic technique. Because our software is powerful we must not make the mistake of thinking it can sharpen a clearly unsharp image. Unsharp mask in Photoshop is for sharpening a sharp image, if that makes sense. We can increase the appearance of sharpness in a sharp image, we cannot sharpen a burred picture. The best place for those is in the bin because they have no place in our slide shows. Get the image sharp at the time you take it.

Well, I got bored and gave up long before I even found the download for the show. Whatever this system is, its not working for me and I can't get to see the show. I will try again later

I am aware that the same issues are showing on Haworth. It just goes to show how complicated this must all be for a beginner, image size, resolution and format. One of the great things about PTE is the layers we can use in the Objects and Animation screen, but they don't seem to like being played on different formats when the images were originally made bigger. The only real option is to make the show at the size you want it, save in zip and use the zip copy to adjust the size of a second show for other monitors. I have used a Photoshop action to reduce the main images, then created a frame (that was causing the problem in the first place) at the right size for a 1024*768 monitor. There doesn't seem to be any other way. Using the frame can be disgarded when no amimation is used, but we don't always know that at the start. The frame allows the best of all worlds and can be changed on all images at a stroke. Barry

JudyKay In the post you are referring to I was trying to make the point that if you are going to use the audio visual technique of moving from an unsharp/filtered image to a sharp one, the image that is meant to be sharp, must be sharp. After all, you are drawing attention to that sharp image by using that particular technique. If, when we view the show, the image isn't really sharp enough, the technique fails and both images are now spoilt and out of place in the show. The point is, that if you use this technique you must start with a sharp image. In this case the author had an image that was really quite soft, by filtering the image an improvement was made, but in my view it was a mistake to then use the unfiltered/unsharp one in the sequence. Most of these techniques can be created at the shooting stage or at the image editing stage. There is nothing to stop us from helping matters along by softening or sharpening a selective part of an image, to help the technique/effect we are trying to get accross. If there is a medium in digital phoography where we can push the sharpening process, it's AV. We can take quite a few liberties with our images for slide shows and really add a much higher degree of sharpness than we would ever get away with on a print. The reasons are that our AV image is on screen for just a few seconds and the extra sharpness can be fully acceptable in the show. There are always limits of course and we will get to a point where our show will be much stronger by disgarding an image rather than trying to use one we really shouldn't. Audio visual is all about creating a mood and presenting a number of images that flow from one to the other. We should not do anything that interupts that flow and the mood of the show. In some cases we must even disgard good images, if they don't really belong. In my view the success of good AV is probably more down to what the author decided not to show, his/her editing of the sequence is THE most vital part.

JEB No, you should certainly not be seeing the effect described and shown in the gif. Its a dreadful mistake and one I must sort out and put right. I created the show for 1280*1024 monitors, but made the size slightly smaller than 1280 to retain the format I wanted. I created one version at 5:4 format, which was the one I worked on and viewed. Then I thought I would adjust it so that those with 1024*768 monitors at 4:3 format would see it as I wanted. Of course the frame used on the 1280 version is not really relavent to a show being played full screen at 1024 768, this comes from trying to be too clever I suppose, creating a show that plays on both formats without thinking things through. I have now put that right, (I think) and if you want to view the slide show again, it should look much more presentable in 1024*768 format now. http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffdigslidesw3.htm

Lument This slide show has great potential and I do envy some of the locations that you guys visit. As I look at the images, I wish I could get there easily myself. However, sorry about the however, but its better than using BUT The quality of your images are suffering and I came away with the impression that you took all these shots hand held when they demanded a tripod. Yes, I know we don't/can't always have one with us, but then perhaps we shouldn't choose those images to include in a slide show. If you want to use AV techniques like going from a filtered image to a sharp one, that sharp one, must be sharp. After all your drawing attention to it by using the technique. I agree that the end image was on the screen so long I reached for the escape key too. What made you leave on screen quite so long, you were not waiting for the music to end I hope. You can easily edit the music using the free Audacity sound editor that most forum members use. There is an expression that I think is a world wide one that goes. "First impressions count" When starting a slide show that is not a bad sentiment to have in mind. Start with a little wow value and your audience may be hooked a little easier. You started with an overlong zoom, where I couldn't tell what I was looking at for a long time and the image was a litte dull too. Dull as in contrast/impact You were also faced with some very extreme contrasts and you need some editing skills to balance those up a little and then the whole show will come together much better. Your show is almost filling my entire screen 1280*1024, but these are landscape/waterscape shots and in my view they need to be seen in the format they came from your camera, or close to it. The square shape of the 1280*1024 monitor is not good for landscapes, but I do notice that practically everyone uses this format. Perhaps the images where made for a lower resolution and were expanded to fit my monitor by PTE I cannot be the only one who finds that using an almost square format does the exact opposite of what we want our slide show to do. That is to convey a mood, capture an audience interest and hold them for 3-4 minutes. Hope that helps

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffdigslidesw3.htm

You might find what your looking for here. Step by step in full screen video. Look at the Animation DVD particularly http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/digitalav/pte5.htm

Joe I have had this question posed me only recently and the problem was that the Project files was being copied accross to another computer and not the EXE file. The project file only tels PTE where your images and music is located for the slide show. Its not the slide show itself. Make sure your copying the EXE file and not the .pte file.

Eric When you open up 4.49 you should see the version number along the top bar as usual. I can't recall if Igor arranged for V4.49 to over write 4.48 or install amlongside it. Sounds to me like your still opening up 4.48 The problem that inspired Igor to bring out 4.49 and create a patch for shows already made in either V4.4 - V4.8 is that Vista will not allow the slide shows to close when the escape key is pressed. More info and how to use the patch can be found at the the bottom of the page here. http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/audiovisual/audiovisual.htm

After looking at the effect, there is little doubt that its a graphics card issue Barry

Steve I don't think this is the Moire effect. I have never seen the moire effect on images that are not animated in the way you describe. There are a number of causes of the moire effect. Contrast Image content Style of animation Over sharpening but the main cause is using images that are too big and reducing them in the abjects and animation screen when adding animation. As your images are not large and not animated, my thoughts are turning to another problem, maybe graphics card issues. See if you can find later drivers for your graphics card before you start chasing the moire effect. Perhaps you could post a link to your show fo us to take a look? Barry

Gilio What great subject matter you have there and it makes a nice show. I have to say though, the music and transitions just don't go together. The music demands a faster transition than you have given and therefore the flow and a lot of the charm of your show is lost. I agree with your choice of slow transitions, the images will suit a slow transiton best, but you need a different piece of music to really set them off. Something a little magical and slower. BB

Michiele Another way is to go to the project options and then the screen tab. Down the bottom add a tick to disable the scaling of main images and hit the button, set for existing slides. Ignore the not recommended warning unless you are adding animation, which I suspect you are not.

Dave Can I ask you what size you created the images for this Ice slide show please. Barry

This sounds like the Windows Vista problem If you are trying to exit a PTE4 slide show (from v4.4-4.8) from Vista the escape key does not work. The only way to end is Ctrl+Alt+del then use file manage to shut down the non responsive program. Solution Download the new file Igor has put up on this forum, version 4.49. Open your slide show using that version and the problem will be solved. Or, download version 5 and move onto that. That should fix your problem assuming it is the Vista problem in the first place. For those a litle nervous of the process I have placed a short tutorial at this link. Go to the bottom of the page for the tutorial. http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/audiovisual/audiovisual.htm

I posted a couple of first draft shows a few weeks ago and then my PC died a sad death. I have just got back the access to the final versions and have posted them on my web site. There is little change to the Ireland show, but quite a bit to the balloons if anyone is interested. They are the top 2 on the page below http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffdigslidesw.htm

You only need a frame/mask to retain format if you intend to animate outside of the format size, otherwise you don't

Prior to buying 2 new PC's (His & Her's) I spoke to Igor and took his advice and went for the 512MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express It works brilliantly, super smooth animations B

Try putting a long time into the time interval for new slides (Project Options > Main) A setting of 600 for example will keep the images on screen 10 minutes before they change, but they should change on a key press. Just put in a long time to meet your needs. Don't forget to click Set for existing slides