Barry Beckham

Politically Correct I'm not competitive at all. I only put my images into competitions or post them on social media to bring joy and delight to others. To make up the numbers and ensure everyone has such a fun time. Bad comments on my pictures don't affect me at all, because I am such a delightful and moral person. I am not affected in any way by comment, because I am on a higher moral plane than others. I post slideshows simply for the enjoyment of sharing and not for comments from others. I don't require feedback that others liked what I produced. Reality Everyone is competitive, we compete throughout our lives and you only need to spend 10 minutes in a busy car park to see how competitive people really are. The competitive spirit fades with age, but its doesn't disappear entirely. Entering competitions and posting images and slideshows is an ego trip and we may as well recognize this human need for what it is. At least there is an honesty in saying that and accepting that. Some people are displaying their images and their photographic skill, some are displaying their expertise with the software, but when I hear it's all done for the sake of sharing. Sorry, I don't buy that because it doesn't match with my experiences. I have been making slide shows for 40 years, but at times I ask a trusted friend to give me feedback on a slideshow or a video project before I post it. I can trust this person not to tell me what he thinks I want to hear. Sometimes he has said things that give me that sinking feeling. That feeling you get when you know someone has hit on something you missed and you grudgingly have to accept they are right. It would be nice to get that sort of feedback on Slideshow Club, which appears designed for that very purpose, but my personal view is that we are all now so scared of offending someone we say nothing. How many of us want a back slapping club, where every time something is posted, members queue up to tell the author how wonderful it all was. Give praise where it's due, but if something has missed the mark then it should be OK to express that view too. Who knows, that view might just be right !!!! Personally I'm tired of hearing “beautiful images” when they are clearly not beautiful and everyone knows that. Its dishonest. IMHO of course :-) I'm probably talking nonsense, but here's the important part. You can ignore it :-)

Bizz I don’t believe we are all that different. I agree with you that we don’t just create AV for competitions and family. It’s much more than that. I has been for me for around 40 years now and I see it as the best way i’ve ever found to present my photography. Of course we post a slide show hoping it’s received well and anyone who says different is probably not being entirely honest. If not, why post it ???? I don’t care or mind if someone comments on my slide show. I realise that you can’t win them all and even the best movie director misses the mark at times. It’s how it is when your doing something creative. It’s a very fine line we enthusiasts walk between creating something that flies or sinks like a stone. You have to shrug and accept, you win some and you lose some. This PC world that makes some too scared to voice an opinion is going to strangle us all if we allow it.

We live in a world where offence taking has become an art or should I say an obsession for some. My guess is that people (and me) will not say what we really think, because we could be on a hiding to nothing. Safer to stay away from anything controversial.

I've looked at both the exe file and the backup to zip and created an mp4 videos from your show. They are all working OK and show no visible colour issues. It suggests you have a problem on your computer that is causing this. Have to re-installed PTE first to make sure it's not that simple Have you tried updating your graphics card drivers To create an Mp4 video got to Publish Show>HD Video.

Get your problem slide show open in Pictures to Exe. Go to File > Create Backup in Zip Then upload it to the cloud, wet transfer is an option and post a link to that backup here. The guys here will have the cause pinpointed in no time, but they need to see your project as does Igor the creator of this software. This is not a common issue, which (sticking neck out) suggests its your end

You can tell I don't have much to do this morning. Here's a demo as a result of the post above and an email I received today about demonstrating this technique. This sort of thing really needs to be made specifically for the project in mind. Too much of this would soon drive you nuts. (IMHO) However, it's not a long job to make start to finish, but I did use a couple of Photoshop skills. The short demo here is an a 60p Mp4 You'll need your speaker on of course

That works really well and the technique is one I have used for a live demo. I think it's certainly the quickest way to do it, probably the easiest too, but it has some limitations. If you wanted the text over an image for example. It also needs to be a little less regimental. Perhaps some letters need to come faster than others, with a short pause for effect, now and again. Most of these effects are wanted for a specific project and its why creating something unique for that project, maybe a good way to go. If you used these types of effect too much, they just get annoying. They have a shelf life.

Why not make it yourself and then the final presentation will be all your own work. Apart from the sound effect.Try HERE Use the sound effect for every letter you want to use. Get the first letter timed with the sound effect in Objects and Animation screen, then you can go from there with some copy and paste.

I tried that, but it still wasn’t that good. I’ll try again in the new year when our clubs get back to their meetings

An image slides onto the screen from the left. Sits there for some time and an author's name appears with the title of the image. The image then moves off screen the the right. The image when at an angle (rotation) seems to break apart. Imagine an image rotated on screen, then the left edge appears broken in the middle and offset. It's hard to explain. We never experienced this with the old Laptop W7 and everything always worked well Then there are times when the fade onto the screen, particularly from a blank is not very smooth. We only meet once a month and now not until February, but as soon as this Gforce issue was mentioned. I stopped using those styles and made a simpler one. while we waited for a solution. The files sizes used will all be within 1920*1080 and the laptop is fairly new, W10, SSD and in all other respects fine

Tried that and it still wasn't that good. Still, we have no meetings now till February, because we don't meet in January. By then we may have a solution

That’s positive news. I create two shows a month for my camera clubs competitions. I’ve had to stop using many of the slide styles I created to show high scoring images, because they looked awful. Even fades sometimes flicker a little too. It’s frustrating to buy a state of the art laptop and it turns in a performance worse than the old one. Still, it’s reassuring to know they have the cause. I guess that’s the hardest part done. Once you have a cause a solution should follow

Well Lin, seems we have more in common that I thought. Yes, I agree fully. The worlds going nuts and I fear there is trouble brewing the likes of which many of us have little experience of. First signs maybe in France. Even Rudolph the Red nosed reindeer is apparently non PC. It appears that the story of Rudolph being teased for his red nose promotes bullying, so it has to be destroyed. What sort of person finds discrimination in a fictitional cartoon character. The old song Baby it’s cold outside apparently promotes rape and has to go, but all the rap songs that call and delight in far far worse, they are OK. You couldn’t make some of this stuff up if you tried while drunk as a skunk. But, it’s Christmas. Have a good one and let’s look forward to PTE 10 and not let these left wing lunatics get their way and above all protect that second amendment. Merry Christmas and a healthy new year. I’m of an age where a prosperous new year doesn’t seem quite so important any more

Very Clever stuff, it's fascinating to watch it run.

I think I have suggested this too, but I’m not sure if it was on the forum, or directly to Igor. Its certainly something I have thought about and would support.

I haven’t had any problems either, but I have a lot of Mp4 videos to put up on line and want to get it right with best practice

Lin I didn't think about the Mp4 actually being played in a browser, I was thinking they would be downloaded and played on a computer. I was more concerned about the potential for a virus. They just don't seem as relevant with Mp4 videos as they are/were with executable files. Is that just my perception of am I missing something? I am thinking more of Mp4's uploaded to MediaFire, Dropbox or some service like that. I don't want to zip each one if it's not necessary, but would rather find out before I actually do it . I kind of like being able to upload a Mp4 as is.

Should Mp4 videos be zipped like exe files for transportation over the internet. I feel the answer is no, but I'm not sure and a Google search didn't seem to reveal much. What's the consensus

Pascal That is a pretty neat slide style. It should be a part of PTE's Wedding Styles section. Nicely done

Sometimes I may come back to an animation done a while ago. I can’t tell, unless I physically check if any values have been placed in the second keyframe. So I have to look, then I know what speed options I may need. if the keyframe was yellow, rather then blue, it would indicate animation has been set and I could then go to the first keyframe and set speed options. its not a vital issue, just an idea for discussion.

This looks like Misterk is looking in the wrong window, but it does highlight an issue. I must have had at least 6 requests over the past year asking how to turn on the orange sound editing line. Why should it ever be off is my question. I can’t think of a reason and it would certainly save some people some headaches looking for it. Anyone else have a view on this?

No, NOT IN MY OPINION. Simply keyframes added where no changes had been made.

Would it be useful, if a keyframe that contains any values other than default, changed from blue to green, or some colour to indicate values had been added?

Is there a problem with Smugmug making a profit, providing a service which people voluntarily enter into?

It may be fast but its not really the point Mur. Workarounds are great for the likes of us who know the software pretty well, but they are not a lot of use for the casual user who probably makes up the biggest percentage of users.