Barry Beckham

Ever since I was a boy, I was captivated by prehistoric times. I recall a radio show for schools back in the early 50's where the narrator spoke as if he was there, millions of years ago. I could almost see what he was describing. The inspiration came after reading an information board in the Tambourine Mountains in July 2011, which said that the vegetation we now see around us, is still much the same as it was 25 million years ago. Just imagine it. PC and Mac versions at the page below http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/slideshows_3.html

Igor. I have lost track of where we are with this Mac issue. If you recall, Mac users reported that the show had a white screen and did not advance. They could advance manually though. I use either Audacity to record commentary, but lately I have turned to Camtasia and just produce an Mp3 from a recorded video. Has the fault been fixed in beta 14? I can't believe it is a corrupt Mp3 file as it happens too often for that. I have remade the slide show in Beta 14, so it can be tested if need be. The link for the final show is here http://www.mediafire...ousekeeping.zip The link for a zipped breakdown of the show is here http://www.mediafire...011_8-54-34.zip If it helps, I can make a short test slide show, one using Camtasia and one using Audacity

I think I may notice the location of the button change more than most, because I use a large screen and a graphics tablet and I do work fast once I get going. I can't be unique in that surely.

Wanna bet? In the words of a famous American, You cannot be serious, but you are arn't you ! It not only has to be a part of PTE, but it also needs to be easily found

How would the newer user know it exists, telepathy perhaps. You really need to think a bit further than PTE disciples.

Sheila I made the same point a while back too, it makes no sense to me to have those on different screens. If you want one, you generally want the other too. I also still find the switch from slide list to time Line awkward. The buttons should be around the centre of the screen at the very least and not as far right as its possible to get them. The f6 toggle was some help, but its too close to F5 that starts a preview and I find I keep hitting that in error.

Igor I can't quite recall what I used to record that Mp3 commentary, either Audacity or Camtasia.

I just sent Igor the zipped files, I assumed he wanted to see the componant parts, but perhaps your right, Mac Version of Slide show that was reported not to work for some mac users http://www.mediafire.com/file/qgjdne3plqng4fb/GoodHousekeepingMac.zip

Sorry Igor I never kept a record of who contacted me, but the zipped show can be found here. http://www.mediafire.com/file/b70zns957iwjy7f/Good%20Housekeeping_Jul16-2011_8-35-45.zip

Igor I have had the same sort of responses, on some occasions, Mac users say the show just displays a white screen. They can advance slides manually, but without sound. Other Mac users do not seem to have any problems

Sorry Igor I havn't been keeping up with the posts, my mistake B

Oh, that would explain it??? I haven't been keeping up with much of the correspondance on this beta, still waiting for the convertor Thanks for the tip off, i'll bide my time and try again later

I wonder if any Mac users would try this PTE show for me. I added a wmv video into PTE and it works a treat for PC's but Mac users are telling me it doesn't work. Its only a 4 mb file http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/pte.zip

Eric I don't know and I am only guessing here from what you have said. Perhaps the original key was sold with PTE4 or 5 and that needs to be installed first. It could be that the original key has some link to this previous version and that is stopping you from applying the key to version 6. If you can lay your hands on version 4/5 and try that, it might just accept the key, then you can upgrade to version 6.

What logic am I missing that you spotted and I missed :-)

John Well, your in control about putting the frame on the blanks, I usually start after the blank and before the end one. I like Peters Idea and have used it, but then forgot the default was set and had it included on something for the club and I had to visit every image to take it off :-)

I notice that in the Objects and Animation screen of beta 11 the label for the objects area is down at the bottom right of the screen, as apposed to the top of the box in version 6.5 I can't see how anyone is helped by a label being down at the bottom of the screen where it can easily be missed.

John Because you cannot add a frame globally within PTE, I personally turn to my image editor to do the same thing. I create my frame on a transparent background and save it as a Png file which will retain that transparency. Sometimes that may only be a 1 or 2 pixel line Inside the Objects and Animation screen, you can click to add an image and place your frame over the first image in your show. Now copy the frame from the Objects section using Ctrl+C and skip to the next image from the top right. Hit Ctrl+V and you have the frame on the second slide. Yes, you still have to visit every image, but its a darn sight quicker than the PTE way and you have one important advantage. If after you have done all this, the frame is too bright. Simply make another and save it over the top of your original frame. The new version is now applied to every image instantly.

Igor I did the same thing today and the fault did not re-appear. I will keep you posted if it happens again Barry

Igor Yes, I can understand the issues and can't offer any simple ideas that you would not have already thought of. Xaver makes a good point and if it's something that is not possible to achieve, then we must accept things as they are. I am reacting to questions that have been put to me on emails and demos and my memory of how it used to work back with PTE4. _________________________ I raised an issue recently about your moving the Timeline and Slide List buttons to the extreme bottom right of the screen and you suggested I would get used to it and introduced the F6 key to toggle between the two, but I feel the need to raise this again. 1. Maybe its me just getting old and my eyes dimming, but I keep hitting F5 by mistake and then have to abort a full screen preview of the show, its annoying. 2. When you start a new project and add sound, the wave form opens up automatically on the timeline, which I think that is the correct thing to do, but you have placed the button for the waveform right where I was asking for the slide list and time line buttons. I see little point in placing something hardly used in such a convenient place while other more useful buttons (that I use all the time) are placed at the far right of the screen. We also have the duration of the slide shown, but when we select the time line we can see that anyway. 3. I find PTE just slightly less convenient to use than previous is all I want to say. Perhaps it is a combination of the fact I use a large screen and a Wacom graphics tablet. I just find the logic of bringing the wave form button to such a convenient place while relegating more usable buttons elsewhere, difficult to understand.

Yes. I put all my slide shows together manually using the time line and to do that you have to highlight all the images and cut the transition, which shunts them way down the time line. However, as you work through the show, you catch up to them again and have to cut them again and again and what I described is the result. Its just an annoyance thats all and very confusing for new user.

I was adding some different music to an already completed slide show in Beta 11. On two occasions it threw up what you can see in the screen grab. I had deleted the original music, added a second track and was adding an offset when this happened. It occurred twice with two different track of music. The only way out was via task manager. Never had anything like that before from PTE ?

Peter Well, what can I say. 1. Its obviously not working very well if an experienced user hasn't found it. 2. Why on earth should we need to select an option like that, it should be default. 3. All these comments are not an issue for us geeks, think of the new user who can't even get the slide show to end right. 4. While I am foing to that selection, I may as well do what I have been doing.

I have been having a clear out of old slide shows and demos from my web site and became inspired to remake one of the old shows that I felt had to go. It was small, the image quality could have been better and there was no Mac version. Its called The Days are Blessings and may be a bit of self indulgence as its a short sequence based on a song I have liked for decades. Hence the remake, mostly different images, but same music. The second one is called Art of Photography This uses similer techniques to those used before, but music, and style are different. Both shows for PC and Mac can be found HERE

Bert You can show your slide show made at 1920*1200 on a digital projector running 1024*768 with no troubles at all. I do it all the time at demos and NEVER have any issues with it. If your laptop is reasonably modern, as you connect to the projector you may find your laptop screen changes automatically to match the projector. Failing that, as DG says change the laptop screen resolution manually.