Barry Beckham

I have been asked many times if I have any upbeat music in our Music for Photographers range, but have always had to say no. However, I have managed to track one album down and those tracks have been added to our web site today. Please take a look, or should I say a listen to the sample tracks as it may be the style of music you can use. Its the album called Standing Tall at the top of this page http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/royaltyfreemusic_new.htm The samples can be downloaded as a batch quickly and easily in a zipped file. They are very low quality and do not reflect what is on the CD or via download.

The trouble with that idea is it doesn't give me anything I can't do now by just adding QuickTime videos to a Windows disk. Windows users get a full auto boot and interactive menus using Videos for WMP. Mac user have to find the Mac Video folder and play the QuickTime videos manually. Seems that's the best I can do. Tom I used to use PTE buttons for my disks many moons ago, but that way of working is a little amateurish to what I have now. PTE buttons don't have the flexibility for what I want. To create a multimedia disk that viewers can navigate around easily and quickly needs dedicated software and I already have that sorted. For Windows PC's of course.

That doesn't sound very satisfactory and there is a lot that can go wrong with what is a simple autorun interactive disk. The main problem I think I have menetioned before when told off by Mac users for not creating my disks dedicated to them is that I would need a Mac to be able to test links and features, which is what I have done for years for PCs. There is no getting around this, it would be like writing software without beta testing. I just don't sell enough disks to come close to justifying a Mac purchase, especially for the tiny number of Mac users that make up the computer market. No, it has to be a simple process or Mac users will just have to find the videos and work from them, which is what I do now

While we have the Mac users attention. How do I create a video tutorial disk packed with Photoshop videos that will self boot on a PC and Mac including interactive menus and options. I cannot find a way and when I make a video tutorial for a PC the file size may be 100MB, but the equivolent Quicktime can be almost twice that size. I am talking here of large videos at 1024*768 and I will not compromise quality of image or sound. Is there a way to please the Mac users that I am missing.

This is why I like to take all my own kit for a demo and rely on no-one. All I would need is a screen. We have learned that we cannot even rely on a camera club to have a power cable to reach the projection point, so we even have one of those in the car, just in case. I even have a spare PC and Projector if the demo is an all day one.

Well, I think that would make him a bit of a dope wouldn't it. If a lecturer can't work that out, my advice is don't invite him.

Brian Well, I suppose that explains it and I know feel a little less inadequate. The Avatar image was done many moons ago by a friend in the very early days of digital and when I was retrieving images for a recent slide show called the Apprentice I found it. At the same time another friend (That's 2 friends I have) called me the Wizard of Oz. So I thought why not use it.

Why are you still using a Windows computer? Maybe you are still getting acclimated to Australia? Because the computer I use will no difference to my photography at all. As I have said before this debate is like two carpenters arguing over which is the better make of hammer to bang the nails in the wood. Let PC users get on with their PC's, Let Mac users get on with their Macs. Just stop whinging and chest banging about it. Lets see what you are producing with your computer. Lets see some stunning photography and AV's Put up or shut up is the phrase that fits this debate

Brian How the hell do you know all this technical stuff? You must spend your whole life with your head in technical manuals or else you have the most wonderful memory I have ever seen I can't recall if your living is in Computers, but in my world there would never, ever be enough hours for to:- 1. Read all this stuff 2. Understand it 3. Remember it and, no I am not taking the P

Geoffrey I emigrated from the UK to Australia, because I liked the lifestyle that Australia offeres and I knew what the limitations were and what the differences would be between the UK and Australia before I made the move. I didn't get here and then start bleating that this wasn't as good as the UK or that doesn't compare. We pays our money and we make our choice and we do so because we have decided the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Mac users have done the same and they would have to be daft not to realise that the depth of software is not available for macs as it is PC's. However, I am not stupid and accept that this is all part of the charm of Macs and I don't have any quarrel with that at all. I am sure Macs are a great machine, but rightly or wrongly the whole world uses PC's and for what I do I have little choice but to stay with PC's. Quite often though, it almost seems like a complaint from Mac users. How dare PTE not be available for my Mac. To be honest, Mac users should be over the moon that PTE is being developed for Macs and I hope Igor gets back all the time and cost he will have to put in to develop PTE for such a small percentage of computer users. I doubt it is no means certain. Just to be clear: It is not that Mac users wish to 'Run Windows' - Far from it - we wish to AVOID 'Windows'. Yes, that is the common cry and I suspect it is true for the majority including yourself, but there are loads of Mac users out there who run Windows too, so they can enjoy the breadth of software available and there is nothing wrong with that either. It just gets tedious when a guy sidles up to me at a demo, puffs out his chest and in one of those irritating voices says " Well, you know of course I use an Apple Mac, far better than PC's", then proceeds to buy PTE software from me. When I point out that it will not run on a Mac, I am told. Oh thats OK I have wondows installed too. Now this isn't an isolated thing. Never, mind I am sure it just me who wants to shove the disk down the guys throat.

Well, then that is that idea out the window. Not sure why we need a cover slide option then. I always thought this was labelled wrong and should have been cover screen, but perhaps not. I never tried the idea I suggested myself, I just assumed that cover slide (given what you see in the O&A when it is selected) would cover all aspect ratios and just allow an overlap where it was necessary. While it doesn't matter much to me as I would probably not use that option (if it worked) many would

well, I have not done any tests, just assumed the result from past versions and the effect of that setting on the image in the O&A. preseumably you would need to set the project options > screen tab > Size of Slide show at the highest you could expect to need.

Place high resolution jpegs in a slide show and go to the O&A and select the Common tab > Mode > Cover Slide The images will be expanded to play on any monitor resolution, but you would have to accept that the images from most cameras (3:2 format) may be enlarged a bit to match the monitor and although quality will not be an issue, you will lose a bit of your image.

I don't think it is quite right to say having one size fits all is impossible. Not desirable for us enthusiasts maybe, but that is a different thing. There are certainly other options too, but once again for enthusiasts. However, not everyone is an enthusiast and not everyone will be too concerned if by covering the screen with their image they lose a little of it where the format doesn't fit. Judging by some shows I see that would be the least of the problems. Some people will wish to take images straight from their camera into the PTE software and be happy to accept the slide show filling the screen on all monitors.

Well, that was one of the better slide shows I have seen and the transitions and mixed effects worked very well in this type of show. Great Photography, so hats off to Patti Gordon, but the ease at which this show moves along does not indicate the amount of work that has gone into it. We don't get any marks for degrees of difficulty, but it is sometimes appreciated when the person commenting actually is aware of the work put into the sequence. It certainly shows a different standard and is great to see. There are three comments I would make 1. While the terminology is not vital, most people refer to this as Audio Visual and not Audio Video, it gives some the wrong impression I think. 2. The flying bird has to go, the rest of the show is too good and doesn't need that. Its never convincing and in my view is adds nothing. We already have interest, great images all well presented so for me that was a animation one step too far. 3. When all the graphic faces came up it shouted end of the sequence to me and I was surprised when the show didn't end. The show came across as a great keepsake for the friends who went on the trek and their faces at the end would provide a very good natural ending to your show. but if you did nothing it is still a great slide show.

I have done a lot of demos over the years and it amazes me how many times Mac users tell me PC's are crap and Macs are fabulous, yet all I ever read is Mac users wanting to run Windows. Am I the only one who wonders why? Perhaps I have had my ear bent by the wrong people

You can check the cover slide option from the Objects and animation window, but that has to be done for each image used. The one thing to bear in mind is that you need to make the slide show at the highest resolution you expect it to be viewed at or your images may be expanded beyond the size you created them and lose quality. Why not try this method with images directly from your camera, saved as Jpegs. PTE will probably handle it very well. One other thing to remember is if you use large files and also wish to animate your show, you may introduce the dreaded moire effect. Those trying to run your show on low powered PC's especially laptops, may also see some degredation in the animations and transitions.

Mickp Because changing colours like that with one image is rather basic in image editing terms and it will not generate the wider appeal that most enthusiasts are looking for and most viewers wish to see. Its a minority sport and you must expect some not to find it as interesting as you do. Here is a challenge for you. Place that slide show on your desktop and watch it twice a day for a week, start to finish, but no hitting the escape button. That is my test to see if I am happy with a final show. If the show has a wide appeal, it seems odd that only you and me have commented on the show. I have made this observation before about so few comments on a slide show. I will leave it to members to work that out for themselves.

Sorry David and Mick, but I don't see the appeal in these effects at all. The changing of colour is just not enough to add the impact and appeal to make a slide show work, IMHO of course

Gilbert. I have also used PTE for some years, but when you say that you create a new program I am not totally sure I understand what you mean. If you mean create an Executable file for PC, then the file that is created does not need Windows to assign a program to open it. It sounds like your saving the Project file by mistake. That file will show as a PTE file in Windows Explorer, whereas the final slide show will show as an application. Look at the file your trying to open on your laptop and if it is just a 100-120k in size, that is the Project file and not the exe one. If you are trying to open a project file on your laptop, then asKen says you will need all of the remaining files to be able to do so, but you say that windows cannot open the file. which is odd. My first thought is that you do not have PTE installed on the laptop, but if it is, then you seem to have lost the file association. If you can be a bit more specific on exactly what your trying to do, I am sure we can help

After trying this option a few times now I am finding that it affects the quality of the spoken voice, so I still would like a way to merge all used sound files into one for the final slide show Exe

Greg I thought you had already written off the page curl transition?

Mark Choose any one that has high contrast, but hopefully with the detail all in the raw file

If your in agreement I would like to have a go at working one of your Raw files through from Bryce canyon.