PGA

Earlier today I encountered a minor annoyance when the Envelope tool in the Timeline View switched itself off. I tried to recreate the problem but couldn't so assumed I'd hit a wrong key. I have had another instance of this problem and, at present, I can recreate it. My start point is that last time I used PTE v8 Deluxe Edition, the Envelope was hidden. The steps that I now take to re-create the problem are as follows: - Open a project into PTE by double-clicking the .pte file in Windows Explorer (it opens in the Timeline view because that was the view I was using when I last closed PTE down) - Select Show Envelope using the button - Select one of the audio clips in the sequence by clicking in the area above the waveform - Settings > Preferences > Timeline > Color of audio clip > Shading - Open the Choose color window by clicking on the "A" button (it shows my previous choice which was on Style3 tab) - I now change my mind about making any changes - Cancel out of Choose color - Cancel out of Settings - and the Envelope is no longer displayed! The problem is not confined to just this one sequence. I can re-create it on other sequences. regards,

Have you succeeded yet? regards,

I don't work with two monitors but does Settings > Preferences > System > Display for fullscreen preview offer you a solution? regards,

From reading these posts it seems that the confusion stems from the fact that, although the user is currently using v7.5, their first purchase of PTE, and therefore their first licence key was for a version prior to v7.0. So, it isn't the version that you currently use that is important, it is the licence key that is stored in your registry. If that licence key is of the ultra long form (which was a long string of seemingly random characters) then your upgrade path should be the 1.0-6.5 choice. If your licence key is the shorter form (which I seem to recall was four or five groups of four or five characters) then the upgrade option to choose is that for v7.0-7.5. I hope this helps. As from v8, we will all be using the same kind of key - the five groups of five characters - and therefore future confusion should be dramatically reduced. regards,

Igor, I suggest that you add examples of the key formats to that webpage. Perhaps something along these lines: - Upgrade from a version that uses long form keys (AbCxJv65H*g... - typically versions 1.0 - 6.5) - Upgrade from a version that uses short form keys (ABCD-1234-ZYXW-9876 - typically versions 7.0 - 7.5) regards,

Hi David, An iPad is not a Mac it is a tablet device. Mac is the Apple equivalent of a PC - and yes, the operating systems are different. The option you need to take is Publish > Video for Mobile Devices and then select the most appropriate device from there. regards,

Congratulations to you and your team on producing yet another feature filled version of PTE. I hope the initial rush of problems (which I suspect will probably be related to the licence keys) settles down quickly and you and the team can enjoy your Christmas and New Year celebrations. regards,

Eric, Don't bother testing it. It doesn't! There is a fundamental weakness in PTE's design. In the Audio features the function "Link to slide" does not link the audio to the slide. It links it to the time offset of the slide as calculated within the project. If the project is manually controlled that time offset cannot be guaranteed to be achieved. regards, Peter

Eric, The attached zip below is a very rough and ready test project. It has 9 slides, the first and last of which are PTE generated blanks. It is manually controlled (i.e. "Wait for a key press..." is ON). The soundtrack is not synchronised (i.e. "Sync music..." is OFF.) There are two pieces of music: one plays at the beginning, the other plays during the last three slides. There are no sequences launched off a menu but this isn't what you are stymied on, is it? It's getting the final music to play over the last three slides. Download the zip and unzip everything into a folder then open the PTE project into v8 RC1 or higher. Manually advance the sequence at a steady pace. The first music fades out after about 15s. When you see the green slide, stop manually advancing and let the rest play through automatically. Does this do what you are wanting? regards, https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15623351/MenuTest-for-Eric_Dec4-2013_7-40-51.zip

Batch resize and convert to Jpeg (one pass) in IrfanView will do that for you with just a handful of clicks - and its free!

I'm pleased you have a solution to your "problem"

Jan, Has something got lost in translation? Why can you not key the values that you need straight into the the main keyframe (at offset 0) of this object? It is a keyframe just like any other. If it is not being automatically selected, you can use the Left/Right arrow buttons at the right hand end of the O&A timeline, just above the Play button to jump from one keyframe to the next.

Jan, Select the Frame object as Dave described and then change the numbers in the various fields of the Animation tab. You can select a field content and completely over key it or you can simply "nudge" the value up or down using the Up/Down arrowheads beside each field.

Tom/Lin, Shortly after I produced my Rubik's Cube sequence, when version 6 had just given us 3D animation for the first time, I investigated doing a "Solar System" animation. My "proof of concept" used simple cubes to represent the Sun, Earth and Moon. I hit this same problem and raised the matter with Igor. He provided me with details of a "hidden switch" that was in the project file code and which they had experimented with during v6 development. They were not supporting that feature because it required the user to be on the then latest version of DirectX. At the time, the majority of users were still on Windows XP and the DirectX support had come in with Vista. I tried it out and it was the ideal solution to the problem of making an object disappear when it passed "behind" another. Now that the world has moved on from Vista to Windows 7 and is moving steadily towards Windows 8, the overall level of DirectX in the user population must have risen significantly. Perhaps the time is now right for Igor and the team to activate that function. I wonder if we could persuade Igor to do it as part of the O&A rewrite promised for v8.5. regards, Peter

Hi Mick, Your problem is caused by your having selected to apply a border to your images (see attached screen grab). The border is part of the image. When you zoom, pan or rotate the image the border moves with the rest of the pixels. The solution is to prepare your border as a PNG file in your photo-editing software and then apply this as an object sitting on top of your image. You only need to use the PNG border on those images that are going to be animated. regards, Peter

That is my method whether I am using PTE or Roxio and whether it is a CD or a DVD that I am burning. regards, Peter

Deekay, Are you using EXACTLY the same make and type of DVD disc that you used when you were last successful? Some DVD burners can be very "picky" as to which DVDs they do like and which they don't. regards, Peter

That sounds like the anti-virus software doing its job. You might be able to speed up the load time by getting the anti-virus software to do a scan of the file before you attempt to launch the sequence. This suggests to me that the demo systems might not have a full complement of video codecs installed. At our local AV group meetings we have found that some USB2 thumbdrives will not function in a USB3 port. So you might be up against a compatability issue in this area. I'd go with the advice given above: keep looking until you find one that does work. If you still have doubts at that point, check that the store will accept it back and refund your money if it does not work as you want it to after you have got it home and got it set up. Good luck with your hunt. There will be one out there somewhere, all you have to do is find it! regards, Peter

Gary, You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. You are asking a "half impossible". Yes, the terms could be clearly defined but there is no way that anybody can be forced to use them. regards, Peter

Raise a trouble ticket with Support via the wnsoft.com website. regards, Peter

proton777, Did you read all the posts in that topic? Igor made a very clear statement that they will not be withdrawing DVD support. See here. regards, Peter

John, You have opened a debate on a subject that I have had occasion in the epast to raise both on and off the forum. Whilst recognising that there is a problem is always the first step in solving it, it would be very worthwhile to start documenting some very specific, constructive, suggestions. So, what changes would you like to see that would, in your opinion, make the product more user friendly. I'll state two of mine to start the ball rolling. In v7.5 Igor introduced the same, standard and user-customisable top and bottom Toolbars and the Information bar in both the Slides and Timeline views. I believe that the O&A window should be redesigned to the same standard. Within the new Timeline view there is a second full-width Toolbar, below the mini-player, that carries all the features that are specific to the Timeline view. I believe that the O&A view should also have its own full-width Toolbar, in this case either immediately under the standard Toolbar at the top of the screen or immediately below the slide display area. In v8.0 Igor has provided us with Settings > Preferences > Templates where we can nominate our preferred folder for storing Templates and Slide Styles. I believe that this tab should be renamed Folders and should also include our preferred locations for storing Customized Transitions and Toolbar profiles. If there are any other categories of item that we, as users, can create/modify and save, then this is where we should be able to nominate our preferred folders for those, too. regards, Peter

Huh? May I make a plea to all forum members on behalf of the non-English speaking members? Please avoid unnecessary abbreviations and all forms of idiomatic speech. They do not always translate well when using online translation tools. Remember, this is a forum and not a chat room: you are broadcasting to all, not speaking person-to person. regards Peter

"Drag and drop to reorganize objects" - +1 from me! As for the "wrap/unwrap" suggestion... Let's assume we have been given the drag and drop feature as above. If I then select a group of objects and drag them, I want their parent link broken. When I drop them I want a new parent link creating, if appropriate, based upon where I drop them. What type the objects are is totally irrelevant. For this kind of reorganization, an object is an object is an object... regards, Peter

David, Beware! Winsoft and Wnsoft are two different companies selling very different products. The one you wanted was Wnsoft. regards, Peter