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I fully agree with your 4 points and will hardly find something to add ! Perhaps one point : pans or zooms should start and end by their first and last image, still for a few seconds. I think there must be fulcrums. Patrick

I hope my comments are not too harsh ! Some of your photos are really fantastic and I have only one regret .... screenshots are difficult to obtain as one must be extremely vigilant when to hit PrintScreen key ... as still images are very rare Your are lucky living nearby such beauties

Hello Andrew I will use your slideshow grading ... that makes it much more easier for me to give comments. PHOTOGRAPHY/GRAPHICS Great sceneries and a lot of superb shots. Some photos could be paintings ! SOUNDTRACK No particular comment... not sure the multiplicity of music extracts brings a plus to the sequence. TIMING The marked steps with a black slide breaks a little bit the charm PTE MASTERY Comments of "fh1805" could be mine ! The ever moving images are in contradiction with the mood and the quality of your shots. Very difficult just relax and admire the photos. Very frustrating .... without counting the fact that the pans/zooms don't behave smoothly in many cases, particularly the one ending with the life-buoy. These continuous pan/zooms are most of time completely inadapted and makes this slideshow more or less just a test slideshow for some new features of PTE ! WATCHABILITY Very boring pans !!! OVERALL SCORE AND COMMENT Damage that so beautifull photos are "destroyed" by inadequate effects ! If not a test slideshow then it is a real misuse of the software : effects must enhance or give a plus to the "story" ... here the superb photos are supposed to enhance the greatness of the pans !!!! Thank you very much for sharing your photos. Patrick

... for the owner's ? .... The slideshow can last half an hour or more They will be delighted by your sequence and probably be a bit frustated you did it not longer ! For other spectators, 5 to 8 min seems to be the maximum duration of attention they will pay to a show.

I don't know if there are guidelines for slideshow incorporating animated features but I suppose that the rules fitted to video or cinemaphotography are perfectly suited to slideshows, animated or not with pans and zooms or rotating objects. Concerning my proper knowledge about this sector of "photography", I had to do sequences for professionnel goals. It is partial and relatively old.... I made some short movies 15 years ago and then stopped. At that time, I followed a serie of lessons which ended with trial sequences ! My reminders are : - short sequences (inferior to 2 min), - general images to situate the action, - parsimonious use, if useful to spectators comprehension, slow and short zooms (ditto for panoramic movements), - avoid "pumping" zooms (in and out) and, if necessary, separate them with a well marked time of not zooming images - allways begin zooms with still (no zoom or pan) images - if details are shown, replace them in the general context before or after showing them - be very economical with all special effects apart, should the occasion arise, for the introducing or end images. - and so on ... As you see, apart the sequence duration which can last up to 5 to 8 min, all recommandations can be used for slideshows. Patrick

... monitor adjustments can be tricky and sometimes, a given slideshow can be hardly "readable" on some extreme adjusted ones ! Just an idea ... what about going round this "blank" time by showing a map situating your shots. I live in Alsace, France : do you know where it is ? ... for me it's the same for Kansas ! I don't precisely locate it, and, after viewing your show, I used Google Earth just to have a general idea of the geographical situation and particularity. Patrick

Hello Dave I am french and writting in english is not so easy so I will use Andrews (ADB) "scale" PHOTOGRAPHY/GRAPHICS Some very good shots (subject, composition, theme) but overall too dark and too saturated/contrasted. Milky skies SOUNDTRACK Very moody ... fits very well to most of your photos TIMING No special comment... perhaps a little bit tooooooo slow on first slides. PTE MASTERY Much of the transitions are "movement" transitions (pan, zoom and associated) and you applied them nearly to all slides !!! For a moody slideshow, I find it not suited and all these movements are, in course of time, boring and for most of them, don't bring any plus to the photos. Moreover, on my PC ... a very old one I must admit, absolutely each transitions are jerky. To be honest, I "read" it on my wife's very recent laptop and I found, after all, quite a lot of slightly stuttering transitions. Best is to hide mouse cursor for all show. WATCHABILITY For PTE V5 trials, interesting. For a slideshow showing photos, some work has to be done : "lighten" photos and decrease contrast/saturation, carefully select them and, most of all, severely limit pan, zooms and other "movement" transitions. Thank you for sharing.... I have yet saved (screenshot) some of your photos. Regards Patrick

Hi Bob During download of your slideshow, I missed the topless dancing girls ! ... a pity ! To make it simple, I will use Andrew's (ADB) "scale" PHOTOGRAPHY/GRAPHICS Very interesting photos for a coverage of such an event ! The mixing of photos of engines, details, persons lets your show never lower interest. SOUNDTRACK ... of course, fits perfectly to your pictures. TIMING Perhaps a little bit long but, as I told, mixing of compositions keep us alert (perhaps not the best adverb) up to the to the end. PTE MASTERY Usage of effects, timing, transitions make it a very smooth and pleasant slideshow. On the other hand, unfortunately, I think you did not take advantage of the changing rhythm of the second music extract. It stays identical to the first "episod" although the second part is much more swinging. Some changes of background image size. WATCHABILITY Very very pleasant. Thank you for sharing. Regards Patrick

Thank you for your encouragements. ... no ! ... it is too easy ... and anyway, It was at rest because, I suppose, the winds where too strong. Hi Lin You find the origin of the musical extracts in the read me text included in the zip file, at the end of the slideshow and in the explanations accessible by hiting the F1 key during the show. First extract is from the theme of the recent Clint Eastwood's movie music, Letters of Iwo Jima (Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens) and the second one is in fact a celtic one : Enya's As Baile (Book of day album). Patrick

You will find on Bill's web pages dedicated to PTE slideshows, my last one, Shadows & Light, composed with a few photos I took in the Dolomiti Alps. Despite the colors of some pictures, weather was bad, particularily cold for august, but we had, even so, some good opportunities to catch images with some sunshine. Needless to search special effects, this slideshow is a purely contemplative one. If you find it boring, don't forget the Golden Key ... just hit Esc on your keyboard. I hope you will find as many pleasure looking at this sceneries as we had during our hillwalking. All comments welcome. Regards Patrick

Thank you Moritz I use french language and I changed the options as you told it. Now Avi button is present. .... saying somethong negative, even if very minor, about PTE and especially V5, is immediatly considered by some forum members as a crime of lese-majesty, when not denied ! ... Not very constructive !

Hello Lin Beside my PC I have a powerfull laptop and even with that one, V5 slideshows are not always smooth. That is why I preferr to renounce on new features and use v4.48 Sorry for the AVI output ... when I clicked on the Video button I immediatly clicked on DVD creation and could not continue because I didn't pay for VideoBuilder. I didn't retry by clicking again the button and then carefully read the 2 possibilities (why DVD creation is clickable when not wanted ?). Admin1 said Try final release, transition effects much speeded up (except of Mosaic) in comparison with latest Beta 19. I didn't retry to convert my latest slideshow as I was disappointed by the end result why the V5 prerelease. I will retry it in the next days (no time for the moment). But, if mosaic transitions are not as good as with v4.48, V5 will be of no interest for me

I don't use PTE for business, more exactly I make use of PTE for business works but there are no financial goals (educational purposes). Most o f my slideshows (75%) are for privat use ... but, I too feel very frustrated as, after waiting so long, very basic slideshows created with PTE V5 are not working as well as the same one created with PTE v4.48 !!! Trying tio create a basic slideshow work smoothly with V5 takes much more time then with v4.48 ... and at the end you are not sure that it will work gently on every configuration (up to date one, older one, Vista, Win XP, etc...). An other point is that with V5 you have to pay to be able to create a DVD.

Thank you JudyKay for your kind comments ... An encouragement to (try !) make better next time

Hello jeff That is not a problem for me. I created my last slideshow with 4.48 just because I don't want to use limited beta versions. As V5 beta 16 is a "nearly" full V5, I gave it a try... I had to renounce to fade in and out effects from desktop (not really a big problem) but the "old" mosaic effect do not work smoothly, even on up to date configurations/PC. Therefore my question : where is the progress for slideshows who do not make use of inserted objects, use the newest effects or often burn DVD (I think I am far from being alone in that situation) ? Is there something I miss with V5 which enhances such a "basic" slideshow ? - If the reply is no, I have then no interest in converting some of my anterior slideshows and I will continue using v4.48 if I foresee to create new one with an identical scheme. I will then also wait for a stable and predictable v5x. - If the reply is clearly yes and enhencement sensible, then no problem for me, I rework some of my slideshows and change for v5.

Yes but even with up to date configurations, and hardware acceleration disabled or not, the end result is unpredictable with v5... even with "older" transitions effects for which, v4.48 is smoothier ! OK for progress but when, with an "older" software, there is far lesser problems... why change ?

In an other thread on this forum, about my last slideshow Cale & monte, I wrote : So, for my slideshow, changing for V5 degrades some transition effects (with or without hardware acceleration) and I have to renounce using fade in and out to Desktop. Then, for that particular slideshow is there an interest to change for PTE V5 ? ... and if answer positive, why ? ... As there was no reply, I suppose that nobody has an opinion Concerning v5, after - personal trials (particularily conversion of "old" slideshows made with PTE v4x) - and reading the numerous messages and trial comments here and in the french forums, my personal conclusion is that, apart if I need some of the new transitions effects of V5, it is far better to use PTE v4.48 than V5 as the slideshow behaviour will be easily predictable and constant (apart very rare situations) from one PC and configuration to the other. At the present stage, v5's behaviour from one PC and configuration to the oher is uncertain and, most of all, not predictable with objectiv parameters (mastercard, video card, RAM, number and size of slides, type of slides, transition effects type, duration between slides, etc...). ... so I will stay with v4.48 to avoid severe headaches in the vast majority of cases !

Definitely necessary !!! Here a screenshot of my Time Line showing you the rythm "keypoints" I used (clic on the thumbnail to zoom in). ... I have a great number of slides "waiting for" a providential music.

Hello Steve Wow It is truly impossible for me to give you an answer to all your questions as it will take me about 2 days minimum !!! My skill in english is not so high and I have to translate from english to french and then my answer in the opposite way ! I will just tell you with a few words how I do. - before beginning a slideshow I must find a music. No music, no inspiration for a slideshow. - Once I have found a music, I try to find the best keypoints in the rythm so that there occurence sets between 4 to 8 seconds. In the case of my slideshow, this was easy as I immediatly found very clear keypoints each 4 to 6 seconds... exactly what I needed - I then grossly add my slides on the Time line only with the help of sound - That done, I look at each slide and position it exacly with the sound wave form on the Time line and make little adjustments with help of my ears. At that stage I definitively choose the type of transition effect and duration. - When all is done, I look if I have to change some slides so that all my transitions are esthetical Next step, compile the slideshow and ask one or 2 friends to give his opinion and make changes if necessary. I hope I was sufficiently clear enough in my explanations to give you some answers to your questions.

Yes but the effect is entirely different !!! So, for my slideshow, changing for V5 degrades some transition effects (with or without hardware acceleration) and I have to renounce using fade in and out to Desktop. Then, for that particular slideshow is there an interest to change for PTE V5 ? ... and if answer positive, why ?

Hello Lin Everything is OK now, from first slide to last transition effect As I only commented technical aspects of your trial, I missed to tell you that your shots are really great. The sensation of depth is fantastic ! Only one aspect bothers me : is there a slight blue dominant ? This is particularily sensible on nude tree branchs and on the cement (?) where the 2 persons, on the right hand of your panorama, are staying. They are frankly looking blue (branchs) to light blue (cement).

Hi Lin Everything (zoom and pan) is working very fine and smoothly. Only the last transition effect (circle) is very slightly hesitating. Win Xp SP2 CPU AMD Athlon 1200 MHz Memory 512 MB GeForce2 MX/MX 400 RAM 32 MBytes VideoMode 1024 by 768 pixels, True Color, 60 Hertz DirectX 9.0c added I forgot to mention the aspect of introduction slide as frets3

Hello Andrew I find your idea of grading shows, as you developped it recently on this forum, great as it can faciltate comments ... and replies !. We all expect good weather conditions when going on holiday. This time we where lucky as most of time, sky was overall blue... not the best conditions for dramatic shots but I must admit I can better cope with a blue sky than a grey and rainy one 9 seconds, I thought it was enough ! It is always a very personal choice. Of course, I firstly tried moody and calm musics or more rythmed (Enya's carribean blue ), ... but I fell on Madonna's Frozen, a music I love (with or without voice) for its percussions and rythm, combining rapid and tonic rythms with some very slow one. I found it well suited to insert marked transitions and give some "energy" to the execution of the slideshow... "loukoum" (Turkish delight) music can be really boring. .. my goal ! You are right and as I tried, unsuccessfully, to convert to V5 béta where the shading from or to Desktop is impossible, I had to make use of a trick : - first slide black and "instant transition" and then a "fading in" slide - last slide black "fading in" before disappearing I too find it more suited than the v4.48 introduction and end of slideshow possibilities in relation to the desktop. I will change it in the future slideshows. I am naturally flattered ! Thank you very much, Andrew, for the time you spent commenting my slideshow, it is always interesting, source of inspiration and can improve personnal technical skill. Patrick

Hello Igor Here the 2 types of mosaic parameters I used (the left one only one time in my slideshow) : - very little hesitation for the right one (parts 400x10, appearance 100, effect duration 750, jpeg size 392 Ko) - and stuttering for the left one (parts 350x350, appearance 200, effect duration 3000, jpeg size 372 Ko) Both behave smoothly as silk when I use PTE v4.48 Music background = ogg format and 9 Mo size

JFA & Lin Evans Thank you very much for your comments. The choice of the last slide was dictated by the effect of the addition with the slide with the tower. Ken Cox "Software : PicturesToExe 4.48 WITH THAT OLD COMPUTER TOO:)" Hi Ken I downloaded the last version of V5 (beta 17) and recreated my slideshow. I had to make a few adjustments (silence at beginning and end + 2 more slides) as the transitions from and to the desktop are no more possible with V5 due to Windows restrictions. I launched the slideshow with "hardware acceleration" deselected as advised by Igor but all mosaic effects (mostly 400x10 / 100 and one time 350x350 / 200) do not perform as smoothly as with PTE v4.48 (very little hesitation for the first one and stuttering for the last one). I tried then with "hardware acceleration" selected but there was no change.... so I momentarily abandon V5 and I let my slideshow with the previous v4.48 version of PTE.