Problems: Auto Spread not working [SOLVED]

[goddi]

Greetings,

I just started creating a new slideshow. I am a bit perplexed on what is going on...or not going on.

Using Ver 6.04, I dropped in a bunch of images and some MP3 music files. I also set it to 'Auto Spread' and 'Sync Music and Slides' as I normally do.

First question is that the Auto Spread does not seem to be working. While the music lasts for 5:38, the Timeline shows 6:03. The music stops at 5:38 (at the end of the last song) and there is no music from that point until the 6:03 point. So it is not Auto Spreading the images over the length of the music, 5:38.

Then I notice that in the Timeline, I don't see the 'Timed Points/Arrange All Points' menu. I used to be able to use the Arrange All Points to insure all the images were spread to the end of the music. The Timed Points menu is not there anymore.

What happened? What am I missing?

Gary

P.S. I do notice that the images are spread to the end of the music when played with Preview but not when played in the 'miniwindow' (correct name?). In the past, I thought it would play correctly in both. And I do see that there is a note under the Auto Spread that says "..applies to created slideshow only". Why can't it show the correct Auto Spread in the miniwindow???

[fh1805]

Gary,

I've just run a test of "Auto Arrange" and "Timed Points" using v6.0.4 and have not had any problem.

When you say "The Timed Points menu is not there any more", what exactly do you mean? The "Timed Points" button is missing from the Timeline view? The "Arrange All Points" option is missing from the button's drop-down menu? Something else?

Stupid question: You did OK the Project Option change didn't you? and not Cancel out of it?

regards,

Peter

[nobeefstu]

Gary,

Try setting Timed points to Set End of Last Slide at End of Music to see if this resolves your play back issue.

[rogern]

Are the MP3 files from iTunes? I did have problems of this nature as the Codec from Apple is incompatible with PTE. I now run all my MP3s through Audacity before using them.

Roger

[goddi]

Greetings,

Thanks all for responses. I don't even see the Timed Points icon anymore. I have attached a screenshot where I would expect to see it.

And, nobeefstu, there isn't any 'Set End of Last Slide at End of Music'. I had looked for that too. Something must be corrupted in my version?

RogerN...No, the MP3 is not from iTunes. The music plays just fine. I did run them through Audacity to remove some silence at the end of the song and Exported it as an MP3.

Thanks... Gary

========================================

Gary,

I've just run a test of "Auto Arrange" and "Timed Points" using v6.0.4 and have not had any problem.

When you say "The Timed Points menu is not there any more", what exactly do you mean? The "Timed Points" button is missing from the Timeline view? The "Arrange All Points" option is missing from the button's drop-down menu? Something else?

Stupid question: You did OK the Project Option change didn't you? and not Cancel out of it?

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Greetings...

Another strange thing that I don't think occurred in past versions. I have attached another screenshot. It shows that the total music length is 6:32(the first MP3 is 2:48 in length; the second MP3 is 3:43 in length) but the preview window shows the length of the show to be only 4:39 (I changed the music selection since my first post). When played in the preview window, the music cuts off before finishing the second music selection at 4:39, showing the last slide. So the slides are not being spread over the full 6:32 music's length.

I have made plenty of shows in the past and I have not had or noticed these problems before.

Gary

[fh1805]

Gary,

Whoaa! Slow down fella. One problem at a time, please!

Firstly, I think the "missing" Timed Points button is a function of how you have your PTE window set up. You have closed down one of the three upper panels and adjusted the size of the remaining two panels. I think the "Timed Points" button is there - but hidden from you. As a test, could you please re-instate the normal view (three panels at the top: Folder structure, Image file icons and the "mini-viewer" playback window) and let me know if this brings the "Timed Points" button into view. If it does then we have a bug in the way PTE handles customised windows.

Secondly, the difference in time in the second screen shot can be explained thus: the time in the Music tab is the total duration of all the music files listed in that tab; the time displayed under the bottom right corner of the mini-viewer is the total slide duration time as specified by you.

As you have already realised from your previous use of Auto Spread, PTE does not actually change any of the values wwhich you have entered; it simply spreads all your slides out along the duration of the music tracks and this works only in Preview, not in the mini-viewer, because PTE has to Create a temporary exe in order to do the Auto Spread. Preview also creates a temporary exe in order to show you a preview of your sequence; the mini-viewer simply plays the project in accordance with the project fle contents, building as it goes.

regards,

Peter

[fh1805]

Gary,

Further to my previous post: I've just confirmed on my own system that, if I close down the folder panel and then drag the left border of the mini-viewer across to the left, the Timed Points button vanishes. This has to be a bug in PTE. I'll e-mail Igor and ask him to read this topic to get the details.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Peter...

I see the light! Boy, do I feel dumb. All I simply had to do was to reduce the size of the image's window in the Timeline View, which would have revealed the Timed Points icon. I forgot that this could hide part of the menu icons. Then I could hit the Arrange All Points and all is back to 'normal'. The time in the mini-viewer window now shows the full and correct 6:32 length and it plays in the mini-viewer as expected.

Maybe Igor could eliminate is 'problem' by putting all of the Timeline's menu items in its own horizontal window, so moving the vertical divider bar will not hide the Timeline view's menu items (in other words, make it work as it does in the Slide view--moving the vertical window divider bar does not hide any of the menu items).

Also, this necessity to have hit the Timed Points/Arrange All Points when you are using Auto Spread makes no sense to me. I have raised this issue in the past but I seem to be the only one who has this thought. I believe that when you are using Auto Spread, the Arrange All Points should be automatically accomplished so the music's length would be what it should be in the mini-viewer--less confusion. And the show would play correctly in the mini-viewer. Thought?

Thanks for the help!!!

Gary

=================================

Gary,

Whoaa! Slow down fella. One problem at a time, please!

Firstly, I think the "missing" Timed Points button is a function of how you have your PTE window set up. You have closed down one of the three upper panels and adjusted the size of the remaining two panels. I think the "Timed Points" button is there - but hidden from you. As a test, could you please re-instate the normal view (three panels at the top: Folder structure, Image file icons and the "mini-viewer" playback window) and let me know if this brings the "Timed Points" button into view. If it does then we have a bug in the way PTE handles customised windows.

Secondly, the difference in time in the second screen shot can be explained thus: the time in the Music tab is the total duration of all the music files listed in that tab; the time displayed under the bottom right corner of the mini-viewer is the total slide duration time as specified by you.

As you have already realised from your previous use of Auto Spread, PTE does not actually change any of the values wwhich you have entered; it simply spreads all your slides out along the duration of the music tracks and this works only in Preview, not in the mini-viewer, because PTE has to Create a temporary exe in order to do the Auto Spread. Preview also creates a temporary exe in order to show you a preview of your sequence; the mini-viewer simply plays the project in accordance with the project fle contents, building as it goes.

regards,

Peter

[fh1805]

Gary,

I have sent an e-mail to Igor pointing this topic out to him as describing a bug in the way PTE displays its panels when the user customises the main window display.

As to your suggestion about Arrange All Points being coupled to Auto Spread; perhaps not everyone would wish them to be coupled in that way.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Peter,

Thanks for passing this 'panel problem' on to Igor.

But I don't see by anyone who uses Auto Spread would not want the Arrange All Points to be an automatic action. The nice things about these actions being automatically coupled, would eliminate the confusion of the musics' length not being correct in the mini-viewer and it would also then play correctly in the mini-viewer. Also, if Arrange All Points is performed automatically with Auto Spread, when you take a look in the Timeline, even though it is greyed-out, you can see and verify the spacing of all the images along the music's length. And even if it is greyed-out, you can do some tweaking of the images by moving them along the Timeline. And then, if you switch into the Timeline View, all the images are evenly spaced and ready for more detailed adjustments along the timeline.

So I am curious why anyone who would be using the Auto Spread would not want these items to be coupled. Can you explain under what circumstances that the current settings are advantageous over my example?

Thanks, Gary

==============================

Gary,

I have sent an e-mail to Igor pointing this topic out to him as describing a bug in the way PTE displays its panels when the user customises the main window display.

As to your suggestion about Arrange All Points being coupled to Auto Spread; perhaps not everyone would wish them to be coupled in that way.

regards,

Peter

[fh1805]

Gary,

Coupling the features would suit your way of working - but it may not suit another persons way of working. I don't use either feature and so have no personal axe to grind. I just feel it would be wrong to impose your way of working on everybody. Better to provide an option switch and let everybody choose the setting that suits them best.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Peter,

Not to beat a dead horse (or my idea), but I must try to make my case a bit clearer. I understand that you don't use the Auto Spread method so I get that you might not be seeing what I am seeing. However I am so sure that I have a good point here, let me try to explain, hopefully, in a better way so you might be able to convince Igor how a user, like me, would like PTE to work better. And I don't think this is 'my way of working' but a way to make Auto Spread work better.

Let say I put in about 169 images. And my default time per image happens to be 2 seconds.

The Mini-viewer shows 5:38 (based on the 2 second interval time). Ok.

Then I add 2 MP3s for a total music time of 6:32. First problem is, the Mini-viewer still shows 5:38. So most people would wonder why the Mini-viewer time does not match the total music time.

Next, when I play the show in the Mini-viewer, the show stops at 5:38. All the slides have been played, but the music also abruptly stopped at 5:38, not completing the song. A quick look at the Timeline confirms this. The images were not spread over the music.

Yes, the show plays correctly with all the images spread over the entire music selections when played with Preview. This corresponds to Igor's note that "This applies to created slideshow only" next to the Auto Spread menu item.

However, I think that this is a deficiency in the program. The way it is now, you can not view the show correctly in an 'edit' mode while working with the Mini-viewer. You can only see the correct final results by playing the full show through Preview.

Ok. How can this be corrected? Simple. You have to go into the Timeline menu and click on Timed Points/Arrange All Points. After you do this, all the images get spread correctly over all the music selections (you can see this in the Timeline with the waveform). And, it plays correctly in the Mini-view and it shows the correct time for the entire music selection.

Then, if I remove a bunch of images from the show, everything is off again. So I have to, again, go into the Timeline menu, choose Timed Points/Arrange All Points, and then everything gets set correctly and plays correctly, and the Mini-viewer time is re-set correctly. I don't think this is intuitive and maybe most users would not figure this out.

So my question is, why is the current way better than what I am proposing? I believe that when Auto Spread is chosen, Arrange All Points should be coupled with it automatically. I can not see a scenario that would make my suggestion unacceptable. A person can always get the images to be UN-Arranged by unclicking the Auto Spread button and put in the 2 seconds which was what it was from the start.

The main idea is to be able to facilitate the editing process by being able to play the slideshow in the Mini-View correctly with the images spread over the music and have the Mini-view's displayed playing-time corrected automatically. An added benefit is to be able to see the images spread correctly in the Timeline with the waveform.

I hope someone who uses the Auto Spread will chime in here and tell me if I am off-base or, maybe, this might be a good idea.

Thanks.... Gary

======================

Gary,

Coupling the features would suit your way of working - but it may not suit another persons way of working. I don't use either feature and so have no personal axe to grind. I just feel it would be wrong to impose your way of working on everybody. Better to provide an option switch and let everybody choose the setting that suits them best.

regards,

Peter