Borders and PZR

[Richard55]

I am new to this forum, as well as PTE, so forgive me if i should have replied to the old topic rather than start a new one - not quite sure what the etiquette is.

I have been having problems getting a slideshow to run. It either runs very jerkily or freezes altogether. In trying to find the solution, I found an old post here (subject "Layers", back in Sept 2010) which stated that using the border option (Adjust Image and Border>Enable Border) was not compatible with PZR effects. This seems to be my problem, as the show works fine if I disable the borders. As a newcomer to PTE (or is it P2E?), this raises 2 obvious questions:

1. If this function is not compatible with PZR, then why have it? I would have thought most slide shows use some PZR animation.

2. Is there an easy work around?

What I am trying to achieve is a series of slides that each have one image as the background (very pale) over the top of which are 1 or 2 other "subject" images. With many of these, I want to use PZR effects on the subject images. However, because I am using a background, the subject images really need a border to show them off. I could use my editing software (PSE8) to create a border in each image, but since I want to include more than 100 images in this show, so that is not practical. Suggestions would be welcome.

As an aside, there is another tab on the "adjust image and border" dialogue entitled "animation". This has columns, rows, repeats, etc. I have played around with this, but cannot fathom what it does and the only manual that I have found (PicturesToExe_User_Guide_v65.pdf, but I can't remember where I found it!) does not seem to help.

Many thanks, in anticipation

[davegee]

I think that you are trying to tackle more than one problem.

Firstly your jerkiness problem.

What are the details of the Computer and Graphics Card - Integrated or seperate?

What are your screen options settings?

What's the size of the image you are trying to perform the PZR on?

The image only needs to be as big as is necessary to perform the PZR - AND NO BIGGER.

I think that the BORDER issue was that when you zoom into a picture with a border on you COULD lose the border.

To be able to maintain the border and be able to zoom in you need to apply a border as a PNG file at the top of the "layers" so that everything that happens with PZR happens UNDER the border.

Applying borders as you suggest should not effect performance.

DG

[Lin Evans]

Hi Richard,

The first thing which came to mind when I read your post was a question about your hardware.

PTE uses something referred to as "hardware rendering." Essentially, this means that the GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) on your video card is used for most animation. This is a two edged sword. First, it is tremendously advantageous in that the CPU is freed up to do other processing and the GPU allows complex animations with incredible smoothness. However, the other side of this sword is that if your video card is not up to the task, you may have the kind of issues you are describing. Also, if your video card drivers are not current, this can also impact the usability.

There really is no incompatibility of any kind with borders and animation. Any issues you may be seeing are undoubtedly hardware related. If you could reveal the type and model of your video card, perhaps I could make a suggestion about a solution whether driver or hardware centric.

You can go to the "Start" "Run" and then type in "dxdiag" and you will be able to run a diagnostic which will give all relevant information. This would be very helpful in diagnosing your problem.

Best regards,

Lin

[Richard55]

What a prompt response! Didn't expect anything quite so quick and I am about to have to sign off till tomorrow, sorry!

Briefly, I am currently sitting with my foot up in a plaster cast (have to keep it elevated) so am using a very basic laptop which I accept is probably near the limit of its capacity. However, I did hobble next door and try it on my desktop pc which does have a decent graphics card and memory (will check details tomorrow), but had the same problem. If there is no compatibility issue between these functions, then I will persevere, but was thrown by the previous post I saw (what is the etiquette for referencing previous posts, and how?) which said they could not be used together.

The reference to PNG files as borders presumably means as a frame over my image (which is a jpg). I understand why, but not sure this is an issue in this case as I am not zooming, just panning and spinning on x or y axis (so far). The jpg's have been reduced right down in size to see if this made any difference and are generally less than 300kB. However, i did this in PSE by multiple export to new files and reducing the jpg quality (max compression). This reduces the file size, but not the number of pixels. Which is more critical for PTE - pixel size, file size, or both?

Will check on graphics card details tomorrow. In meantime, thanks for your help so far. And once again, I'm amazed at the quick response. Obviously a lively forum!

[Richard55]

Looks like I owe you guys an apology. Having stripped out the borders and got the show working, I have now put them back in again and tried once more on the desktop pc. This time it works fine, so not sure what was up last time around. Still won't work on the laptop, but not surprising, cos it really is working to its limit. At least I know that the previous post about compatibility was a red herring and I can now carry on creating the show as I want it.

FYI, the DXDIAG output for the desktop is attached (system and display bits, anyway)

I would be please, though, if you guys could shed any light on my last comment about image sizes. I will generally be working with JPG files, so what is more critical - file size (which I can reduce with more compression), actual number of pixels, or both?

Many thanks

DxDiag.txt

[fh1805]

Richard,

I now build all my sequences 1080 pixels high (HD compliant) with a width that fits the aspect ratio (1620 pixels for a 3:2, 1920 pixels for a 16:9). My JPEG files are all produced out of Photoshop Elements at quality level = 8. This is ample to preserve the visual quality both on the computer monitor and when projected through a digital projector.

Image quality when zooming in (magnifying) drops off rapidly if the software has to start adding in (interpolating) pixels that were never there originally. Therefore I, and many others, use the original image size for the zoomed image (in my case that would be 3008 x 2000 pixels from my Nikon D70).

Hope that helps you to understand things a little better.

regards,

Peter

[davegee]

This is my approach - you will find that not everyone agrees!!

Each image should be sized individually to suit the PZR applied in order to make the show as efficient as possible.

It should be no bigger in pixel size than required. Using Images Straight Out Of Camera is sometimes a recipe for disaster.

Example: if NO PZR is applied to an image it should be no bigger than the Maximum Screen size that you have set in Project Options / Screen.

In my case, that is 1920x1080 with "Fixed Size Of Slide" ticked.

If you are going to apply a 120% Zoom to an image it should be no bigger than 120% of the Maximum Screen size that you have set in Project Options / Screen.

In my case, that would be 2304x1296.

If you are going to apply a 200% Zoom to an image it should be no bigger than 200% of the Maximum Screen size that you have set in Project Options / Screen.

In my case, that would be 3840x2160.

Regarding JPEG Compression you will find once again that there are various opinions on this. My advice would be to use "Save For The Web" and this gives you the opportunity to see the end result and judge for yourself whether any JPEG artifacts are being introduced at your chosen compression level.

Keep both the Pixel Size and File Size as low as possible without compromising quality.

DG