Comments on PicturesToExe Deluxe 7.0 Beta

[goddi]

Greetings,

This is not a bug in the PTE program itself, but the uninstall of the previous versions have been doing something strange. At least, I think so. Here is what is happening:

Say I have Beta 16 installed. Then Beta 17 comes out. I download and install Beta 17 and check the box for a shortcut to be created on the Desktop. The Beta 17 shortcut appears and it works just fine.

Then, I go into MyComputer (Win7) and do the uninstall of Beta 16. When this is done, the shortcut that was just made for Beta 17 gets deleted. This has happened for the past several Betas; and I don't think it was doing it for earlier updates.

Is this something in the PTE install process that has been changed but can be fixed? Or is this Win7's uninstall just doing something dumb?

It is just a pain to have to recreate the shortcut to the new version of PTE each time. I don't think I had to do this in the past.

Gary

[johnny66]

Hi;

I agree with what Gary is saying. It has happened exactly to me too. I have Windows XP Pro. It has happened with all Beta 7's, that I can recollect. I just installed beta 17 and then unstalled beta 16 and it did it again. It seems to be doing it in different window systems, as Gary has Win7 and I have Win XP Pro.

Cheers;

Johnny

[Igor]

It happens because beta versions share common shortcut on the desktop - "PicturesToExe 7.0"

Normally uninstaller of a software product should delete all program files and shortcuts and it doesn't know if somebody else uses this shortcut, too.

In theory I can find a complex detector to find other beta releases of same version 7.0 But it will not work if an user changed installation folder.

This problem will not occur with stable final versions.

As temporal solution, I recommend rename this shortcut on the desktop - "PTE 7.0 Beta" for example.

[Barry Beckham]

Igor

This isn't really a PTE7 beta problem, but something I have noticed for some time.

I create a slide show and at the end of the process, I use the publish button to create the exe file, then again to create the Mac file. Lets assume the project file and exe's are called tutorial 1.

I then make changes to that slide show, as I need two versions of it and I save the next project file as Tutorial 2. I then use the publish button again to create the PC exe and it it pics up the new name of Tutorial 2. When I create the Mac file, it pics up the original file name of Tutorial 1.

Unless you have your wits about you, you can easily overwrite a wanted file. Is that something your aware of and something that can be addressed?

[Igor]

Thanks, Barry! I just fixed this old bug in following Beta 18. Now after use of Save As for a project file, output for Mac will suggest the project name by default.

[LumenLux]

Thank you Igor for the very handy video convert feature! In the past I consumed untold hours trying various "converters" with varying success. Your built in converter now brings my videos into fine compliance with the desires of PTE and keeps desired high quality.

[Barry Beckham]

Igor

Today I right clicked a Canon 5D video from within the file list and used the Video Convertor to convert the video. The convertor took a 127MB file and reduced that to about 27MB.

I then selected that (converted) video from within the Objects and Animation Screen and was surprised to get the optimisation of video clips window pop up. Isn't that what I already did in the convertor, or is converting a video and optimising a video different things. They both seem tomuse the same program.

I now have my original video called MVI_5407 at 127MB

I have the converted Video called MVI_5407.converted at 27MB

Now I have a third video called MVI_5407. converted.converted at 24.5MB

I find myself a little confused by this, can you explain it please. Why do I need the process twice

[Barry Beckham]

In the menus for PTE 7, there is a reference to "Allow modification of slide show exe file"

Can anyone tell me what can be modified.

[nobeefstu]

Barry,

In the menus for PTE 7, there is a reference to "Allow modification of slide show exe file"

Can anyone tell me what can be modified.

This feature has been around for some time. I enable the feature when I decompress the EXE and add Version resource files and compress again with AsPack to protect the executable from further modifcation. This gives me a Version info tab when viewing the file properties. I usually perform this modification to slideshows that are distributed.

If this feature is not enabled ... any changes or modifications will render the EXE useless or corrupt and will not function. So enabling the feature gives your EXE less protection against tamper ... you will need to protect it again after modifcation.

[CorVdK]

In the menus for PTE 7, there is a reference to "Allow modification of slide show exe file"

Can anyone tell me what can be modified.

June 05 2007 Igor wrote by adding the function in version 5:

"..., in v5.00 we added simple protection of EXE file of slide shows. And if EXE file damaged (not fully downloaded for example) or infected you will see warning when try to run this EXE file."

In the list of new features and changes for version 5:

"Added global option "Allow modification of EXE file with slide show" (Main menu | View | Advanced). This option disabled (by default) and if EXE file with slide show damaged or

infected, it will warn that slide show damaged and will not run. When this option enabled, you can use EXE packer/crypors to pack or additionally protect EXE file."

+ good explanation by nobeefstu

thanks,

Cor

[Barry Beckham]

Yes, that makes it as clear as mud.

Sorry all, but your talking in Geek mode and I still don't know why we have it and what advantage it has.

Do I ever decompress an exe file?

What purpose does this do and how is it done?

What is Aspack?

[Ken Cox]

GOOGLE REVEALS

http://www.aspack.com/

ASPack is an advanced Win32 executable file compressor, capable of reducing the file size of 32-bit Windows programs by as much as 70%. (ASPack's compression ratio improves upon the industry-standard zip file format by as much as 10-20%.) ASPack makes Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/VISTA/7 programs and libraries smaller, and decrease load times across networks, and download times from the internet; it also protects programs against reverse engineering by non-professional hackers. Programs compressed with ASPack are self-contained and run exactly as before, with no runtime performance penalties.

[fh1805]

I'm with Barry on this one. I still don't understand the purpose of this option. Why would I want to change the setting of this feature? or... Why would it be a bad move to change the setting of this feature? Once I understand the "why" we can move on and talk about the "what". And like Barry, I would prefer the answers to be written without the use of "techno speak".

regards,

Peter

[Igor]

"Allow modification of EXE file with slide show" option.

When this option is OFF.

Default state.

Purpose: Protects created executables for PC against viruses. Infected or corrupted slideshow will not work and will warn an user that file is damaged or infected.

When this option is ON.

Recommended for advanced users only.

With this mode you can use 3rd party software to apply additional protection for executable files for PC. PicturesToExe already provides password protection, time limited usage. But other software can suggest more features and more flexible options to protect EXE file.

[Barry Beckham]

Igor

Many thanks

[Igor]

Igor

Today I right clicked a Canon 5D video from within the file list and used the Video Convertor to convert the video. The convertor took a 127MB file and reduced that to about 27MB.

I then selected that (converted) video from within the Objects and Animation Screen and was surprised to get the optimisation of video clips window pop up. Isn't that what I already did in the convertor, or is converting a video and optimising a video different things. They both seem tomuse the same program.

I now have my original video called MVI_5407 at 127MB

I have the converted Video called MVI_5407.converted at 27MB

Now I have a third video called MVI_5407. converted.converted at 24.5MB

I find myself a little confused by this, can you explain it please. Why do I need the process twice

Thanks, Barry. It's a simple bug. I also noticed it today. Beta 18 will cure this small problem.

[Aginum]

Igor,

When converting, it is possible to mention the size wrong ! Since there is no warning, the video is distorted ...

No protection provided?

[potwnc]

Igor,

Will PTE 7 allow me to produce a virtual AVI video file using the PTE codec that will be recognized by the 64-bit version of Sony Vegas Pro 10? I posted about this problem a long time ago and you said you think you could fix it. I can't test it at the moment because I am away from my PC.

Thanks,

Ray

[LumenLux]

In V7 Beta, is there PTE ability to control volume of sound track of an inserted video? I know we have volume control of other sounds and comments, but am I missing the way to control volume of video's own sound?

[Lin Evans]

In V7 Beta, is there PTE ability to control volume of sound track of an inserted video? I know we have volume control of other sounds and comments, but am I missing the way to control volume of video's own sound?

Hi Bob,

The only control other than "mute" which you have over volume on a video right now is via the Navigation Bar. On there you have a speaker icon which allows you full volume control, but you don't have audio controls with the envelope as on regular audio backgrounds, comments, etc. Hopefully, in a future version Igor will have full dynamic and keyframe sound control in video just like in still image audio.

Best regards,

Lin

[Igor]

Igor,

Will PTE 7 allow me to produce a virtual AVI video file using the PTE codec that will be recognized by the 64-bit version of Sony Vegas Pro 10? I posted about this problem a long time ago and you said you think you could fix it. I can't test it at the moment because I am away from my PC.

Thanks,

Ray

Sorry, Ray. We can't add support of 64-bit PTE video coder in this version.

In V7 Beta, is there PTE ability to control volume of sound track of an inserted video? I know we have volume control of other sounds and comments, but am I missing the way to control volume of video's own sound?

In the next version 7.5.

Igor,

When converting, it is possible to mention the size wrong ! Since there is no warning, the video is distorted ...

No protection provided?

There is a drop down list with presets (click the small button) to quickly choose the most used video sizes. We didn't limit manual editing in this version.

[Aginum]

There is a drop down list with presets (click the small button) to quickly choose the most used video sizes. We didn't limit manual editing in this version.

Yes I saw ... It was just to draw attention to the risk of error, and mention it in my book

Thank you

[Igor]

You're right. Just we didn't find an optimal way to implement this protection. In the O&A editor we simply use two edit controls (and a lock between them). But in the video converter we also should place a small button with a list of presets. Two edit controls with the button look separated.

[Barry Beckham]

Igor

Ref: Objects and Animation > Properties > Sharper/Smoother

My appologies if you have already covered this, because I seem to recal reading something, but now cannot find it. I need your guidance on these settings. I understand what it does, at least I thought I did. However, I cannot create anything in PTE to demo what this does, I can't see any difference

Today I thought I would prepare a tutorial on the use of this control and prepared an image with the pixel dimensions 6144*4096. I squeezed that image into a 1920 *1200 monitor and added animation. I put two copies of the same image and same animation on PTE and set them at the extremes of -128 and 128. I tried a few images, but I cannot see any differerence. Can you offer some more guidance please.

[davegee]

Suggestion:

Try an image which obviously "shimmers" during animation.

Then add smoothing and see if the shimmering is improved (lessened).

DG