Creating a template from a slide?

[bob.robinson4]

Hi,

I'm a new member of the forum.

I've been using PTE for some years now and have used it successfully for several family weddings that I've been asked to photograph.

Hit a small problem with a new project which I hope someone can help with. I'm using PTEv7.0 and trying to construct a bird identification slideshow for my granddaughter. I've set the duration to 10 seconds for each bird image shown and allowed 7 seconds for identification, at which time the bird's name appears onscreen using a time-delayed "comments" field and then the process is repeated for the next image.

This works OK so far but I have to set the time delayed "comment" up individually for each slide in "Objects and Animation". When I saved the project as a template I had hoped the timing data would copy and I'd be able to automate future shows of this type - but the "comments" timing delay does not save with the template. Is there a way to do this?

Or, can someone suggest another approach to this end?

I'd be much obliged if the forum could help me with this.

Regards, Bob.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Bob,

Welcome to the forums!

If you could give us a bit more information about exactly how you go about creating your "comment" with time delay, perhaps one of us can offer a suggestion. For example, are you using the "text" as a zero opacity with fade in via keyframe on the timeline or are you using the "comments" field with a template to call the file name, etc.

The more details you can give, the easier it will be to suggest a way to make this work.

Best regards,

Lin

[jkb]

Bob,

Why not just have the slide show for 7secs, then move to the next slide which is the same bird but with it's name. This slide can then either remain on screen for 3secs or you can set it 'to wait for key press' before moving to the next image.

This way you can quickly duplicate each bird image & just put the comment on the second one without having to build in any delay.

Sounds like a great way to teach your grandaughter about birds.

Maybe you could also add the birds call if you have the sounds available.

Regards Jill

[Lin Evans]

Hi Bob,

I think Jill's suggestion would be an ideal way to achieve what you are trying to do. Remember, you have full ability to use the comments templates to put any IPTC information or several EXIF extractions in automatically. If you do this only on the second image of a set then save as a template having renamed your slides to a pre-determined name, then if you overwrite with new files having identical names for your next show, the information requested via the comments "template" will automatically extract the relevant IPTC or EXIF information for the slides having identical numbers. This would require you to "write" the name of each bird on every slide in the proper place in either the EXIF or IPTC, but as long as you renamed the slides using a batch editor such as IrfanView or Fastone, every other slide would then reveal the bird's identity.

Assuming you are already familiar with the comments "template" but if you are not, I would suggest going to Project Options and then the "Comments" tab. Next under "set comments for new slides" (in blue at the bottom) click on the underlined "insert template" and from the drop down menu choose "IPTC" at the bottom of the list, then choose "Caption Writer."

What PTE calls "Caption Writer," PhotoShop, under IPTC Content calls "Description Writer." NOTE! Do not confuse this with "Description." If you use PhotoShop to edit the IPTC, be sure you put the information in the "Description Writer" space. Then when you choose the "Caption Writer" template with PTE, what you have written under "Description Writer" with PhotoShop will appear. If you use IrfanView, it is called "Caption Writer" just as PTE says. I don't know about Fastone because I don't use it. So PTE and IrfanView describe the IPTC place which is called by template when you choose "Caption Writer" one thing, and PhotoShop calls it something else, but it's the same physical location. Photoshop = Description Writer - PTE and IrfanView = Caption Writer - same.....

If you put the bird's description as you want your grand daughter to see it in each photo, then duplicate each slide so that you have two of each and rename them sequentially once you put them into PTE and call the IPTC "Caption Writer" for every other slide with the " Comment " feature, you will have a template which you can use in the future. All it will entail is renaming the set of slides to the identical names in your template then simply overwriting what is in one folder with the content in another folder. Of course you will want to use duplicates of your originals to keep them safe because you will be overwriting each time.

Best regards,

Lin

[stonemason]

Hi Bob

Attached is a small template consisting of a blank slide and some text. load the unzipped template into PTE, then add all your images. Next go back to the blank slide and with it selected go to the objects and animations window. In the right-hand bottom pane click on text, and copy (ctrl+c) press F12 to go to the next slide and press ctrl+v (paste) repeat this for all your slides. This gives you a basic "birds name" text and the timings on each slide. Then go through your slides in the O&A window (f12 next F11 previous)select text in each one and edit the individual birds names in the properties tab in the O&A window. You can then delete the original blank slide. Before you do any of the above, check that the text timings on the template blank suit you needs, and make any adjustments before you copy and past your text to the rest of your slides. Having done that go to save as and give the slideshow a name to ensure the template is not over written. Hope this gives you another simple solution to consider.

Geoff

BirdsTemplate.zip

[bob.robinson4]

Hi Jill,

Thanks for the suggestion. Great minds think alike - I did try this same approach and it works fine. I do, however, need to understand more about the use of templates in general as I'm sure I'm missing out on many attributes of PTE.

Thanks once again,

Bob.

Bob,

Why not just have the slide show for 7secs, then move to the next slide which is the same bird but with it's name. This slide can then either remain on screen for 3secs or you can set it 'to wait for key press' before moving to the next image.

This way you can quickly duplicate each bird image & just put the comment on the second one without having to build in any delay.

Sounds like a great way to teach your grandaughter about birds.

Maybe you could also add the birds call if you have the sounds available.

Regards Jill

[bob.robinson4]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for the zip file. I'll give it a go soon.

Thanks, Bob.

[bob.robinson4]

Hi Lin,

Thanks for the wealth of info. in your reply. It will take me some time to digest it all but I'm keen to understand more about the attributes of PTE.

I already had tried, as another route, what Jill has suggested and it worked fine for what I wanted to achieve. So the bird quiz works OK for my granddaughter.

I probably don't understand fully what can be saved in a template. I was hoping it could save slide and object timings so that I could use these as a master for images subsequently added to a slideshow. I'll certainly read through what you've written in consultation with the PTE manuals available/online.

Thanks for your help.

Bob.

[davegee]

Bob,

If you were to save a Template which included slide and object timings and then re-opened it, what you could then do is change the Image (O&A Properties) and Object to something new.

You could save a Template with just one slide and copy and paste that slide as many times as needed. But you would just use each slide as a Template for your new image/object.

Jill's method is probably easier but not the only way to do it.

That's the beauty of PTE.

DG

[stonemason]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for the zip file. I'll give it a go soon.

Thanks, Bob.

Hi Bob sorry I forgot to rename the pte project in the zip file to Birds, but give it a go, it's a template I use for our camera club's national competition, which involves slideshows containing some 550 plus images, and I find this template very quick and easy.

Geoff

[bob.robinson4]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the note. I've tried out what you describe and it does work, keeping the comment (the bird's name as "filename via template" )and its timing for each slide copied and pasted into the project from the template I'd saved. I can then change the images individually in O&A.

Is there some way to automate this process for adding say 40 slide images in one go?

Regards, Bob.

[davegee]

Bob,

If you mean what I THINK you mean - no you can't.

You have to change the Image file in O&A>Properties>Picture for each slide.

Sorry.

DG

[davegee]

"Is there some way to automate this process for adding say 40 slide images in one go?"

Update.

In the current version of PicturesToExe the STYLES feature (in the Deluxe Version) allows you to apply your "Template" (Style) to multiple images as requested above.