Syncing slides to music

[Allogagaw]

I am new to PTE, but have been doing 35mm slide shows since about 1980.

I have been browsing the different forums and I believe that PTE still lacks this feature...

For example: If I have three different songs and I need the 1st song to auto sync to 82 slides,

the 2nd song to 100 slides and the third song to have 32 slides.

I appears that this feature is still on the current PTE "Wish List"

This was discussed in another forum to have an introduction page with three buttons

linking three different slideshows.

Sounds like this COULD work, however it would not be automated...

Is there a way to have the last slide (of the 1st song) to trigger the 2nd slide show?

(or some other way to make it invisible to the audience?)

It would also be nice to place "Timing Anchors" in a 15 minute song to change have PTE

auto calculate slides between these anchor points.

Mark W. (Allogagaw)

[LumenLux]

Mark, you are right - a very useful feature not yet available. I'm confident Igor can and will do this one. Meanwhile, one of nobeefstu's utilities (still available on Beechbrook.com I think) might help you. As to the "invisable" to the viewer, I'm not sure. It is certainly worth your looking if you have not already tried it. Then your result can remind the rest of us.

[marlun]

Yes, there is a way to set this up using the trial and error method!

You must individually enter a time for each slide using the manual timing method for each of the slides (1-82) for the first song. For a starting point, I would first determine the total length of the first song in seconds, and then divide that value by 82. Enter that value for each of the slides 1-82. Then run "preview" to check the timing synch to see if the music ends on the last slide (number 82). You will probably have to re-adjust the individual times for each of the 82 slides until you get the synch just right.

Use the same method for slides 82-100 using your second song, and slides 100-132 for your third song.

When you get everything set up, then cross your fingers if you wish to burn your slideshow to a CD, so that it can be viewed by someone else...chances are that the timing will be out of synch if it is viewed on another computer.

See my discussion under "Timing Descrepancies" ...

Yes...there has to be a better way!

[JSlugman]

Mark,

Try the AutoLink utility by nobeefstu to connect 3 separate shows. I do this quite frequently and it works well.

Beechbrook Cottage PTE Presentations

I believe the utility is on the 3rd or 4th page.

And I like the time-anchor idea.

[Guest guru]

Mark, I too began to make slide shows (quite simple, with only two Carousel projectors) when synchronizing devices were still analog, and the best solution was an open-reel Revox with additional head for sync pulses...

I think a really accurate and good slide show demands an individual synchronization for each picture. In this case the problem doesn't exist, and either Marlun's and James Slugman's ways can help very much.

[Allogagaw]

Yes, I still have all my analog slide equipment!!! (and still have to use it occasionally)

My AVL unit can handle up to 17 projectors and one movie projector... (Good grief)

But the most number of slide projectors I was ever able to scrounge up was 4.

Digital is so much easier (Sigh)

But, I also write software as a hobby. It is frustrating to see the potential with this program.

Any idea how long before a more sophisticated timing is available? 3.90? 4.0?

What Igor has done is nothing short of a miracle, but after seeing that the PTE data

file is plain flat text, I am thinking about writing some software to massage the data

directly in the data file.

I.E. If I wanted to move every slide between 7 and 65 by .2 seconds sooner, I could

do that in a few seconds with a simple loop program.

Thanks for all your suggestions...

I had already thought about using a plain bat file. It would work just like the

"nobeefstu" but I figured that the transition would be very sloppy!

(with flashes on the screen)

I still think that some sort of a time anchor would be more practical...

In the flat file, it could take the form of a special slide called "anchor".

The auto sort timing algortith would stop when it saw this slide.

Then rather than making three separate slide shows

It would be one long MP3 with all three songs pre-mixed.

You would start with sync to 82 slides, place an "Anchor" then the next

100 slides and a 2nd "Anchor" and the last 32 slides.

Time will tell...

Mark W. (Allogogaw)

[JRR]

I suspect I will get a reaction with this, but why would you want to auto synch anyway ??

Slide shows should be synched to the music, not to the number of images. Auto synched: same timing for all slides, same transition speeds puts audiences to sleep.

I can imagine the names that I will get called for this, but.....

[LumenLux]

No JRR, I can't come up with any names to call you. But if I did, I might want to auto-sync the sound track that voiced the names. That way I would not take more time on the show than it was worth.

I agree totally that a superb slide show normallly reaches that plateau with the absolutely critical "perfect" sound phases. But many users, and most of us fit "many" at sometime, can't justify the time and skill it takes to create the perfect show every time we have a use for PTE. PTE is so versatile that it can be a great tool for much of what we want to accomplish with any given set of photos, etc. And there are admittedly several of us who have on a given occasion taken the time to do at least a careful manual sync, only to be saddened when that very effective sync was lost when the show was run on a slower computer. "Ouch" with a well synced echo. . . .

[Allogagaw]

Actually JRR;

Your are aboultely correct!!! The BEST slide shows ARE synced individually!

That is the way I have done it for years.

However, I am getting older (and smater) and have discovered that the true payback

for all my efforts are not trurly appreciated. My presentations are only seen ONCE!

So, there is no way that an audiance can ever begin to understand how much work

goes into a presentation...

So, I have discovered that a very close 2nd is to pick a few key sections of the

music and make sure things happen there. This is where my "anchor point" would

come in handy. (But, I have beat this topic to death...)

Elsewhere, if a disolve happens in the middle of a stanza (or beat) no one notices.

Also, I like to be able to take live digital shots of the event and throw them at the end.

This is another place this feature would be handy.

Mark W. (Allogagaw)

[JRR]

LumenLux

I appreciate your not calling me names <grin>

I have not used P2E extensively but I have 5 shows right now. One 10 minute and four 2-3 minute. All are very carefully synched to the music or sound effects.

One thing I like about P2E, unlike other softwares I have tried, is that moving the shows to other computers has NOT affected the timing on the synchs.

I have run the shows on aboiut 5-6 computers of various age and specs. Any computer that did not freeze when I started a show has run it exactly as I set it up. Some of the computers were low end, several years old, P2's without a lot of RAM.

Maybe I have been lucky ??

Thank

Jim Robertson

[alrobin]

Mark,

Welcome to the Forum!

The easiest way (IMHO) to fully sync a show is to join the music pieces together in a wave-editing software such as Cool Edit or Acoustica or others (some are freeware). With a single music selection you can then use all of either the precise or automatic sync'ing features of PTE. This will also give you the maximum control over the time interval between selections.

Also, someone mentioned in another thread that you can import a .pte file into MS Excel, and manipulate the time data in the file either manually or using formulae and 'macroe'.

And, I can relate to your frustrations as a programmer in seeing all these possibilities for improvements and not being able to do anything to help except to keep pestering Igor. But then, everyone has his or her own pet peeves and Igor is kept pretty busy just juggling our different priorities.

Ciao,

Al

[Allogagaw]

Response to Alrobin;

Hmmmm... Excel?

I missed the thread about this... It has real possibilites. Yeah... Use the formulas???

Let me think about that one for a while. (Very "out of the box" thinking)

Cool edit, Sound Forge (and others) are old news to me, but thanks for the

comment about Excel.

My mind is already whirring about whether it could actually work the way I want...?

Mark W. (Allogagaw)

[alrobin]

Mark,

Here is the Excel reference in my previous message:

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...ct=ST&f=2&t=142

(hope this makes sense - I copied it from the "Properties" info attached to the message, but it doesn't highlight as a URL usually does).

The title of the thread is "Wishing", posted by JRR.

I tried the Excel technique, unsuccessfully, but apparently I should have modified only the timing section, so will give it another whirl and report back. Will post a typical Excel file, along with macros, on my web site if I get it to work. Needs some further development, though.

Ciao,

Al