(SOLVED) Importing animated GIF crashes PTE

[harbrimar]

Interestingly I am experiencing the same problem that Landsberger had with Xara back in March this year when his machine crashed trying to import an animated GIF. I am using Windows 7 64bit, 16GB RAM, Intel i5-2500K CPU, NVidia Geforce GTX 650Ti (DXDIAG shows 4043 MB approx. total memory), I created an animated (revolving) earth globe using Photoshop CC 3D. The globe has a transparent background as I want to insert it in a slide that has a star galaxy background. I saved it as a .MOV file and placed it in the slide and it works perfectly but with a little judder at the start which I thought may be due to the large file size (63.9mb). Thinking that a GIF might be smaller in size I reduced the image size by half (700x525) and used the Photoshop File/Export/Save for Web to create a GIF. The file size reduced to 16.9MB. Clicked on the GIF icon and it works perfectly. But when I try to import it into my slide using ‘Objects & Animation’ add image file, PTE crashes and goes into an eternal loop with an error message repeating ad infinitum ‘Out of memory’. The only way to stop it is by using Windows task manager. I have just tried re-importing the same GIF and this time nothing happens at all and I cannot see the GIF image. Looking at file properties the image has increased from 700x525 to 12085x13104 What am I doing wrong?

Regards

Brian

screenshot.pdf

[harbrimar]

Gone from bad to worse, thinking there might be a problem with PTE reinstalled it. Rebooted system and now just get a continuous series of error messages as soon as I click on an image to add to timeline from within PTE. Please see attached

Regards

Brian

PTE error codes.pdf

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Brian

The only thing I can see on your screen shot is the frame size 12,000+, have you tried reducing this gradually until it is accepted?

Yachtsman1.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Brian,

PTE can't handle an animated gif file of that size. The upcoming version 9 will have a different engine and should be able to deal with relatively huge animated gif files.

Since PTE attempts to load the last show used, the easiest way to handle this in my opinion is to move the files to another folder so PTE can't find them and then open PTE again and make a quick single slide show or open a different file so the program won't try to load the big gif file.

To do what you want - use the mov and let PTE convert it, then use a circular mask to put the video of the rotating Earth in. It will serve the same purpose as if it had a transparent background.

Best regards,

Lin

[harbrimar]

Thanks Lin & Yachtsman

Not sure why PTE has increased the file size from 700x525 to over 12000x13000, is this because the original GIF at 16.9MB was too big? I like the idea of the mask but my intention was to have the globe moving from 'deep space' towards you and slowly increasing in size. Is that possible with a mask? Anyway, at the moment it is somewhat irrelevant as PTE won't work at all. Please see my second message and attachment.

Regards

Brian

[Lin Evans]

Hi Brian,

Sure you can do anything with the mask that you can do otherwise. I'll be glad to help you get that working. I saw second message. Move the gif file somewhere else so PTE can't find it then open PTE again.

Best regards,

Lin

[Lin Evans]

Brian - either use the "Task Manager" to unload PTE or just reboot your system to clear memory then before trying to open PTE, move the big gif file or better yet just delete it.

Click the link below and download and extract the PTE file I just made for you which will show you how to program the zoom in using a rotating Earth video...

http://www.lin-evans.org/pte/earthinspace.zip

Best regards,

Lin

[harbrimar]

Thanks Lin, getting rid of the GIF's from the folder seems to have done the trick. I now have a MOV version at 50.6MB and an MP4 at 4.29MB and I am amazed at the difference in file size. Are MOV files uncompressed? Would appreciate some help with the mask if you have the time? Just seen your message re PTE file. Many thanks, I will see how I get on

Regards

Brian

[harbrimar]

Thanks again Lin, I now see how the frames and mask containers work and the problems is solved. No point in using GIF's at the moment as the animation is quite smooth. I do like your earth image though, particularly the cloud layer. A bit cheeky but do you mind if I use your image as I clearly need more practice in the £D construction process?

Regards

Brian

[Lin Evans]

Hi Brian,

It's just the compression difference - MOV's are also compressed. The PTE file will show you how to use a parent controlling frame to house the mask and video and other files in the PTE.

Help yourself to the video and other files in the example.

Best regards,

Lin

[Igor]

New version 9.0 can play almost any large Animated GIF files. Even those ones which contains video. Memory usage was dramatically reduced.