Video Background with Photos and Text Slides

[Janners]

Besides P2E, I have a few other similar programs that I use for slide shows including PowerPoint, ProShow Producer and others.  I just saw the P2E 9 promo video and this shows something that I need to be able to do.  I have version 8 and considering ordering version 9 upgrade.

What I want is to have a video layer in the background playing and then be able to have photo slides or text slides overlay these.  Rather than having a slideshow that automatically will play, I also want the option to manually advance as I wish.  A good way to explain this is singing a song with the words that has the text against the video background.   Verse 1 is over and verse 2 is manually advanced while the video continues playing across the background.  The Home page of P2E indicates this can be manually advanced so believe it is possible.  Is there a tutorial video or pdf that explains and shows how this is done?  I have some need for this soon and hopefully this can be done.  Thank you forum for any help.

 

[Lin Evans]

Hi Janners,

The answer to your question requires a little background information. PTE can create an executable show which will allow manual advancement and it can also create a show where a video plays continuously in the background while image slides with or without text sequence on the screen. However, if you use manual advance, both the video and the slides will freeze until you press a key such as the spacebar to advance to the next slide. In other words you can't have the video play continuously while stopping the advancement of slides or text until a key is pressed.

To have a video playing in the background as text or images (or both) advance in sequence, it's only necessary to add your video as an object to the first slide (or to the slide where you wish the video background to begin) and in the Properties Tab of the Objects and Animations screen, move the video underneath the image or text, click on the video to select it and set the property of the video to "Master video track."  Next, right click with the video selected and choose "Copy"  Now go to each successive slide and "paste" the video and move it to the position underneath the slide or text for each slide. The video will automatically be assigned "Link to (the video name)" so that only on the first slide will the video be "Master" and on all subsequent slides it will linked to the Master.

Doing this will allow the video to continuously play while the text or slide or combination sequences. You can check the "Mute audio" in the Properties tab if you want to kill the audio track on the video.

In Project Options, if you put a check beside "Permit control of show using keyboard" you can stop and start progression manually using your keyboard. Just press the spacebar to start or stop progression. But if you advance manually, when the progression of the slides are halted, the video will also freeze until the key is pressed again to resume play. If you do not press a key, the video will continue as the background uninterrupted as the images/text progress according to the display time you have programmed for each slide.

Keep in mind that if you use images on the background video, you will need to size them accordingly so that they do not totally cover the background video.

Best regards,

Lin   

[Janners]

Thank you Lin for the response.  So I am guessing with P2E that there is not a work-around to do what I really want.  I also have need to have video play continuously so will try this.  

[Lin Evans]

Hi Janners,

No, there is really no way to halt the sequencing of part of the show without halting the entire show because essentially, with an executable file, you are telling the computer to either continue running the programmed script or cease until a keyboard interrupt is detected. I don't believe any software can, with a single program, do what you would like - that is keep the video running while stopping the progression of slides. To do that would require simultaneously running two separate executable codes also simultaneously displayed as one  - something that currently our computing systems are not designed to do.

Best regards,

Lin

[jkb]

Depending on the nature of the video one way round this is to have a slide with the video only. In slide options, set this slide to loop. At the end of the video it will go back to the beginning and play over.

In project options set the slides to wait for key press, then when you press the right arrow key the show will move onto the next slide which can be a combination of video and text etc.

As I said it depends on the nature of the video and how visible the looping would be.

Hope this helps.

Jill

[Jean-Cyprien]

Hi Lin,

I am very pleased to find you here.

I think it is by imagining impossible things that progress is sometimes made.
I am not strong enough in computer science to justify the possibility - or not - to let the video stop by stopping the progression of the slides. Simply we see that this is not possible.

But by desynchronizing the sound (Project options / Advanced / Synchronize soundtrack and slides) it is now possible to stop the progression of the slides without stopping the progress of the sound. Cann't we imagine that we will be able one day to do the same with the video track? (A video track that it would not be necessary to copy for each slide ?)

Best regards

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jean,

We can definitely hope that it might be possible in the future!  

Best regards,

Lin