Pieter Posted January 11, 2019 Report Posted January 11, 2019 Hello, I'm a newbie to this forum and orienting myself on a switch from Proshow Producer 9 to PicturesToExe 9. I have already been able to find most functionality of PS9 in PTE (and much more). But there is a functionality that I have not yet been able to find in PTE9: the possibility to hide objects before the first keyframe and after the last keyframe. Or do I have to use 2 keyframes to do that (one with 0% opacity and one with 100% opacity close to each other) ? Thanks in advance for your reply. Pieter Quote
davegee Posted January 11, 2019 Report Posted January 11, 2019 Take a look at Time Range in O&A /Properties? DG Quote
Pieter Posted January 11, 2019 Author Report Posted January 11, 2019 Thanks davegee Problem solved. Pieter Quote
Tomcatred55 Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Following the philosophy of better to expose yourself as being ignorant than go on actually not knowing something..... What are "objects"? Before or after the key points. Quote
davegee Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Anything that you add to a slide is an "object" - that is why it is called Objects and Animation. An Image Object; a Text object etc. DG Quote
Tomcatred55 Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 9 minutes ago, davegee said: Anything that you add to a slide is an "object" - that is why it is called Objects and Animation. An Image Object; a Text object etc. DG Thanks DG but why would you want to "hide" them and why are they before or after the key points? Quote
Lin Evans Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Tom, There are a number of potential reasons. Let me give you an example. Let's say you want to create an animation where an object rotates around the screen in a perfect circle. Let's just use a png object with transparency for an example. So you want this object to rotate clockwise beginning at the 12 o'clock position and traveling through a complete 360 degrees or some multiple thereof. BUT - when the object rotates, you want it to remain in the same relative position for the entire rotation(s). When an object is rotated like this, it requires moving its "center" to the dead center of the screen and placing the object in the 12:00 o'clock position to start. The problem then becomes how to keep it in the same relative viewing position because as it is rotated around the 360 circle, it will naturally change so that when at the 180 degree position it will be upside down. To solve this issue, you create an identical "child" object which will inherit the 360 degree rotation from the parent, but to keep it in the upright viewing position you must leave the child's center as it was originally and set that rotation to negative 360 degrees for each cycle of rotation. You do not want the parent to be visible so you set its opacity to zero leaving the child's opacity at 100%. Now somewhere during the process you may want the child to become invisible and the parent to become visible and when moving from this slide to the next and perhaps using a fade dissolve you do not want the object to be seen. So you use one or the other method to make either or both invisible both before and after the first or last keyframe or both. With PTE it's possible to show portions of a preceding or following slide within the time frame of the slide currently being viewed by pulling a starting or ending keyframe outside the prescribed display time of the currently viewed slide. This type thing is of more interest to people who enjoy creative animation than to normal users who make AV's in an ordinary fashion. Best regards, Lin Quote
jkb Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Lin, I think an example may be needed as I couldn't follow that by reading it! I have seen the 'lines' at the start and end of the O&A timeline but have never used them or really understood their purpose. If I needed something to be hidden or revealed then I have just used two keyframes next to each other. Maybe your method would be easier? If you can post an example showing how you use this method it would help. Jill Quote
Lin Evans Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Hi Jill, The "time range" allows you to make an object disappear instantly after the display period without affecting other objects. So rather than trying to place two keyframes one for each layer very very close to each other for two objects with which you want to exchange visibility, you simply leave the object's transparency at 100% for the object you want to appear and have it on the layer below the object you want to disappear then set the time range to expire for the object you want to disappear to the exact time you want the lower layer to appear. The purpose of being able to pull an object's keyframe before or after the end of the set display time is to allow special effect with cross fades. Only by experimenting can you see the value in this.... Best regards, Lin Quote
Tomcatred55 Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 I just about followed what you were saying Lin but, as Jill said, I still don't really get the idea of things happening before the first keyframe. When you open O&A surely it automatically sets the first keyframe at the very start of the slide and the last one at the end. You can move them if you want to or just add more Quote
Lin Evans Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Tom - only experience with PTE will teach you how these features can be useful. If you never encounter a need then they are like the electrons in the electronic brain of your automobile. It's not necessary to understand what or why or how they do what they do. It's only necessary to flip the switch and expect the result. Having the ability to pull keframes before the start and after the finish of a slide allows the user to share effects on one slide with the timeline of the preceding or following slide. You can't possibly absorb all the nuances without actually experiencing the need. If you want specifics, ask the OP why he wanted to do what he wanted to do. I create tutorials demonstrating many of the possibilities with PTE - some are things that most will use and others are rather esoteric and may only be used by a very few who want to achieve specific animations or effects. It's best to start at the beginning and proceed rather than trying to jump into a complex situation. Somewhere in the multitude of video tutorials I explain this but I just don't have the energy to do it each time.... Best regards, Lin Quote
Tomcatred55 Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Lin Evans said: Tom Having the ability to pull keframes before the start and after the finish of a slide allows the user to share effects on one slide with the timeline of the preceding or following slide. You can't possibly absorb all the nuances without actually experiencing the need. Best regards, Lin Believe me I know, and have, the need for this effect but had no idea it could be done. I think you have seen my AV "Can you tell what it is Yet?" That was all about the transitions and not the actual images. I got frustrated that I couldn't get the next transition to start early enough. I actually tried overlapping the start of one transition with the end of the previous one (the overlap turns red as a warning) but that doesn't work. I will have to investigate that possible solution. Quote
jkb Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Lin, I sought of get what you are saying, but the only time I have accidentally moved the 'lines' I have just ended up with black. What I think you are saying is that it only applies to one object at a time? What happens if you want different Objects to appear at different times? I will have to experiment when I get a chance , as at the moment I cannot visulise how this will work. I have done a lot of animation, just not the type of animation you do. JILL Quote
Lin Evans Posted January 12, 2019 Report Posted January 12, 2019 Hi Jill, No that was only an example which just needed one object to disappear. You have the option of turning on or off the appearance of any object using the time range. Look at Dave's sample video here: https://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/topic/20934-time-range/?tab=comments#comment-139017 Best regards, Lin Quote
jkb Posted January 13, 2019 Report Posted January 13, 2019 Hi Lin, Well you learn something new every day! All the years I have been using PTE & I never understood what Time Range was, this could have saved me a lot of effort in some of my previous animation! Thanks to Pieter for asking the original question. I now see how to do this, thanks to Dave's video. Bit confusing at first as you have to add all the zeros - so for 3 secs you have to put 3000 I rarely work with the numbers and just do things by eye dragging the keyframes to the required position. Looking at V8 you could drag the 'lines' at the start & end of the O&A timeline, much easier than having to go to properties & type in numbers. There doesn't appear to be a way to do this in V9? if not then a suggestion to Igor for V10 to reinstate this. Jill Quote
Lin Evans Posted January 13, 2019 Report Posted January 13, 2019 Hi Jill, Yes - it's in milliseconds to give you the precision to the nearest thousandth of a second. Yes some changes between 8 & 9 I'm not certain why. Best regards, Lin Quote
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