LumenLux Posted March 31, 2006 Report Posted March 31, 2006 Why so quiet (modest?) Ken with the posting of PTE OrganizerI was hoping someone else would comment and discuss as I have been shy of time to look closely or do much with this. I did, however run the program, and can say Ken it does seem to work flawlessly. Good work. It appears it would meet very well your described objective. Do you think Ken, it would be a reasonably time-efficient effort for me or other user to make? Is it all a manual labor? How easy is it to expand it frequently with additional shows? Quote
ronwil Posted March 31, 2006 Report Posted March 31, 2006 Whilst I have used the methods employed, in producing "front ends" for my AV presentations, it has never occurred to me to use them in the way that Ken has shown. Obviously it needs a bit of careful planning before commitment, but it is something that I will give some thought too in the near future. Thank you Ken and thank you LumenLux for opening this thread.Ron [uK] Quote
nickles Posted April 1, 2006 Report Posted April 1, 2006 Hello Bob & Ron:I guess I would have to say the PTE Organizer concept was probably one for "someone with too much time on their hands". I had a choice last weekend of replacing a fence in the back yard or working on the PTE Organizer...hmm...I guess I opted for the fun stuff.I probably spent two full days (16 hours) working on that little project. Half of it was designing the graphics for the buttons and frame. The other 8 hours was using PTE object editor to create the button text and directives to the various shows. But...with my basic PTE layout in place it is now relatively simple for me to add and remove shows. Probably take me a couple of minutes to add or remove a show from the PTE Organizer.I prefer full screen slideshows...but with the changing aspect ratios of new monitor technology...it's difficult to determine what is actually full screen anymore. I found that designing the inside dimensions of the PTE Organizer frame to exactly 800x600 pixels worked out pretty slick. If done properly it's easy with PTE to create a full screen show and also an 800x600 show (without the Windows frame).Assuming that someone has some experience with PTE's Object Editor and are happy with my buttons and frame it would be fairly simple to rename and redirect the buttons for your show...as long as you are careful doing it. Someone skilled like Boxig could probably automate the whole process...similar to what he did with his MultiShow Player.Although, I organized my files in folders that correspond to the blue buttons this is not necessary. One could place all his show files in the PTE Organizer main folder and treat the blue buttons simply as play lists.For the graphics part I normally use multilayers in Paint Shop Pro. If any one would like my basic multilayered layout...I can create multilayer .PSP or .PSD files...and use it as a pattern I would be happy to e-mail it to them. They can then resize and change the colors to their hearts content...if they're skilled with Photoshop or PSP.The reason I included the original PTE files in the Beechbrook download was to let people adapt to there on needs if they desired to use the concept. I've got one version that also does nothing but plays MP3 files in a frame that looks like a Jukebox. There are about 48 blue buttons for the year that then labels the brown buttons with song titles for that year....mucho work...not worth the effort...but kind of neat.Hey...by the way...did you happen to play the JackInTheBox show in my PTE Organizer upload. I created that from a sound file my daughter sent me sometime back. You may have already heard it but, if not, it is hilarious. It's only two descriptive slides but the soundtrack is complete. This is supposedly a true incident that occured down here in the DFW metroplex.Thnk I've probably said enough.ken Quote
LumenLux Posted April 1, 2006 Author Report Posted April 1, 2006 Thank you Ken. Good explanation. My understanding of the whole process is most clear about the PTE project vs. the fence repair! I did actually listen to the "on air" excited commentary of the Jack-in-the-box guy. Chuckles to all!Time to ask - how is the blue bonnet crop this Texas spring?I was in Arizona desert last week and it is barely alive. Wildflowers are mostly on memory cards or calendars. Much of Arizona had about five months without rain. Of course it rained while we were there. Quote
nickles Posted April 1, 2006 Report Posted April 1, 2006 Thank you Ken. Good explanation. My understanding of the whole process is most clear about the PTE project vs. the fence repair! I did actually listen to the "on air" excited commentary of the Jack-in-the-box guy. Chuckles to all!Time to ask - how is the blue bonnet crop this Texas spring?I was in Arizona desert last week and it is barely alive. Wildflowers are mostly on memory cards or calendars. Much of Arizona had about five months without rain. Of course it rained while we were there. Got 1/2 of the fence put up this morning...to bad it started raining...guess I'll have to start another computer project.Just starting to get green here in Texas. Probably another 2 to 3 weeks before the bluebonnets come into bloom. I've been anxious to do a little spring photography after a long dry winter with a dormant camera.Hope you have a pleasant spring....ken Quote
ContaxMan Posted April 2, 2006 Report Posted April 2, 2006 An interesting approach and very attractive implementation - thanks for sharing it with us. Quote
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