Styles and Themes a few questions/observations

[SeismicGuy]

As an occasional user of PTEAV I find myself forgetting what I have learned or discovered in the past but I am once again putting together a travelogue and have found a few frustrations.  My process it that I pick the jpg's and mp4 files I wish to use and then first move them down into the slides view.  All the jpgs have 7 sec durations (the default I might have set) and the mp4's have whatever durations they happen to be.  So far so good.  Then I generally like to keep things simple and use Ken Burns effect for all of the jpgs.  If I select all the slides and apply the built-in Ken Burns theme it applies the Ken Burns styles that are built into the program which also have varying durations.   HOWEVERif if I forget to deselect the various mp4 files it also applies the style to those files and also changes the duration (which is why it would be nice to have the mp4 files in the slide view have a filmstrip indicator or something to call attention to them).  So the first thing that would be nice is to know whether there is an option of apply styles/themes to only the jpg files and skip over any mp4's or do I just carefully need to go through and deselect any mp4 files.

Second the way I get my 7 second duration back to the jpgs is that I select all the ones where the style/theme was applied and choose Slide Options and change duration back to 7 seconds.  I figured maybe I can modify the built-in Ken Burns theme by editing but the program does not allow for editing the built-in themes apparently.  But it would be nice if when applying styles/themes there was a check box to maintain the original default duration.  

I expect the experts here will set me straight since I am likely missing something.

 

[davegee]

On the first point, you "just carefully need to go through and deselect any mp4 files".

On the second point, you can change any style by applying it and making the changes you desire and then re-create it with a new name and location. You also have the options on the RHS of the Themes Box. 

DG

[SeismicGuy]

Coming back to this again, I was still wondering about editing or tweaking any of the canned themes that show up as "Main" in the program.  I keep coming back to the Ken Burns Effect theme that comes with 8 styles.  I would like to see the specific styles and/or make changes to them but editing or even viewing the styles that make up that theme is not possible.  Any workarounds such as somehow duping the theme and renaming it?

[SeismicGuy]

I guess there are no takers for my previous question but of course I have another different question.  Is there a way of applying a style to a slide without changing the original duration?  I just watched one of Barry's videos again about Styles and Themes and he warned that if you have your slides all chosen and have them synchronized to music, you can throw everything off by applying styles after the fact since the duration of the style will likely not match the original duration (I have had this happen to me numerous times).  So is there an option when applying a style to one or more slides to KEEP THE ORIGINAL DURATION?  If not I believe that would be a useful thing to include.

[jkb]

1 hour ago, SeismicGuy said:

applying a style to one or more slides to KEEP THE ORIGINAL DURATION

This is the big problem with Styles & why I never use them, plus I never want to do the same thing twice.
Every 2 image combination is unique & requires it's own timing & transition.

So I find it much easier to do everything myself rather than use a Style.

 

In PTE 11 you can create a Quick Style, which can be useful if you need to do the same thing to several images such as colour correction or resize.

If you really want to use Styles, such as the Ken Burns (which personally I find really distracting & nauseating if applied to all images) then do it before setting any of your individual timings or other adjustments. Or simply do it yourself in O&A to one Slide, then create a Quick Style & apply it to all the others as needed. This way they will keep their original timings.

Jill

[AleAle5025]

If you have selected all the slides and synchronized them with the music, 
you can ruin everything. This method cannot be used.

In the photos, I showed how to change the time of a simple slide.

Everything is more complicated in a complex slide. It's easier to assemble a slide yourself thin to sort out someone else's slide.

https://disk.yandex.ru/d/KyW8-JZB_wF45Q

[SeismicGuy]

Jill--I find that a stationary image that does nothing is kind of boring so I do tend towards using Ken Burns typically but I try to be subtle about it.  The old program that I had used would allow for applying an effect (like Ken Burns) to multiple slides without affecting the duration and also there was a "randomize" option.  Still I always needed to do some tweaking after the fact which is unavoidable.  

AleAle--again better feature would be the option to keep the original duration imo.

 

[AleAle5025]

1 hour ago, SeismicGuy said:

AleAle--again better feature would be the option to keep the original duration imo.

During the creation of the slide, you decide what time to set for the slide show. It is important to know how to do this. I don't use basic styles. On the topic of the slide show, I create one or another additional style.

[jkb]

3 hours ago, SeismicGuy said:

Jill--I find that a stationary image that does nothing is kind of boring

This why I have long transitions & extremely short screen times so the whole show keeps flowing without anything actually moving.

Unless actually needed for the script most of my images are only static on screen for 1/100th sec or less.
By using wipes etc rather than disolves all the time, you direct the viewers eye to where you want them to look.
Image pairing is very important so that it does flow & also correct choice of music with the transitions matching the pace of the music.

Jill

 

[SeismicGuy]

7 hours ago, jkb said:

This why I have long transitions & extremely short screen times so the whole show keeps flowing without anything actually moving.

Unless actually needed for the script most of my images are only static on screen for 1/100th sec or less.
By using wipes etc rather than disolves all the time, you direct the viewers eye to where you want them to look.
Image pairing is very important so that it does flow & also correct choice of music with the transitions matching the pace of the music.

Jill

 

I'd like to see an example of what the short screen times but long transitions look like.  

[Bert]

(I'd like to see an example of what the short screen times but long transitions look like.)

+1