Customise Picture in PTE4

[giljones]

Sorry to interrupt the enthusiastic comments about PTE5 but I have a problem with PTE4. I am trying to add three longer than normal slide intervals to allow the audience to reAd what is on the screen. To date I have had no luck in doing this despite various instructivE discs etc which I have. My first problem is that when I set a customised slide up with longer time on the screen, as soon as I press ok and go back to the main screen the settings all disappear and revert to where they were before I set them . As far as I can tell I am doing things correctly, pressing OK etc. I cannot get the slide positions to move on the timeline at all. The main program is set in non synchronised mode if that helps. Can someone talk me through this and see if I can find out what I am doing wrong. Not much hair before I started this....... who knows. Gilbert

[Alan Lyons]

Hi, First thing to try is , are you using the customise slide option rather than the project option. Project option will effect ALL the slides. If you use the syncronization, you can drag the "shadow" to the time you want in the timeline and not effect the other slides,

hope this helps,

Alan

[giljones]

Hi, First thing to try is , are you using the customise slide option rather than the project option. Project option will effect ALL the slides. If you use the syncronization, you can drag the "shadow" to the time you want in the timeline and not effect the other slides,

hope this helps,

Alan

Thank tou for your help, you have managed to highlight my problem without quite giving me the answer.

1. How do I set the project option opening page. Synchronise programme or timed slide changes what are the settings of thervarious boxes.?

2.I have tried customize slides, asked the programme to provide a different slide time for the three slides in question but each time the setting goes back to default as soon as I close the option. I have tried highlighting the time line and moving the little greyed blocks but nothing happens. HELP Gilbert

[alrobin]

Gilbert,

Since you are not using the "synchronize" mode, you don't need to worry about the timeline.

As Alan alluded to, open "Customize slide" for the slide whose time you want to change, click on the "Main" tab, check "Use own time preference", and enter the duration "on-screen" (not including the transition time) in seconds and milliseconds that you want for this slide.

You can also change the duration of the transition by clicking on the "Effect" tab, checking "Use own transition effect", and changing the time at the bottom in milliseconds.

If this still doesn't work, if you like to, you can send me a copy of your "pte" project file (without any images or music, and under 1 Mb in size) and I will have a look at it. My email address is alrobin@alrobinson.com - you can't send a file using the forum email facility.

[giljones]

Gilbert,

Since you are not using the "synchronize" mode, you don't need to worry about the timeline.

As Alan alluded to, open "Customize slide" for the slide whose time you want to change, click on the "Main" tab, check "Use own time preference", and enter the duration "on-screen" (not including the transition time) in seconds and milliseconds that you want for this slide.

You can also change the duration of the transition by clicking on the "Effect" tab, checking "Use own transition effect", and changing the time at the bottom in milliseconds.

If this still doesn't work, if you like to, you can send me a copy of your "pte" project file (without any images or music, and under 1 Mb in size) and I will have a look at it. My email address is alrobin@alrobinson.com - you can't send a file using the forum email facility.

Thanks for your comments, forgive my ignorance but I am just a little confused, if I ignore the Project Options facility what settings do I have to make to the main page - if any so that I can go directly to the timeline and try to make changes there,. As I previously wrote if I make changes to the customize slide function, nothing happens to the timeline and when I recheck it the settings I made have disappeared in favour of what I imagine to be defaault settings. I feel that there is something that I am missing but I am not sure how to go about establishing what it is. I have a copy of your tutorial, but this is not helping me much at this stage. If all else fails I will endevaour to send you a copy of my programme. Gilbert

[alrobin]

Thanks for your comments, forgive my ignorance but I am just a little confused, if I ignore the Project Options facility what settings do I have to make to the main page - if any so that I can go directly to the timeline and try to make changes there,. As I previously wrote if I make changes to the customize slide function, nothing happens to the timeline and when I recheck it the settings I made have disappeared in favour of what I imagine to be defaault settings. I feel that there is something that I am missing but I am not sure how to go about establishing what it is. I have a copy of your tutorial, but this is not helping me much at this stage. If all else fails I will endevaour to send you a copy of my programme. Gilbert

Gilbert,

The "timeline" is only applicable if you have checked "Synchronize slideshow to music duration" in "Project Options".

However, you do still need to set parameters in "Project Options" such as slide duration, effects, transition times, etc., unless you wish to "customize" each slide separately. You indicated you weren't synching to music, so leave the timeline alone.

Feel free to send me your project file if I am still making things confusing for you, so I can see more exactly what you are trying to do.

[giljones]

Gilbert,

The "timeline" is only applicable if you have checked "Synchronize slideshow to music duration" in "Project Options".

However, you do still need to set parameters in "Project Options" such as slide duration, effects, transition times, etc., unless you wish to "customize" each slide separately. You indicated you weren't synching to music, so leave the timeline alone.

Feel free to send me your project file if I am still making things confusing for you, so I can see more exactly what you are trying to do.

I have finally cracked it. Your last message set me thiking prompting me to search back over problems stored in the archive files.It was no surprise to discover that a number of people had similar problems to mine with the same degree of frustration. You will probably laugh when I tell you what I was doing wrong. Firstly I was tring to move the points on the timeline by pulling on the horizontal box on the line itself rather than the box that is hanging down, Secondly I had not set my programme correctly to start with and lastly I was not saving the programme frequently enough so that adjustments made were not always saved properly. Most of this revealed itself in a query raised by Isabel95 in December 2003 answered by Jim in Ottawa. This was exactly the sort of info I was looking for. I know that it is all contained in various training programmes etc but it needed to be set out in this form before the penny dropped. I am tempted to say "don't sell the contents of the box until you show the customer how to open it" those who have been using this excellent programme for some time are very familiar with it and almost automatically expect us lesser mortals to understand what they are tyring to say. I am now in my mid 70's and sometines it takes a fairly simple approach to enable me to understand what is no doubt obvious to others. Many thanks for all your help, I appreciate your generous offer of assistance.Gilbert

PS I have been making AV's for 25 years using two Leica projectors and fade and dissolve systems. Going digital is very different as I'm sure you are aware.