PicturesToExe v5.00 beta #5

[JohnFeg]

Just finished a short show using Beta #5. The problem seems to be caused by the music finishing just too early. Fortunatley using Adobe Audition, I can just extend the music track by a short amount without affecting the sound and then the music fits the slide timing exactly. Alternatively, adjust the slide timing so that the last slide just finishes before the music.

Certainly the lack of music synch is a pain and I hope Igor deals with this in the next beta soon.

Jeff

Jeff,

I also, from time to time, need to make a piece of background music a little longer or shorter to fit in with a slide sequence. I’m using Cool Edit, the forerunner of Audition. What I do is to add or remove a few bars, at the most appropriate location, or, do a fade out. However, this is not always an aesthetically pleasing solution. It would be interesting to hear how you tackle the problem.

John

[Peter Coles]

Peter,

You could also do a "search" in the "Start" menu and try to find all instances of your PTE project that way. It should lead you to where the template files are being stored.

Done that before I wrote the previous question.

It just says nothing is found.

Peter

[alrobin]

Peter,

That is very strange - don't know what else to suggest, either.

However, you do have a fall-back position, with the availability of the "Create backup in zip" feature.

[Hawk]

Hi Peter

You mention that you saved your presentation as a "Template ", if it is not listed in the Template section I do not have an answer as to why not.

In regards to your search, (alrobin) in (Ken Cox's) link above replied to Robert:

alrobin:

The template folders are no longer associated with the program files. They are located in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\PicturesToExe\Templates",

This is the new default path.

It would seem that you may not have " Search for Hidden File and Folders " check marked.

\Application Data\ - is a Hidden System Folder.

[Jill]

I have discovered a possible error in the creation of Backup Zip files. The date stamp is 1 hour behind for all the files.

Original file 01/09/2006 14:26 File in Zip folder is 01/09/2006 13:26

Original file 02/09/2006 00:45 File in Zip folder is 01/09/2006 23:45

The time for the Zip folder itself is correct

I created a zip folder under XP and the time stamps were all unchanged so it appears to be PTE that has changed the times.

Jill

North Wales

[Peter Coles]

Hi Peter

You mention that you saved your presentation as a "Template ", if it is not listed in the Template section I do not have an answer as to why not.

In regards to your search, (alrobin) in (Ken Cox's) link above replied to Robert:

This is the new default path.

It would seem that you may not have " Search for Hidden File and Folders " check marked.

\Application Data\ - is a Hidden System Folder.

MANY MANY THANKS, Ralph, You have cracked it for me!!!!!

I would never have found this without your guidance.

[Igor]

Jill,

Thanks! We'll fix that small bug with times of files in ZIP archive in the next beta.

Peter,

Microsoft requires to keep all settings and user files in Documents & Settings folder. Especially it's important in Windows Vista. Because of this we use this new path by default now. But, of course, you can change it.

Dominique,

Of course, you can ask for new features for the next versions, I'll add record to my TODO list.

And same thing for the "spread keypoints" feature here.

Yes, I remember about this important question! I'll try to reply soon.

About preview and selected slide.

I think it can be realized. But only when you run preview from main window of PicturesToExe. If you started preview from Objects and Animation window it will keep same slide. I've added your idea to our TODO list!

Probably already in the next betas. And I think it should be realized as option if somebody prefer old behaviour of PicturesToExe.

p.s. we're almost finished second CPU based graphical engine (like in v4.48).

[JPD]

Some questions to understand :

I made a test with 15 big pictures 1920 x 1080 in a view. That mean 1920 x 1080 x 3 x 15 bytes for graphic card memory (89mb). Mine is only 64 mb and it succeed to run, not at all smooth (6 images/15 seconds), of course, but I see the 15 pictures at the same time.

How it's possible.

I did a test with the same 15 pictures with V4.48 as objects of one view. With V4.48 it take about 3 seconds before the pictures appears on the screen and 8 seconds for V5.

Does that mean the 5 seconds more is the time need to transfer 64mb from memory to graphic card memory ? (about 12mb/s)

[Igor]

DirectX performs automatical management of video memory. If slide contains 89 MB of images and your video is only 64 MB it will continuously load/unload images from video memory to system memory and back again (even during rendering of an one frame). This reason of slow work when video memory smaller than images.

Also more modern video card much more quickly load images to video memory from system memory. For example, on ATI Radeon 9600 that slideshow you've described starts within several seconds.

[JPD]

Thanks, Igor, for answer.

I have test the Lin Evans' puzzle and have try it with two little views before the main view as in the test I send you. It succeed now to start, but at the end, it freeze the PC. The original file freeze the PC without see anything. Only the music works. In this slideshow there are 104.57 mb for memory card for one view.

Note : in the "Objects and animations" windows it doesn't freeze the PC

[Jill]

I have noticed that the size of the Exe file given at the bottom of the main window is now incorrect. It appears NOT to include any of the Objects. Eg main window says Exe file is 36mb but when I create the Exe it is actually 44mb.

Also when I rename a slide it is not being carried to the O/A window. If I rename the slide in the Slide List then the new name is shown in the O/A window. But if I rename the slide in the File List, which I have to do for Objects, then the new name is not shown in the O/A window & an error message shows saying it cannot find the slide.

I don't know if anyone else has asked this, but will it be possible to Highlight slides in the File List that are only used as Objects. When I have a lot of slides it is difficult to easily see which I have used as Objects.

Also is it possible to widen the name box in the O/A window. It currently does not scroll as far as the file Extension. So I cannot tell if the Object is a .jpg or .png as I cannot see the last part.

Thanks

Jill

North Wales

[alrobin]

I would like to second Jill's suggestions - particularly the request to highlight in the file list the images used as objects.

[Lin Evans]

I have noticed that the size of the Exe file given at the bottom of the main window is now incorrect. It appears NOT to include any of the Objects. Eg main window says Exe file is 36mb but when I create the Exe it is actually 44mb.

Also when I rename a slide it is not being carried to the O/A window. If I rename the slide in the Slide List then the new name is shown in the O/A window. But if I rename the slide in the File List, which I have to do for Objects, then the new name is not shown in the O/A window & an error message shows saying it cannot find the slide.

I don't know if anyone else has asked this, but will it be possible to Highlight slides in the File List that are only used as Objects. When I have a lot of slides it is difficult to easily see which I have used as Objects.

Also is it possible to widen the name box in the O/A window. It currently does not scroll as far as the file Extension. So I cannot tell if the Object is a .jpg or .png as I cannot see the last part.

Thanks

Jill

North Wales

Hi Jill,

Perhaps I'm interpreting this incorrectly, but I think having the option of a different name in the "Objects" list (different from the true file name) is a good thing. Frequently one might want to include the same file (object) multiple times in the Objects list and assigning independent names facilitates ease of picking the correct one from the many possible duplications.

Remember back on the original beta when everything in the Objects list was named "object1" "object2" and we had to rename using the Properties Tab?

Perhaps I'm confused by what you mean by "file list"? Do you mean the actual Windows list of files found on the left side of the screen in the "Classical View"? Perhaps what's confusing me is the need to rename the object in the "file list", if that's what you mean by it. Why can't you just rename the object in the Properties tab on the Objects and Animation screen?

My guess is that when you rename a file on the "file list" a duplicate is being created if that file already exists in the slide list?

Best regards,

Lin

[Guest Techman1]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone else has reported this problem after creating a slideshow on DVD:

When I have objects (.png files) placed in a particular slide and they have been "cropped to remove the excess transparency", the objects move slightly horizonally.

Here's what I've done, I change the individual settings on each cropped PNG to be displayed at the original size and then move them to where I want them to appear. All looks great when played on the PC (preview & as an exe), but once I create it as a DVD, the slides that have the cropped PNG files, the animation objects location has moved slightly. If I have PNG files at full resolution to match my photo slides, all is where it is suppose to be.

I'll try to get a couple of screen shots posted, but I thought I would ask just in case anyone else has seen this problem.

Since this is part of the beta testing post, I've placed this problem here in this thread instead of the AVI-DVD section of the forum. If this has been reported previously, I'm sorry I didn't see the post (I know Ken will catch me if this has been done ).

Anyway thanks in advance if you have run across this.

Fred

[alrobin]

Perhaps I'm interpreting this incorrectly, but I think having the option of a different name in the "Objects" list (different from the true file name) is a good thing.

Lin,

I think Jill is referring to the file name in the tool-bar at the bottom of the O/A window. The object "name" in "Properties" is independent of the file name, and I agree with you that this characteristic should be retained.

[Guest Techman1]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone else has reported this problem after creating a slideshow on DVD:

When I have objects (.png files) placed in a particular slide and they have been "cropped to remove the excess transparency", the objects move slightly horizonally.

Here's what I've done, I change the individual settings on each cropped PNG to be displayed at the original size and then move them to where I want them to appear. All looks great when played on the PC (preview & as an exe), but once I create it as a DVD, the slides that have the cropped PNG files, the animation objects location has moved slightly. If I have PNG files at full resolution to match my photo slides, all is where it is suppose to be.

I'll try to get a couple of screen shots posted, but I thought I would ask just in case anyone else has seen this problem.

Since this is part of the beta testing post, I've placed this problem here in this thread instead of the AVI-DVD section of the forum. If this has been reported previously, I'm sorry I didn't see the post (I know Ken will catch me if this has been done ).

Anyway thanks in advance if you have run across this.

Fred

Igor,

Since no other forum members have commented on this, I can only assume they haven't run into this issue. Have you seen this in any of your tests? It happened when I had portrait or landscape type images as the main slide and added small PNG files which were cropped down to show little transparent background.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Fred

[Igor]

Fred,

- Please leave one this slide only and make backup of the project in ZIP (Alt+

- Make screenshot of this slide when it started EXE file

- And screenshot of slide on DVD-Video disc.

And send me these files.

What program you use for creating DVD-Video disc?

[Guest Techman1]

Fred,

- Please leave one this slide only and make backup of the project in ZIP (Alt+

- Make screenshot of this slide when it started EXE file

- And screenshot of slide on DVD-Video disc.

And send me these files.

What program you use for creating DVD-Video disc?

Igor,

I've sent you an email with links to the files you requested. After doing a comparison of the DVD screen shot vs. the EXE screen shot, it was evident that the problem is actually a sizing issue and not a shifting issue as I had first thought. Here's what I found out about this problem:

In the animation, I'm using the setting mode of "Original" and not "Fit to Slide". These PNG files were created at the proper size to what I wanted. In other PNG files that work correctly, I'm using "Fit to Slide" and adjusting their zoom to the size I want. I hope this information helps you sort this out.

I'm using Ulead MovieFactory 4 to create an ISO file and then burning to DVD using Nero.

Thanks in advance for your help on this one. I've got a workaround now that is working, so it's not a urgent problem for me.

Take care,

Fred

[Igor]

I just improved timeline in Objects and animation window and this timeline will show keypoints now that located outside time of a slide. No "lost" or invisible keypoints anymore. I'm sorry that I didn't it earlier.

We're integrating fully re-written CPU based graphical engine to v5.00

I tested today speed and quality of effects - they work with same speed as in v4.48 or even a little faster. So v5.00 should fully replace previous v4.48 with same features, quality and reliability.

Although you can use this CPU based graphical engine even on very old PCs and simple animation effects (appearing of text for example) will work fine, but complex effects and Pan/Zoom of large several images works exceptionally slow - about several frames per second only. So you see that video card is only one way to provide excellent Pan/Zoom effects in real time.

[dagrace]

I noticed that as of today, this topic was "un-pegged", i.e., it is no longer frozen at the top of the list. Is this intentional?

Oops. I see that beta #6 is now alive and well. Great news!

[Igor]

Yes, new beta 6 released