Suggestions for effects

[armor]

Hi all.

Im using PTE alot and there are some features I really miss.

Two things I would like to see:

first, a slideroption so I can slide like in "windows media player" through my pictures in the ready .exe file. This would be very helpfull as an option.

Second, I would like to have buttons I can assign to a picture number so I can start where ever I like inside the slideshow. I know the function is already there, but I want the buttons on a navigationlist´. Well you can call it an extended navigationlist. This would also help a lot.

/Math.

[alrobin]

Welcome to the Forum, Math.

Not sure I understand the rationale behind the two items on your want-list.

First item: Would this be for your own use in showing images to others, or in an application you would send out to clients? If the former, you can accomplish this by using the "raw" .pte file instead of the compiled file, and displaying the images with the preview button. The list of files in the right-hand window would serve as a "playlist" of images.

Second item: This can be accomplished today by inserting buttons via the object editor, and programming them to go to a particular slide, to back up, to go forward, etc., etc. Is this not be satisfactory? Or, are you suggesting a button automatically inserted on the navigation bar for each slide in the show? Would this not become cumbersome in a many-image show? Again, if this for your own use only in making presentations, you can now use the raw .pte file to access individual slides. Just some thoughts - it might help if I understood your individual application better.

[Guest guru]

I too, Math, didn't well understand your requests... Could you explain them a little more precisely?

[armor]

Thanx for welcome me!

Well, if, like I do, you make presentations that lasts for over 80 minutes. Its a very long slideshow, but I do them a lot. And some times you want to go to fast forward in the show. So, the "slider" is for prewieving and also for the ready show. Its like an option you can choose to turn on/off when you bulid the presentation. I know the option "preview from this slide" exists, but for an option I would be nice to have, but no need to have. But, anyway just nice to have.

When it comes to the navigationbar and buttons. I use the buttons to jump to different parts of the show, but there is one thing I havent managed to do. Perhaps I dont just know how, but I would like to have the buttons showed always in all pictures, like the navigationbar. But right now the only way, as I know how to do this, is to customize every single picture to have the buttons there. I would like more programable buttons in the navigation bar there I can define name and what picture I would like to jump to, so I can have more options in the navbar. Like "home" "next" and all standard buttons but also like "january", "february" for example.

Regards!

/Mattias.

[Guest guru]

Hi Mattias!

Give a look here. Hope it's useful as to your second question. If not, please write again!

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...ct=ST&f=2&t=582

[armor]

I'll try it out, and see if what it would like to be. Seems to me that this is a workaround for missing the option for more buttons in the navigationbar. But if you paste, you need to past in every slide right? My last presentation had 3880 pictures so it will take a while :-)

I have tried and done some presentations where the first picture contains the buttons and you can go back to that one with the "home" button", but this looks a little unprofessional in my viewpoint.

[think(box)]

To those interested in the "slider" topic here is a partial quote from the "Mega 14,000 pic P2E findings"

reply thread that you may find interesting. This description proposes a way to modify the navigation bar.

Thanks Al for the "slider" link.  That's the one I discussed.  I have thought about how this might be done and

offer the following.  A slider is no more than a horizontal scrollbar that may be placed along the bottom edge

of the P2E navigation pad.  When the slider is moved to 50% of the scrollbar length the picture will advance

to the half-way point picture count.  Since it takes some fraction of a second to read and display a photo it

may not be good to start until the user releases the mouse button.  Alternatively you could read next photo

data immediately and create a tiny, low-resource, quick photo preview of where the slider is until the user

releases the mouse button.  This tiny preview photo visible during scrolling could be about an inch or 3cm in

size (varies with screen area setting of course) and could be located just below or above the navigation bar

depending on where it has been placed.  If we make a navigation bar with less than the full button set, then

the navigation bar is more narrow.  I almost always use a single button nav bar - "Pause" - in top right of

screen.  This has bearing on the picture scrollbar horizontal pixel dimension.  To solve this I suggest that the

entire scollbar vanishes while the show is playing and appears only while the show is paused.  You could then

make the scrollbar a fixed, large pixel width - up to the full screen width for ease of use.

By the way, you could make the entire navigation bar collapse to just small "Navigate" and "Pause" buttons

next to each other when the show is running, and expand it to all creator-defined buttons and features only

when "Navigate" is pressed.  Show could auto-pause when "Navigate" is pressed, for ease of use.  You need

the "Pause" button in that set of two to allow pausing to view the picture without controls all over the place.

The "Pause" keyboard key should do the same as clickable "Pause" button, as it does today.

The above discussion is in reference to the April 16 post that Math made.  Then on April 24 Math and Jim

explained the use of "Bride", "Groom", etc. labeled buttons that go away after first slide.  You could, of course

make those buttons apply to all slides, but I offer this alternative.  Lots of buttons mask my view of the photos

so I would prefer that they appear only when the show is paused as described above.  You could, as optional

addition to the horizontal picture scrollbar make a set of delineated "buttons" across another screen-wide

horizontal stripe similar in size and adjacent to the scrollbar.  These buttons have text that we add when we

make the show, and a picture number is coded for goto also at show creation time.  Button count can be set

to ten maximum, fixed at one-tenth of screen area pixel width, and centered horizontally when displayed,

where less than ten buttons have been defined.  I would prefer not to have to precisely place these buttons

in an object editor interface.  They can be autoplaced and sized after I define them in a "Project Options" tab

where all I enter is button text, font info and "goto" number for as many buttons needed, up to ten max.  For

a slick alternative you could have a GIF button graphic optional user spec for each button.  PTE places text

on show creator's GIF button graphic.  If you don't define a graphic for each button you get standard buttons.

Cheers,

[armor]

A slider would be very nice, and that looks like a nice way to have it done.

/Math