PicturesToExe Deluxe v5.00 Beta 10

[Igor]

PicturesToExe Deluxe v5.00 Beta 10:

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/apr-deluxe_beta.zip (4 MB)

New features in v5.00

New features in Beta 10:

+ You can adjust non-linear speeds (Accelerate, Smooth, etc) for Pan/Zoom/Rotate effects.

+ Navigation bar works again.

- New view of Navigation bar with shadow.

- Many new parameters.

- Fade in/out effects.

+ Copyright/logo image can be added again.

+ Tiled image background works again.

+ "Display slides in random order" option works again.

+ Mouse cursor option (autohide, hide, always show) work again.

+ Pause function.

+ Space key and Ctrl-P for Pause in a slide show.

+ Activated actions on Button click: home, next slide, previous slide, go to slide, help, print, exit, pause. Actions for Text/Image objects will be added in beta 11.

* Fixed possible problem with smoothness of Pan/Zoom effects which could appear in previous beta 9.

* Fixed problem of previous beta versions when sometimes on closing of a slide show sound "click" might occur.

* Improved reliability of VideoBuilder during burning of DVD disc.

In this beta "Run application" actions for object still don't work - it will be possible in beta 11.

In this Beta VideoBuilder requires registration key. You can buy upgrade on our web site.

We will send tomorrow free registration keys for VideoBuilder to all beta-testers who sent us at least one bug report. Thank you.

[alrobin]

Great news, Igor!

You must be working overtime. Thanks so much for your efforts!

The free VB registration key will be much appreciated.

[Igor]

Al,

We solved that problem with synchronization of second music track. Please try and let me know.

Lin,

We also found solution for the problem when sound card returned wrong time values. Now no problem with smoothness, I hope.

[keyboard]

Hi Igor

I downloaded Beta 10 and also purchased reg key for video builder.

I made a short 7 minute show and burnt to DVD,I am very pleased with the quality of the show on my TV,as good as looking at the show on my PC monitor.

Thank you for all your hard work on this application.

John.

[stevehurst]

Thank you Igor,

Thanks again to you and your team for all your efforts. This is truly a great product now.

Steve

[richard tucker]

Hi Igor,

The zooms and pan linear interface look good and work well, especially with the individual speed options.

However I have been doing some checking of the speed of loading fast image sequences- i.e. video sequences in individual frames and time lapse sequences.

On my old Shuttle which has a modest graphics card (GeForce 4800)and using version 8u I am able to run 338 images at a rate of 20 ms per slide and it runs smoothly -almost as fast as video!

However when I run version 10 with hardware acceleration OFF nothing happens. At 30ms it runs but very badly At 50ms it runs jerkily. At 75ms and 100ms it runs better but not smoothly.

At 20- 75ms with acceleration ON nothing happens - it freezes. At 100ms there did not appear to be much difference between the acceleration set to on or off.

I then tried it on a new Shuttle with a much better graphics card (NVidia 8800GTS) and a faster hard drive and more RAM but results were almost the same.

In the test above the images were only 640 x 480 so there does appear to be a change in the loading of images from 8u to 9 and 10.

With the acceleration ON the lowest time interval I can achieve with the new Shuttle is 150ms with 60 images.

Will there be any chance of improving the loading of jpegs with the acceleration ON as from the practical point of view it is almost certain one would want to use fast sequences and pans etc as is possible in 8u

Richard

[Igor]

Richard,

We'll try to solve with problem with fast slides in beta 11. It is only a logical problem.

[Peter S]

Igor,

Many thanks for this latest version. The new features are excellent. The navigation bar is just what I was waiting for and works beautifully in my trials so far. I am struggling a bit to see what precisely is happening with the accelerate decelarate options when I use three or four key points but I am sure all will become clear in due course. Great work.

Peter

[jevans]

PicturesToExe Deluxe v5.00 Beta 10:

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/apr-deluxe_beta.zip (4 MB)

New features:

+ You can adjust non-linear speeds (Accelerate, Smooth, etc) for Pan/Zoom/Rotate effects.

+ Navigation bar works again.

- New view of Navigation bar with shadow.

- Many new parameters.

- Fade in/out effects.

+ Copyright/logo image can be added again.

+ Tiled image background works again.

+ "Display slides in random order" option works again.

+ Mouse cursor option (autohide, hide, always show) work again.

+ Pause function.

+ Space key and Ctrl-P for Pause in a slide show.

+ Activated actions on Button click: home, next slide, previous slide, go to slide, help, print, exit, pause. Actions for Text/Image objects will be added in beta 11.

* Fixed possible problem with smoothness of Pan/Zoom effects which could appear in previous beta 9.

* Fixed problem of previous beta versions when sometimes on closing of a slide show sound "click" might occur.

* Improved reliability of VideoBuilder during burning of DVD disc.

In this beta "Run application" actions for object still don't work - it will be possible in beta 11.

In this Beta VideoBuilder requires registration key. You can buy upgrade on our web site.

We will send tomorrow free registration keys for VideoBuilder to all beta-testers who sent us at least one bug report. Thank you.

Igor,

I have the reg key for Version 4.48 and have latest beta of Version 5. Very happy to purchase new reg key for VideoBuilder but cannot find the link on your web site. Can you post the relevant link position please ?

Regards

Jeff

[Lin Evans]

Hi Jeff,

Just click on the Video tab as if you were going to burn a video from beta 10 and you will find a link.

Lin

Igor,

I have the reg key for Version 4.48 and have latest beta of Version 5. Very happy to purchase new reg key for VideoBuilder but cannot find the link on your web site. Can you post the relevant link position please ?

Regards

Jeff

[Adda]

Hi Igor!

Many Thanks for this great work.

I am very happy with the smooth setting of pan and zoom.

It would be very usefull to set smooth to standard.

With best regards

Andreas

[Lin Evans]

Hi Andreas,

I think you couldn't do that because of the non-linearity. If you notice, set both pan and zoom to smooth then you can't adjust size of object on intermediate keypoints so better to set to linear, adjust keypoints then set both to smooth. Sizes at keypoints won't be the same as with linear because timings are different except at starting keypoint and ending keypoint.

Lin

Hi Igor!

Many Thanks for this great work.

I am very happy with the smooth setting of pan and zoom.

It would be very usefull to set smooth to standard.

With best regards

Andreas

[ksf]

Hello Igor (and team)

I have just been trying the new button features in 5.10 and I think they are really good and on eof the things I have been eagerly waiting for, so thank you for a great job.

I have noticed, however, that there are still differences between the effects listed under project options and those listed when you double-click on an individual slide in the timeline - of particular interest is the offset and additional effects on the advanced hour-hand. I have raised this issue a couple of times before but various other members of the forum have kept assuring me this is to be reolved in the 'next' release. It hasn't been so far so I was wondering if you have plans to do so in 5.11?

[RayC]

Thanks Igor and team Great job, have upgraded DVD Builder no problems works great,still to try V5 B10

cant wait but must get Chores done first.LOL

Thanks Ray

[Lin Evans]

The advanced hour hand transitions are the same for customize slide as in project options, they are just arranged differently. Instead of having all 16 of them on the customize slide menu there is a "check box" for "counterclockwise". You select the basic transition, then set the checkbox if you want it to be counterclockwise instead of choosing the particular transition counterclockwise or clockwise.

The offset isn't individually adjustable per slide but set in the Projects Options.

Other than not being able to set different offsets for individual slides these are functionally the same as far as I can see.

Lin

Hello Igor (and team)

I have just been trying the new button features in 5.10 and I think they are really good and on eof the things I have been eagerly waiting for, so thank you for a great job.

I have noticed, however, that there are still differences between the effects listed under project options and those listed when you double-click on an individual slide in the timeline - of particular interest is the offset and additional effects on the advanced hour-hand. I have raised this issue a couple of times before but various other members of the forum have kept assuring me this is to be reolved in the 'next' release. It hasn't been so far so I was wondering if you have plans to do so in 5.11?

[ccmanz]

And I skipped out on this beta testing.

But I have been watching the progress.

looking FWD to paying for my copy.

Thanks to everyone who was testing.

[stevemul]

I have a slide show made in Beta 9 where a slide has 4 key points; it starts zoomed in to part of the bottom of the image, zooms out to the whole of bottom of the image, pans up to the whole of the top of the image and finally zooms in to just part of the top of the image. This worked well in Beta 9 except for the sudden, jerky transitions at each keypoint so I was looking forward to Beta 10 and smooth, accelerate, etc..

I installed Beta 10 and set the first keypoint to Smooth. The 3 other keypoints set automatically to smooth BUT ..... although the slide show now smoothly goes from the 1st keypoint to the last it totally ignores the zoom and position settings of the intermediate keypoints.

I want to decelerate and then accelerate at all keypoints so that all transitions look smooth. Could someone explain how I can do this please.

Many thanks,

Best regards,

Steve.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Steve,

This takes a little explanation, so bear with me. First, remember than zoom doesn't happen in a vacuum - in other words zoom and pan are nearly always related so when you set smooth on zoom, also set pan and probably rotate (if there is any rotation involved) also to smooth or there will be unintended consequences. A little more on the relationship between zoom and pan. If you zoom then watch the numbers in Pan, especially if you do it with the mouse by dragging the rectangle you will nearly always also change pan so remember that if you set one, set the others to the same and things will generally work out better.

Now let's think about what is actually happening when we change from "linear" to smooth, accellerate, decellerate or custom. We are changing the actual "time" when things are happening. The only constant is the start and ending keypoints. Everything in the middle changes so that what you were "expecting" at a particular "keypoint" in terms of the degree of zoom or position of pan is happening at some other time or some other place.

If what you are looking for is the "softer" take-off and "landing" then you "may" not actually need to use "smooth" to get it. It looks to me as if Igor has corrected the rather abrupt start and stop without having to change the linearity of the zoom or pan, but experiment just to be sure.

This new linearity will take some getting used to. It's not a simple thing to wrap one's head around, but by setting both pan and zoom to the same linearity you will have much better luck approximating what you are trying to achieve.

Try it with straight linear first and see what happens...

The bottom line is that to get the effects you want with non-linear zoom (as if you were using linear zoom but with the non-linear start/stop), you will have to use the same slide multiple times in the slide list. You notice that on other than "linear" only the first and last keypoint allow changing the figures. In other words everything is "greyed" out on other than the first and last keypoints. So as it is now, only the first and last keypoints mean anything in any of the "non-linear" segments. So to get the effect you are looking for do the first zoom on slide one, then change the effect (zoom, pan, etc.) on slide 2 the third on slide 3, etc. Use "quick" no transition for each and you will get the effect you are looking for.

What would be nice is if Igor could set a "match next slide" feature so that slide two automatically inherits the "numbers" for the end keypoint of slide one, slide three the ending numbers of the last keypoint for slide two, etc. This way you wouldn't have to manually match the numbers to keep a true "non-transition" from slide to slide and still be able to make it "look" like it was all done on one slide.

Lin

Best regards,

Lin

I have a slide show made in Beta 9 where a slide has 4 key points; it starts zoomed in to part of the bottom of the image, zooms out to the whole of bottom of the image, pans up to the whole of the top of the image and finally zooms in to just part of the top of the image. This worked well in Beta 9 except for the sudden, jerky transitions at each keypoint so I was looking forward to Beta 10 and smooth, accelerate, etc..

I installed Beta 10 and set the first keypoint to Smooth. The 3 other keypoints set automatically to smooth BUT ..... although the slide show now smoothly goes from the 1st keypoint to the last it totally ignores the zoom and position settings of the intermediate keypoints.

I want to decelerate and then accelerate at all keypoints so that all transitions look smooth. Could someone explain how I can do this please.

Many thanks,

Best regards,

Steve.

[ronwil]

Can someone point me to the "button features" please. In "Objects & Animation" I bring up a "Button" but nowhere can I find how to attach any features to it as in 4.48. Are we talking about a different button?

Ron [uK]

[stevemul]

This takes a little explanation, so bear with me .......

Thanks for your suggestions, Lin. After reading your post I went back to Beta 10 and found the solution. It has made a huge difference so I will explain it here just in case others make the same mistake as me.

When you set smooth, accelerate, etc., the initial setting is for all keypoints for the selected object and intermediate keypoints become ineffective. To use more than three or more keypoints click on the button(s) under Pan/Zoom/Rotate as applicable. Then, and here's the bit I have just discovered, don't select smooth, accelerate, etc., but click on "Setting Up". You will then see an item for each of your keypoints. Alongside each keypoint item click on the blue words "Separate here". Then you can individually set the linear/smooth/accelerate/etc., for each pair of keypoints. Brilliant, just brilliant.

The improvement in this part of my sideshow over Beta 9 is fantastic!

Different, but slightly related .... I made a test show of scrolling text from bottom to top, like cinema credits. I made test projects in PTE, Proshow Gold 3.0 and Proshow Producer 3.0. Both the Proshow products are very jerky on my PC ..... PTE is as smooth as silk !

Thanks again, Lin, and thanks also to PTE's developers.

Best regards,

Steve.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Ron,

Look under "common tab" Actions on Mouse Click. Choose from the drop list while button is highlighted in the objects list and that action will be associated with the button.

Best regards,

Lin

Can someone point me to the "button features" please. In "Objects & Animation" I bring up a "Button" but nowhere can I find how to attach any features to it as in 4.48. Are we talking about a different button?

Ron [uK]

[volker]

Excellent work! I rebuilt the project I mentioned with the zooming and

then moving over a very large panorama picture with beta 10 and the

camera movement is much much smoother, I'm really impressed!

I found something little: The space key for pausing seems not to work.

I also assigned "previous slide" to the left mouse button, "next slide"

to the right mouse button - but it has no effekt. Maybe with mouse

control you only meant when using the "add navigation bar" stuff.

Volker

[Igor]

I've updated my PteShow demo slide show and included Navigation bar. All text labels created in PicturesToExe using text objects in Objects and Animation editor.

EXE file: http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/show/PteShow.zip (8 MB)

Source files of this project: http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/show/PteShow_sources.zip (8 MB)

Try also new Copyright logo/image feature. This image stays over all slides and especially semi-transparent PNG gives excellent effect.

[ronwil]

Thanks Lin for your input on use of "button features". Best wishes.

Ron [uK]

[JEB]

Thanks for your suggestions, Lin. After reading your post I went back to Beta 10 and found the solution. It has made a huge difference so I will explain it here just in case others make the same mistake as me.

When you set smooth, accelerate, etc., the initial setting is for all keypoints for the selected object and intermediate keypoints become ineffective. To use more than three or more keypoints click on the button(s) under Pan/Zoom/Rotate as applicable. Then, and here's the bit I have just discovered, don't select smooth, accelerate, etc., but click on "Setting Up". You will then see an item for each of your keypoints. Alongside each keypoint item click on the blue words "Separate here". Then you can individually set the linear/smooth/accelerate/etc., for each pair of keypoints. Brilliant, just brilliant.

The improvement in this part of my sideshow over Beta 9 is fantastic!

Different, but slightly related .... I made a test show of scrolling text from bottom to top, like cinema credits. I made test projects in PTE, Proshow Gold 3.0 and Proshow Producer 3.0. Both the Proshow products are very jerky on my PC ..... PTE is as smooth as silk !

Thanks again, Lin, and thanks also to PTE's developers.

Best regards,

Steve.

Thank you Lin and Steve for you multi-keypoint explanations. You've saved me hours of needless wear of my l depleting brain cells.

This product has been well worth waiting for.

And of course a BIG thank you to Igor and his fantastic team.

Without getting too philosophical it's a pity our politicians couldn't show the same degree of cooperation as is demonstrated in this small community.

End of sermon!

Regards

John