Morning Glory

[LumenLux]

This is a somewhat routine show but has a couple of things that may add interest. First of all, I think there are some exceptionally beautiful green colors from our mountain neighborhood in the desert. Secondly, Igor's explanation of how the PTE Start-up screen currently works in Version 5, made me realize again how the O&A features of Version 5 work just fine and offer more flexibility for making our own start-up screen. Let me know what you think of the result. Of course, all comments on anything are welcome.

Beechbrook.com

[Ken Cox]

NO SOUND ON MY DOWNLOAD BOB:(

KEN

[Ken Cox]

before you ask i can hear Jeff's poetry

ken

[jevans]

This is a somewhat routine show but has a couple of things that may add interest. First of all, I think there are some exceptionally beautiful green colors from our mountain neighborhood in the desert. Secondly, Igor's explanation of how the PTE Start-up screen currently works in Version 5, made me realize again how the O&A features of Version 5 work just fine and offer more flexibility for making our own start-up screen. Let me know what you think of the result. Of course, all comments on anything are welcome.

Beechbrook.com

Really enjoyed your show. Nice to see a new part of the world and also your companions on the walk. I have made a few "walking" shows myself , but I always get told off by the others on the walk for lagging behind to take the photos. Maybe the duration of each slide could have been a little longer. I tend to use 7s with a 3s fade as my default but of course it is a personal preference.

Some questions for you. Can you explain how you set up the show to be controlled by the spacebar and arrow keys without the navigation bar showing and yet enable the show to run continuously.

That is a rather useful feature. Secondly I am interested in the aspect ratio you have chosen. On my 19 inch monitor running at 1280 x 1024, there are black bands at the top and bottom of the image when the show is run. So I guess you have a camera which produces a 3:2 image (e.g. Nikon at 3873 x 2592) and you have just scaled the image down in Photoshop without any cropping to use the whole of the image. Then you have selected a slide aspect ratio of 3:2 in the"project options", "screen" tab. . Is this what you have done? If so, did you consider using the "cover slide" function in the O&A window and accept the loss of some of each image at either side? This would have produced a full screen display. Of course you may have a widescreen monitor in which case you would want to keep the aspect ratio unchanged.

Regards

Jeff

[jevans]

NO SOUND ON MY DOWNLOAD BOB:(

KEN

Ken,

I thought that there was no sound. However once the show has started, if you press the spacebar, the show starts to run continuously and the music appears.

Jeff

[Ken Cox]

yes Jeff guess i was impatient --

ken

[LumenLux]

The sound should begin as you leave the second start-up screen. The first slide has a duration of 20 seconds if there is no user intervention. The second slide has a duration of 200 seconds if no user intervention. To advance from either slide #1 or slide #2, requires only click on the on-screen button or a press of the keyboard right arrow. If that does not work Ken - then we have some sleuthing to do.

As for the space bar "pause" and the right arrow "advance." In Project Options check Permit Control of Show using Keyboard and leave unchecked the Show Navigation Bar. Interestingly, it was Ken, a while back, who reminded me how easy it is to allow a viewer to pause and study any photograph that might be of particular interest. In a presentation such as this one, I am not worried about a viewer interfering with the continuity and flow of the show. I felt it more important to let the viewer know that indeed you can pause or even backup, scrutinize a photo, and then resume the fully synchronized show. This feature was also a factor in the decision to have a shorter duration of most the slides than you have suggested might have been better. I, like you, often feel I need more time to view new photos than the pace of the music might suggest. In this presentation, though I did try to pay attention to where transitions happen in the music, I actually tried to de-emphasize the rhythm by using the long transitions.

You are exactly right on the aspect ratio. My own screen is 1024x768 and not wide screen. They are indeed 3:2 images from a Nikon. And for probably the first time in my PTE "career", I chose not to externally crop nor to use the Cover-Slide option of PTE. It was a calculated decision and I am not sure I like it. I have been seeing more and more of others' presentations that show up that way on my 1024x768 screen. I just decided to try it this time. Do you, as I, usually prefer to cover the entire screen? I must admit, it does annoy me to have to check the PTE "Cover-Screen" option on every individual slide. Maybe there is a global setting that I am not using? I think I, and perhaps others, have asked Igor if there is a possible way to make a global option for that.

[LumenLux]

I have received via email, a comment that includes: The only thing that I noticed was when the first song changed over to the second there was a bumping sound and the music level fell so much with the second song.

I do not hear that at all on my computer playback. When I look in PTE at the waveform, Music #1 ends on a bit of a crescendo and a short taper to very brief silence. Music #2 wave form starts at the (visually) same volume as the ending visual/audible volume of Music #1.

Does anyone else experience the "bumping sound" ? And - does anyone know why such a thing might occur on certain playback PC's?

[jevans]

You are exactly right on the aspect ratio. My own screen is 1024x768 and not wide screen. They are indeed 3:2 images from a Nikon. And for probably the first time in my PTE "career", I chose not to externally crop nor to use the Cover-Slide option of PTE. It was a calculated decision and I am not sure I like it. I have been seeing more and more of others' presentations that show up that way on my 1024x768 screen. I just decided to try it this time. Do you, as I, usually prefer to cover the entire screen? I must admit, it does annoy me to have to check the PTE "Cover-Screen" option on every individual slide. Maybe there is a global setting that I am not using? I think I, and perhaps others, have asked Igor if there is a possible way to make a global option for that.

Thanks for the information on show control. I did not realise it was so easy. As far as aspect ratio is concerned, I am surprised no one has commented on this in the forum. I have had some discussions with Al Robinson on this subject but he does not like to use the "cover slide" function. For me, I prefer to view a show in full screen mode and thus would like the "cover slide" function to be a global setting and not just on a per slide basis. I have added this request to the thread on features for the next version. I shoot in RAW, convert the RAW files to DNG and then batch process the resultant files to produce images suitable for PTE. It is difficult to crop using a batch process and thus I just resize the images to 1530 x 1024 and then use "cover screen". You lose a small part of each image at each side, but you can pan these into view if they contain essential information.

Jeff

[jfa]

Nice show. I have done a lot of hiking, (we call it walking in my neck of the woods), over the years and I feel you captured the "feel" of doing this with the mix of images of landscape and people involved, thanks for bring back some good memories.

No sound issues at all with my system, in fact well done with a good mix of appropriate music and sound effects with the water.

I was happy with the image timing. The show was just the right length, if the images had been on the screen longer the show would have become a little to long, or you would have had to drop some of the images which I think would be a bad thing.

Jeff, I too get into trouble with my fellow walkers for lagging behind taking photographs. In fact photographers in general have a reputation for doing this on walks here, and as a result get some stick for this. It's a high price we pay for our art. LOL.

[LumenLux]

Jeff, I too get into trouble with my fellow walkers for lagging behind taking photographs. In fact photographers in general have a reputation for doing this on walks here, and as a result get some stick for this. It's a high price we pay for our art. LOL.

This may be why the occasional "serious" photographer I run into is usually "solo" hiking. But as anyone who hikes, tramps, walks, wanders, treks, or journeys, knows - hiking alone is deceivingly dangerous. But only when it matters. There may be people who don't hike with me because they have grown tired of what you mention. But most the guys I hike with are content to let me drop back and catch up. Or they will stop and talk if they think I am too far behind. If I we are hiking where the course is not easily detected, I am more careful to tell them when I am stopping. Occasionally I will run ahead and turn around for a quick snap of the oncoming hikers. But this results in many blurry shots as I am still moving or huffing and puffing as I snap the shutter. But in spite of any flack I take for the frequent stops or slow-downs, I know that most my fellow hikers are really thankful they can rest without admitting they are the one who needs it!