Photo sizing and other newb questions

[russg]

Hi:

I just learned about PTE from the Nikonians forum, and I'd like start working on putting my first show together. I've downloaded and studied a number of the tutorials and slideshows available from this site and other sites that have been linked, as well as studied the User's Guide, all of which have been helpful. However, I'm at a bit of a loss as to a number of things that need to take place in order to get started.

The photos I'll be using in my show are of various sizes, aspect ratios and orientations (vertical/horizontal). The photos could be as large as 3872 X 2592 (10mp), or considerably smaller depending on if they've been cropped for content or were shot years ago on a smaller resultion camera. Here's some questions I'd like to throw out for your collective assistance:

1. The shows I've viewed seem to offer slides of a consistent aspect ratio and orientation (landscape/horizontal), and I'm guessing that's not just coincidental and that there's probably a good reason for it. Is there a problem with using photos of mixed aspect ratios and orientation? If not, are there special things that need to be done in PTE to accomodate a collection of mixed photos in a show?

2. Many of my photos are of a fairly large file size, around 5MB+ and are at 300 dpi resolution. I suppose this question is very much related to question #1, but should the photos be resized and perhaps the resolution dropped from 300 DPI before importing them into PTE. I suppose the issue is to strike a nice balance between a manageable file size and a quality viewing experience. I intend to distribute my shows on CD-ROM, so I can handle a fairly large executable size, but there's no sense in using large photo files that are well beyond diminishing points of return in terms of viewing quality. I have no feel for this, so I'd appreciate any guidance regarding the sizing and resolution of photos to be imported.

3. Lastly, I'm hoping someone could clarify the issue of screen size in the show. I understand that the show can be created in full-screen or windowed mode. Windowed mode probably solves a number of issues, but I'd prefer my shows to be in full-screen mode. It seems that using a 4:3 aspect ratio would be the safe option here, which I assume will leave black bars on the sides of the image when viewed on a wide-screen monitor. I also assume that the setting for percent of slide to show main images should be left to 100%, and that the show will scale itself to the resolution of the video card and monitor that the show is being view on. Have I got all that right? I'd appreciate any other comments regarding the settings on the screen tab in Project Options that might head off potential problems for viewers of the show.

Well, this has gone on long enough, especially for a first post. One of the reasons I chose to invest my time and money with PTE was because of the very active and helpful user base. Thanks for your help.

Russ

[fh1805]

Hi Russ,

Welcome to the wonderful world of AVs built via PTE. I'll deal with your first question first.

In my opinion it is difficult to manage the transition from landscape to portrait orientation in an entirely satisfactory manner without creating an aesthetic "disturbance" in the flow of the sequence. That is why most AV sequences are either all-landscape or all-portrait orientation. If you must use both formats then I would suggest:

- create a background image (e.g. an ivory coloured linear gradient with added texture built in Photoshop)

- set all your images on this at a slightly reduced size so that there is always a border around every image

- try and make the last landscape subject and the first portrait subject have some kind of visual link and vice versa

On the subject of image resolution, you need to consider what format the end-use will be. Will it be a digitally projected sequence? Will it be only run on PCs? What monitor resolutions will the PCs have? For a first attempt I would suggest you build at a resolution of 1024x768. Yes, you will get black bands at the edges on a widescreen and black bands at the top and bottom on a 5:4 ratio monitor. But the sequence will look pretty good on a wide variety of monitors - and will project excellently through most digitaal projectors. The dpi has no no real meaning for a projected image - it relates only to printed output. I suggest you use Photoshop to resize all your images (copies of them!!) to 96 or even 72 dpi and to a maximu of 1024 x 768 - using constrain proportions to keep your existing aspect ratios. The resized image files should come out at about 150-300K

And at this point I'll utter some heresy - I always resize my 3:2 digital images to 4:3 for digital projection. I know the image is slightly distorted but my audiences don't!

You'll almost certainly get more advice from other forum members.

Final piece of advice - have fun building your AVs!

[russg]

Thanks for the reply, Peter. I get what you are saying with the landscap/portrait issue. Good advice. My shows will be end-run on PCs, with various levels of monitor resolutions, I presume. I want to knock out a show and include it on CD-ROMs mailed out with Christmas Cards this year, so I need to get hopping. So let's say that I build a presentation at 1024x768, which would seem to be a reasonable baseline resolution for most people these days. Furthermore, let's assume that all photos are of landcape orientation. Now comes the issue of varying aspect ratios for each photo. Typically, when I edit my photos, I crop for content, using a free crop and not looking to conform to any particular aspect ratio. Which isn't to say that I couldn't go back to the original files and re-crop to a multiple of the 1024x768. I do this when I want a photo to be used as wallpaper for the desktop or to be used in a screesaver. But usually, the 1024x768 crop results in a compromised image from the crop I originally intended (my photos start out as 3:2 images as well). From your reply, I take it that you prefer the restrictions of a fixed aspect ratio crop rather than having a show comprised of mixed aspect ratio slides. And it sounds like you solve that issue by compressing your 3:2 images to a 4:3 aspect ratio. I'm having a bit of a hard time wrapping my brain around that approach, but who am I to judge? Maybe you could elaborate a bit on why you prefer to pound your square images into a round hole, so to speak, rather than have the images in a show reveal themselves in their natural (as I envisioned the original crop) state? I'm not questioning your methods, but as I'm newer than new at this, I'm trying to understand the reasoning. I'm sure it all relates to optimizing the viewing experience, but since I've yet to put together show 1, I don't have a real good feel for things at this point. I do understand the part about resizing to a max resolution of 1024X768 and knocking the DPI down to 96.

Lastly, assume again that I have built a full-screen show at a 4:3 ratio. Looking at the User's Guide (I haven't even downloaded the program yet, that's next on my list!) I see that on vesion 5, if you use one of the pre-set aspect ratios such as 4:3, you don't input an actual fixed-pixel resolution size. This is apparetly only done if you select a custom aspect ratio. Would you suggest using the 4:3 pre-set or specifying 1024x768 using the custom selection? Will using one or the other have any impact to the end user? If an end user has either a higher or lower monitor resolution, will the full-screen show be expanded or shrunk to conform to the smallest dimension of the user's resolution using either method? Intuitively, it would seem that one of the pre-set ratios would expand and contract accordingly whereas using a specified resoltion would not, but I could be all wrong about that. The guide isn't really clear on this issue.

Thanks again,

Russ

[Ronniebootwest]

Hello Russ,

Welcome to our Forum!

Wow! for a person who has just joined us, you are asking some really in depth questions. This is no bad thing but I feel that you may well be trying to run before learning to walk properly. That is really not meant to discourage you but in my experience, those who try to get involved by 'jumping in at the deep end', invariably finish up drowning. My advice would be to forget about version 5 for the time being and download version 4.48 of the software (You can always upgrade at a later stage). The advantage of doing this is that you will be able to learn how to build a basic slide show and accumulate the required knowledge along the way.

Ron West.

[cjdnzl]

On the subject of resizing images for PTE, and rather than doing it in Photoshop,, I use Irfanview's batch resizing, which has extensive resizing by pixel count, cropping and/or 'shapeshifting' if you want to reshape a 3:2 image to 4:3 without cropping (personally, that idea appals me; I would far prefer to crop if necessary, but I make my shows as 3:2 anyway).

The resizing operation in Irfanview uses a Lanczos algorithm which in my opinion is superior to PS's bicubic, and using Irfanview's advanced menu, you can auto-crop from 3:2 to 4:3 by trimming the ends of the image, resize all images to a constant long side at (say) 1024 pixels, and sharpen to taste after resizing, all in one pretty fast operation, about one to two images per second on my 3 GHz P4 machine.

In any case, have fun with PTE, it's a great program!

Colin

[fh1805]

Let me just make it clear that Photoshop also offers a "batch" mode of processing that automates the resizing process and can include sharpening if desired.

Now, to "square pictures-round holes"... let me clarify things. I don't, since using PTE, mix orientations in my AV sequences. My sequences built with 3:2 landscape orientation images are resized to 4:3 1024x768 images and the distortion is, in my opinion, so slight that I rarely am aware of it myself after the first viewing. My audiences have never commented on it. Any sequence built using 3:2 portrait orientation is always built on a 1024x768 background and the "natural" aspect ratio is retained.

I have, in the past, posted links to examples of both techniques on other threads (repeated below):

- Vertical orientation example: "Te Deum" http://www.mediafire.com/?1jdxcd19buv

- "Stretched" landscape orientation example: "Wild Side of Florida" http://www.mediafire.com/?6s9cjtmbixd

If you want to preserve your original aspect ratios and if that is going to result in varying aspect ratios then I recommend the "use a background image" as per "Te Deum"

Finally, to pick up on Ron's point about v4.48 vs v5.0... I would take a different approach. Try v5.0 but DO NOT USE any of the animation capability in your first two or three sequences. Get the hang of doing the basics first and then branch out to the more complex.

In your case that can perhaps be put as : amaze your family and friends with a nice sequence of images set to music this Christmas, stun them with an animated AV sequence next Christmas. Ron is right in that respect: learn to walk before you try and run.

Good luck - and have fun!

[verasmith]

Hello,

As a relative newbie to digital photography (other than point then shoot) and most things computer related, I was really pleased to read the question posted by Russ when using the search facility to find information on file and photograph size. It's clear that I have a great deal to learn but I've printed the replies and will try to follow the advice.

Trying to get my head around my camera instruction manual, Photoshop and PicturesToExe will keep my grey matter well exercised. Now that I have more time I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do. Please be patient should I ask the most stupid of questions and when the first "show" is ready to upload I'd really appreciate any constructive criticism. For the time being I'm just taking it step by step like the start of the long journey it is.

Trouble is things keep getting in the way - time to get some dinner on the go.

Until the next time.....

Vera

[Ken Cox]

VERA

" Please be patient should I ask the most stupid of questions "

THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS

"ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE"

ken

[Lin Evans]

Hi Russ,

Welcome to the Wnsoft PTE forums.... Since most of your questions have been addressed, let me make a couple comments in the body of your text...

Hi:

I just learned about PTE from the Nikonians forum, and I'd like start working on putting my first show together. I've downloaded and studied a number of the tutorials and slideshows available from this site and other sites that have been linked, as well as studied the User's Guide, all of which have been helpful. However, I'm at a bit of a loss as to a number of things that need to take place in order to get started.

The photos I'll be using in my show are of various sizes, aspect ratios and orientations (vertical/horizontal). The photos could be as large as 3872 X 2592 (10mp), or considerably smaller depending on if they've been cropped for content or were shot years ago on a smaller resultion camera. Here's some questions I'd like to throw out for your collective assistance:

Since PTE is hardware rendered - meaning input resolution equals output resolution via the GPU (graphical processing unit) in your video card, it's "possible" to make slideshows at full resolution, but there are caveats. First, remember that if the user doesn't have an optimized video system in their computer, large files can create issues especially if your slideshow has pan, zoom, rotate effects. So in general, for optimized distribution to a wide audience, I would resize the images to around two megapixel (1600x1200) or the nearest pixel count for the aspect ratio. Compress to about 8 in Photoshop and your should have no problems with the audience. If you know for certain that the end user has a newer system delivered with Vista, then the probability is very high that they can run your slideshows even if the originals are at full resolution. Sometimes it helps for certain slides, especially if you are doing deep zooms into detail to use a full resolution slide for these particular tasks.

1. The shows I've viewed seem to offer slides of a consistent aspect ratio and orientation (landscape/horizontal), and I'm guessing that's not just coincidental and that there's probably a good reason for it. Is there a problem with using photos of mixed aspect ratios and orientation? If not, are there special things that need to be done in PTE to accomodate a collection of mixed photos in a show?

2. Many of my photos are of a fairly large file size, around 5MB+ and are at 300 dpi resolution. I suppose this question is very much related to question #1, but should the photos be resized and perhaps the resolution dropped from 300 DPI before importing them into PTE. I suppose the issue is to strike a nice balance between a manageable file size and a quality viewing experience. I intend to distribute my shows on CD-ROM, so I can handle a fairly large executable size, but there's no sense in using large photo files that are well beyond diminishing points of return in terms of viewing quality. I have no feel for this, so I'd appreciate any guidance regarding the sizing and resolution of photos to be imported.

No need to change DPI since that only affects print density and informs the printer. For the slideshow it really has no effect one way or the other. As before, for general audience except on slides with deep zooms into detail, about 1200x1600 or whatever the vertical works out to will work very well on most systems.

3. Lastly, I'm hoping someone could clarify the issue of screen size in the show. I understand that the show can be created in full-screen or windowed mode. Windowed mode probably solves a number of issues, but I'd prefer my shows to be in full-screen mode. It seems that using a 4:3 aspect ratio would be the safe option here, which I assume will leave black bars on the sides of the image when viewed on a wide-screen monitor. I also assume that the setting for percent of slide to show main images should be left to 100%, and that the show will scale itself to the resolution of the video card and monitor that the show is being view on. Have I got all that right? I'd appreciate any other comments regarding the settings on the screen tab in Project Options that might head off potential problems for viewers of the show.

You can use full screen mode all the time. PTE allows you to choose between "original size" or have PTE automatically size to fill the screen for the chosen aspect ratio. 4:3 is most common for computer monitors but you have several alternatives as well as custom. The way most of us get around the 3:2 issue is either use a custom border/frame and show the entire slide within the 4:3 or use the pan capabilities to see the entire slide where that is applicable. If you choose "fit to slide" under (objects and animations - common tab - mode) the image will automatically be adjusted to the size of the monitor being displayed on in full screen mode. If the aspect ratio of the slide is different than the monitor or display device, then it will fill the screen top to bottom and either extend on either side or have black borders on the side depending on whether the display is wide screen, etc. Of course if you "know" it will be a wide screen you can either crop your images accordingly before making the show or adjust individually in Objects and Animations.

Well, this has gone on long enough, especially for a first post. One of the reasons I chose to invest my time and money with PTE was because of the very active and helpful user base. Thanks for your help.

Russ

Best regards,

Lin

[jfa]

Welcome to the world of PTE A-Vs and the user forum Vera, you will find lots of friendly help and advice here.

Regarding your comment about asking stupid questions, see the quote below with my signature. All the luck in the world with getting your head around your camera instruction manual, Photoshop and PicturesToExe, just ask and I'm sure someone here will answer.