Music too long for the slides?

[tinem]

I would like to make a little trial of my slidehow with background music to send to people to accept before I will burn the CD with 92 pictures.

I made a trial with only 4 pictures (2048x1536) and background music mp3 - 14.650 KB - but then the .exe file is very big - 21.139KB.

Is there a way to cut the musiclength so that the file will be much smaller and fit the slideshow?

KH

Tine

[kirk]

Use a music editing software, or, choose a shorter song. You do know, I'm assuming, that in the project options you can click on "synchronize music to slides", don't you?

The size of your files will end up being fairly large. What DPI are the images that are in your show, and, what are the physical size of them? Are they jpegs? Are they saved as a high quality jpeg, medium quality, or low quality?

The music you are using, is it royalty free, or do you have a license to copy it?

[alrobin]

Hello Tine,

Welcome to the Forum!

I would also suggest you reduce the size of your images unless your clients absolutely need that high a resolution. It is customary to set your jpegs at no more than 1024 x 768 pixels in size, compressed at around 50%. Using a larger image won't provide any better image quality unless your clients' monitors are also set at a larger pixel size, and may cause glitches in the running of PTE on some pc's.

Another way to greatly decrease the file size is to find a MIDI piece that runs for the length of the show and use that to show off the pictures.

Good luck!

[tinem]

Thanks for your answers.

I made the music a little shorter with Nero Wave Editor.

I have been searching for some weeks now for this kind of software because all the other fancy software which can create VCD and SVCD can't create just normal slideshows with backgroundmusic and all this great things that this software can so I was happy when I found it. When I create to VCD or SVCD the quality of the photos are not good and I have bought an expensive camera because I wanted to have the best pixels so if people want to make a papercopy of the pictures it would look great.

We don't know this software here in Denmark so I have contacted the editor of a danish magasin http://www.aod.dk/ and told him about this after I saw this message http://tinyurl.com/g0ku and he maybe he will contact the owner of the software. He thought it was a good idea.

I use 1024x768 on my computer so you say that the photos would not look better even if they are 2048x1536? But when I burn the CD I think I schould use the best pixels 2048x1536?

KH

Tine

[alrobin]

Tine,

For sure, save the images in the best possible format and resolution for future use.

However, for use in PTE, first reduce them to the size you want to see them on the screen for your show and save them to another folder. If they are smaller files they will load faster in PTE and not interrupt the program.

[pixelpete]

Tine,

I haven't checked in on this forum for quite a while, so I hope the more knowledgeable members will forgive a relative newbie replying. But my situation is so similar to yours that I couldn't resist expanding on what Al said.

As for picture size, and what will look better or worse on screen, remember that pixels in your jpeg map one for one to pixels on your monitor. So if your monitor resolution is set to 1024 x 768, any jpeg larger than that is just taking up wasted space - as far as your slide show is concerned. In fact, since many people still set their monitors to 800 x 600, I always size my pictures so that the maximum dimension is no larger than those limits. This also helps keep the ultimate exe file size down. In order to present the client with the full size jpegs, I burn them in a separate folder onto the CD. I often write my Autorun.inf file so that the CD starts with a simple, 4 or 5 slide show that ends with a menu slide that lets the client launch the main show or read a readme.txt in which I explain how they can navigate to the full size jpegs on the CD.

In addition to shortening your mp3 file, you might want to play with re-encoding it using a lower quality (lower bitrate). You can often achieve significant size reduction before you start to noticeably degrade the sound quality.

All of the above tips I picked up on this helpful forum, so I'm happy to pass them along. And if I have included any misinformation, tune back in later because someone is sure to correct, if necessary.

pete

[tinem]

Thanks for your answer.

In order to present the client with the full size jpegs, I burn them in a separate folder onto the CD. I often write my Autorun.inf file so that the CD starts with a simple, 4 or 5 slide show that ends with a menu slide that lets the client launch the main show or read a readme.txt in which I explain how they can navigate to the full size jpegs on the CD.

I think it's sound interesting what you are telling me. Do you have a site for me to see how you have made one of your presentations?

Or could you direct me to a tutorial where this is explained?

Thanks in advance.

KH

Tine

[pixelpete]

Do you have a site for me to see how you have made one of your presentations?

Or could you direct me to a tutorial where this is explained?

Thanks in advance.

KH

Tine

Tine,

No, I don't have any presentations available for viewing. They were all private (relatives' weddings). The best "tutorials" can be found by searching this forum, but I will attempt to explain one possible workflow that has worked well for me.

First I create a short slide show I call "Intro.exe". I start with a picture representative of the event, like the front of the church where the wedding was held, or a shot of the wedding program booklet cover. Slide #2 uses the same photo but superimposes text, such as "Pete and Erin's Wedding". Then slide #3 uses the previous slide and adds more text, such as "December 29, 2002". The text can be added using the Object Editor button, then clicking on the Text button. Using the Fade In/Out effect will make the text fade in over the photo which remains constant through all 3 slides. The last slide in Intro.exe can be a different photo or even a jpeg consisting solely of one black pixel (created in a photo editor like Photoshop). This would of course be invisible, but again I use Object Editor to add both a photo (like one of the bride and groom) and a button. Next to the photo I add text saying "Click on this picture to launch the main slide show". Then while still in Object Editor, right click on the photo and choose Properties. Go to where it says "Action on mouse click", and choose "Run application or open file". Then put in the name of your main slide show ("Main.exe"). The same right click technique can be used to change the text on the button from "button" to "Read Me" and to choose the action of opening the Read Me text file that I write separately.

When I finish the Intro and Main slide shows (using 800 x 600 or otherwise down-sized photos to keep the exe samll), I put them in a separate folder on my hard drive I name "Burn". I also put into this folder a subfolder containing all the full-size jpegs. Then I put in the Read Me text file, in which I explain how to navigate to the CD-ROM drive and open the folder with the full-size photos, along with anything else I want to say. Lastly, I put into "Burn" a simple text file called "Autorun.inf" created in WordPad. It consists of

[autorun]

OPEN=Intro.exe

Then I burn the contents of "Burn" onto a CD. Putting this CD into a CD-ROM drive in a computer with Autorun enabled will cause the computer to run the Intro presentation, and the rest is up to the viewer.

The above is just one idea. There are many more creative people on this forum than I that could give you other pointers. But I think the best advice might be to just dive into the program and play with the features. It's fun, and if you get stuck, just post your questions here. There are many helpful people who will answer.

Enjoy,

pete

[tinem]

Thanks for your explanation.

I have also looked at PresentationList http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/downloadfile.asp?id=409 and you can read from this forum here http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums//index...act=ST&f=2&t=82.

And try looking at this software http://www.autoplaystudio.com/site/index.php

[rjwooll]

Pete,

I am also a wedding photographer and most recently have begun using PTE for my presentations.

Could you explain in more detail how you create a button with object editor which you use to launch your main slide show after the introductory clips?

I'm able to create the pictures with text added for my introduction but I am not familiar with object editor.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks

Rob

Fort Wayne, IN.

[think(box)]

Rob, I can add some help and I'll let Pete fill in more details. In PTE, select the slide to add buttons, click on "Object Editor" button, then click on one of three link object types (or simple text object) in top left of screen. Suppose you click on the button graphic at LEFT of screen that says "OK". This places a clickable button in top left of picture. Click "Properties" button, or right-mouse select new button and click "Properties" in menu. Enter your own button title or "Caption", button size, text font, font color, transparency (see-through button with outline) etc. Under "Action on mouse click" I think you want to select "Run application and exit". Now there will be a place to put the name of show you want to run when intro.exe is done. Here is a way to make this work: Enter the name of second or further show without drive letter, and without folder name. The ".exe" suffix is optional for shows, but it is good practice to use it. Next, when you make your CD put the second and further shows at root folder level (top-level, not in a folder on CD). Done!

Assuming you've followed all of the other tips about autorun.inf etc., when anyone puts this CD in a drive with autorun enabled (most have it this way), your autorun.inf specified intro show plays. When the person viewing clicks the button you just made, the second show runs.

This works even when someone else's PC has the CD-ROM on a different drive letter. That is why you should not enter the CD-ROM drive letter in the object editor button Run App info. By the way, if you use "Run application or open file" then second show will run and first show will not exit. You can not "pass control" between shows using PTE features, so it might be best to use "Run application and exit".

I will leave it to Pete and others to fill in more helpful info on this.