Image changed in size...

[goddi]

Greetings,

Something strange has been happening with the current slideshow I am working on in 5.52. In a few of the slides, I have put 3 or 4 images. I resized them to fit using the handles on each image. On several occasions, when I went back to look at them in O&A, I found that one of the images 'expanded' to a larger size. I thought at first it was just me doing something I did not catch at the time. However, I have found that this has happened at least 3 times with different slides that I have 3 or 4 resized images. Only one of the resized images in a group would be expanded. I had to resize them down manually again. I don't believe that I have been doing it inadvertently.

So I am wondering if anyone else has come across the strange event.

Thanks... Gary

[fh1805]

Hi Gary,

Yet another one of your specials! I've never encountered this myself but checking the following might just give you a pointer:

- is the Main Image of any of these slides one of the objects that is giving you this problem?

- is the problem associated only with objects that are children?

- do the faulty objects have any children of their own?

- what O&A---Common---Mode value do the various objects have?

- is there any suggestion that it happens only to one particular Mode value?

- do you have any unwanted keyframes on any of the problem images?

- do the problem images all have an "origin" keyframe for each object that is set at time offset = 0 (giving the objects initial state)?

- do any of these objects have any "unusual" parameters set (i.e. different from the values you normally use)?

In your position I'd be trying to spot a "pattern of occurence".

Sorry I can't be more helpful at this stage.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Hi Gary,

Yet another one of your specials! I've never encountered this myself but checking the following might just give you a pointer:...............

Sorry I can't be more helpful at this stage.

regards,

Peter

====================================

Peter... Glad you are enjoying my 'specials'!

When I saw the 'expanded' images, I just fixed them (changing it from child to parent), not thinking that it would happen again, so I did not pay too much attention to it. But I am pretty sure that, for the images that had 'expanded,' the images were 'parent' and each had a 'child' image attached to it. Hope I got the terminology correct.

I didn't do anything beyond defaults. Modes are 'Fit to Slide', no animated keyframes, no unusual parameters, etc. I just plopped in the images and resized them. In each slide that had the problem, only one of the images in the group of images was a child to one other image...by mistake.

I try to not do the parent-child thing with images or text, so there are less complications involved.

I have another 'special' brewing but I have not had time to post it. Stay tuned...

Gary

[fh1805]

Gary,

====================================

I have another 'special' brewing but I have not had time to post it. Stay tuned...

Hit me with it! I've got all weekend in front of me!

Seriously for a moment, if you get a recurrence of your resize problem, dig around and see if you can find something that is unique to the image (and its objects) that is causing the problem. Dont overlook things like file type and file size.

If nothing strikes you, consider posting the .pte file as an attachment - or using nobeefstu's PTE Project Reporter to see if that finds anything unusual.

Also, try and find a sequence of events that can reproduce the problem - guaranteed!

If you can achieve this last, then we all have a chance of being able to recreate it ourselves and that will speed up problem diagnosis and resolution.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Peter... I was hoping the problem would reoccur so I could analyze it. But nothing yet. I'll keep checking it out. The PTE show I am working on is getting over 45mb...a bit large for posting it. But if it does happen again, maybe I can pare it down to a reasonable posting size. I'll let you know if/when it happens again.

Thanks... Gary

[fh1805]

Gary,

Intermittent problems are the hardest of all to resolve - precisely because you get so few chances to do any diagnosis. The tendency is always to jump in and try and correct things without thinking too much about doing any investigation first.

Since this particular sequence of yours now has a "history" of causing problems might I suggest the following approach?:

- instead of doing Save of the PTE project file, do File Save As and give each copy a simple version number (e.g. MyProjv2, MyProjv3, etc.)

- instead of doing Create of the EXE file you do File Create Slideshow As and give each copy a simple version number

The simplest way of operating this technique is, when you open the project at the start of each edit session, do an immediate File Save As to the next version number. Then, when you are ready to do your EXE file creation, the File Create As will automaticaly offer you the same name - and having done the Create As, if you close PTE down at that point, you will be prompted to Save the project. Saying Yes to this prompt means you end up with a *.pte file and a *.exe file that match in content and version number.

Good luck.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Gary,

Hit me with it! I've got all weekend in front of me!

Seriously for a moment, if you get a recurrence of your resize problem, dig around and see if you can find something that is unique to the image (and its objects) that is causing the problem. Dont overlook things like file type and file size.

If nothing strikes you, consider posting the .pte file as an attachment - or using nobeefstu's PTE Project Reporter to see if that finds anything unusual.

Also, try and find a sequence of events that can reproduce the problem - guaranteed!

If you can achieve this last, then we all have a chance of being able to recreate it ourselves and that will speed up problem diagnosis and resolution.

regards,

Peter

======================

Peter...

Well, it happened again. I worked on the file today. Everything was fine. Later today, I opened the file and noticed that 3 slides have images that expanded to a larger size than what I had previously set them to. Each of the slides that has this problem, has 3 or 4 images that I imported and made smaller (using the handles on each image) so that they all fit. There are no special changes made to the slides. Very basic. I just brought in the several images, resized them in the slide, that's it.

The only thing that seems consistent with these 3 problem slides is that the upper left image is the one that expands. I tried to run the PTE Project Reporter to see if anything popped up. I didn't see anything different between these 3 slides and any other of the slides. I tried to save the Project Reporter file but each time I tried, the program failed at about the 67th slide. Tried 3 times. Failed 3 times.

So I don't know what to do to diagnose this problem. Any suggestions??? The exe is about 45mb so it is a bit too large to post. But maybe I can dump all the images and music except the 3 problem slides and a few around it to make it more manageable.

Thanks... Gary

Added later: I reduced the show down to just 14 slides and no music but the file is still too big to attach here. It is a bit over 4mb and the max that an attachment can be is 2mb.

[fh1805]

Gary,

In terms of posting something we can look at to assist the diagnosis, all we need is the *.pte file - not the *.exe. Typically the *.pte file is only a few tens of KB in size.

I have had one further thought but I don't know how relevant it might be: When you do your editing of objects in the O&A window, do you always without fail end that edit session by using the Close button? Or do you sometimes click on the "X" button in the top right corner to close the O&A window?

My thoughts are going along these lines: if you click on the "X" to close the O&A window, does this throw away your changes on that particular slide? In other words are you making your changes but not actually saving all of them.

Although I've never investigated this, I suspect that O&A changes may well be subject to a "two-stage save". Stage one - when you "Close" the O&A window the changes are added into the pte file in memory. Stage 2 - when you finally save the pte file, the file is then written back to your hard-disk.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Gary,

In terms of posting something we can look at to assist the diagnosis, all we need is the *.pte file - not the *.exe. Typically the *.pte file is only a few tens of KB in size.

I have had one further thought but I don't know how relevant it might be: When you do your editing of objects in the O&A window, do you always without fail end that edit session by using the Close button? Or do you sometimes click on the "X" button in the top right corner to close the O&A window?

My thoughts are going along these lines: if you click on the "X" to close the O&A window, does this throw away your changes on that particular slide? In other words are you making your changes but not actually saving all of them.

Although I've never investigated this, I suspect that O&A changes may well be subject to a "two-stage save". Stage one - when you "Close" the O&A window the changes are added into the pte file in memory. Stage 2 - when you finally save the pte file, the file is then written back to your hard-disk.

regards,

Peter

===================

Peter,

I always hit the Close button to get out of the O&A window. I know that I had set these images reduced to the size that I wanted. I went on to do editing in the rest of the show. After each change I made, I was sure to do a Save and Create. I reviewed the show dozens of times and the images were just fine. Then, later when I can back to take a look a the show, these resized (reduced in size) images in the upper left hand corner expanded back to just about their original size.

The pte file is 53k but the zip of all the files is 4.5mb. Maybe I can take out a few more of the slide to make it smaller. I will try this. (Just removed all images except for the 3 images and the zip of the show is down to 2.3mb, still too big to attach. Do you think if I just put in 2 image, that you can still diagnose the problem??? That brings the file under 2mbs. Ok, I will try to attach it here...

Gary

Cris_Portraits_test_Oct1_2008_8_45_59.zip

[fh1805]

Gary,

I've downloaded your zip file, extracted all files to a folder and launched your PTE project. I can see nothing obviously wrong.

You wrote in your post above: "...these resized (reduced in size) images in the upper left hand corner expanded back to just about their original size..."

If all of your sequence is like this sample, the problems are occuring on your "Main images" and not on any of the additional objects. Also, if all your sequence is like this sample, you are not using the Pan/Zoom/Rotate values to achieve animation; rather you are using them to place objects in a partcular part of the screen and at a particular size.

You have chosen to zoom all your Main images down to 95% using the Project Options---Screen tab settings. But you have also given them non-central Pan values at their origin keyframe.

I have made the above statements so that others reading this post can start to form an impression of what you are doing in your sequence. As far as I am aware, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with anything that you are doing.

The only "unusual" factor (and by "unusual" I mean unusual to me and my ways of working) is that you have defined a Text comment to be applied to every slide. This is set to provide the SlideIndex number positioned top centre of the screen.

Again, there is nothing wrong with doing that.

Bottom line: I cannot see anything in your show settings to explain what you are seeing. But it would seem to be associated with your reduced size and offset main images. Perhaps there is a bug in the code when all the main images are reduced in size and given a non-central position. Sorry I cannot pin this one down for you (I think it's the first time you've beaten me!)

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Gary,

I've downloaded your zip file, extracted all files to a folder and launched your PTE project. I can see nothing obviously wrong....

Perhaps there is a bug in the code when all the main images are reduced in size and given a non-central position. Sorry I cannot pin this one down for you (I think it's the first time you've beaten me!)

regards,

Peter

====================

Peter.... Noooooo! Don't admit defeat!!!

But you have explained very well everything that I have done. The text comment numbers were added just to identify the slides during this diagnosis, but they were not there originally. I see what you are saying that each image that enlarges, is a 'main' image in a slide where I have 3 or more images, all resized to be smaller in that one slide. That seems to be the only consistency that pops out. I hope Igor reads this and analyzes what might be going on. I wonder what would happen if I unchecked 'main' for that one image in each slide??? What is 'main' supposed to do???

Thanks for looking at it... Gary

[fh1805]

Gary,

The "Main" image is the one whose filename PTE uses when it displays the slide thumbnail in the Slide List. It would also typically be the one that had the objects as children in an animated image - but you've chosen to have independent objects - and there's nothing wrong with that!

regards,

Peter

[nobeefstu]

Gary,

I just looked over your pte file ... and your pte file has missing filename data in some slide image objects.

Actually the last image object in Slide 1 and a few in Slide 2.

Only fix to this file corruption is to replace image objects with new file name selections or hand paste the path/ filename after the ... ImageName= ... within the pte file itself

Normally it should read :

ImageName=G:\Downloads\8-18-08\Pte Shows\Cris_Portraits_test_Oct1_2008_8_45_59\WWR-1998-003.jpg

Your missing image object data reads :

ImageName=

Note: I see you mentioned Project Reporter also failed. I will add this error warning in its detection.

[nobeefstu]

Gary,

Actually the last image object in Slide 1 and a few in Slide 2.

My previous post has some miss information relating to your pte file Image Object data amounts missing.

Heres a report on your file.

Cris_Portraits_test_Report.txt

[fh1805]

Gary,

Don't let yourself become too alarmed by Stu's analysis of your sequence. The file that you offered was, as I know from our protracted dialogue, a heavily cut-down form of a much longer sequence. It is not unreasonable that there could be some "loose ends" that were not properly tidied up before you posted the files.

When I turn Stu's PTE Project Reporter loose on my downloaded and extracted version of your sequence, it reports a clean file!

Perhaps Stu and I need to talk "off forum" about this one!

regards,

Peter

[nobeefstu]

Peter,

Yes there will be some difference from v1 Reporter (even v2 beta1). Those versions ignored non data entries such as

ImageName= with no reporting of missing blank entries in pte file. I figured since pte file didnt need to list it ... neither did I.

I suspect this is just a copy and paste issue ... either with user process or v5.52

v2 beta2 has this reporting now since Gary experienced this new issue.

New Edidted Notes

I must be having a real bad day in my wrong replies to above posts. I just compiled Gary's file without receiving file missing errors ... So its not true that the empty file data space needs to be filled. The ImageName= is OK to be empty. Pte ignores or does not need it filled.

Gary, Iam sorry for leading you to more issues than that of your original problem.

[goddi]

New Edidted Notes

I must be having a real bad day in my wrong replies to above posts. I just compiled Gary's file without receiving file missing errors ... So its not true that the empty file data space needs to be filled. The ImageName= is OK to be empty. Pte ignores or does not need it filled.

Gary, Iam sorry for leading you to more issues than that of your original problem.

================

nobeefstu and Peter...

No problem. I really appreciate you both taking the time to check this out. I had not started yet to work on the 'missing errors' you first stated. I wasn't really sure what to do anyway. But thanks for telling me to ignore it and all is OK. But I still wonder why these 'main' images unexpectedly expanded, more than once.

Gary