PTE freezes sometimes when I try to Preview...

[goddi]

Greetings,

Ok, Peter. You said you had all weekend and needed another 'special'.

Another strange thing has been happening to me. After I make a change in the show, I Right-Click my mouse to 'Start Preview From The Current Slide'. I see it start the 'Running Preview...' but before the Preview starts, the program freezes. It just sits there. The keyboard has no effect on getting it unfrozen. Usually I have to hit the X to close PTE and open it again. Sometimes, hitting the right mouse button gets the Preview to then start. This has happened many, many times with different PTE shows.

Any thoughts??? Gary

P.S. Now that I have posted this, it will probably never happen again!!!

[fh1805]

Hi Gary,

How strange that you should post this tonight (UK time). I had one of these myself earlier today. It turned out to be my fault (user error, or to be more precise operator error).

I was wanting to check the end credits slide (a vertical scrolling text on a background within a mask) of a sequence. I positioned the sequence to the third last image, clicked the little icon to start the "Preview from current slide", PTE started to clear down the screen and put up the message in the Info line to the effect that it was preparing the preview...and then nothing. I don't recall exactly what I did next (It certainly wasn't the well-thought out diagnosis that I recommended to you in your other recent post! That's a classic case of "do as I say and not as I do" isn't it?)

The bottom line is that I had somehow managed to press the space bar immediately after starting the preview and the sequence had gone straight into a "paused" state. When I eventually thought this might be the state and pressed the spacebar again, the preview commenced exactly as I had originally expected it to.

I don't know whether this explains your glitches, too - but it might be worth bearing in mind next time you get an unexpected pause.

regards,

Peter

P.S. Lin got in before me on your question about borders (masks). The answer would have been the same from me. I use "windowed masks" extensively in my sequences for exactly the reason you gave - to hide the enlarging image when zooming in.

[goddi]

Hi Gary,

How strange that you should post this tonight (UK time). I had one of these myself earlier today. It turned out to be my fault (user error, or to be more precise operator error).

I was wanting to check the end credits slide (a vertical scrolling text on a background within a mask) of a sequence. I positioned the sequence to the third last image, clicked the little icon to start the "Preview from current slide", PTE started to clear down the screen and put up the message in the Info line to the effect that it was preparing the preview...and then nothing. I don't recall exactly what I did next (It certainly wasn't the well-thought out diagnosis that I recommended to you in your other recent post! That's a classic case of "do as I say and not as I do" isn't it?)

The bottom line is that I had somehow managed to press the space bar immediately after starting the preview and the sequence had gone straight into a "paused" state. When I eventually thought this might be the state and pressed the spacebar again, the preview commenced exactly as I had originally expected it to.

I don't know whether this explains your glitches, too - but it might be worth bearing in mind next time you get an unexpected pause.

regards,

Peter

P.S. Lin got in before me on your question about borders (masks). The answer would have been the same from me. I use "windowed masks" extensively in my sequences for exactly the reason you gave - to hide the enlarging image when zooming in.

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

Peter,

How cool it is that you had the same problem!!! So I am not toooo crazy.

But, I know for sure that I have not hit any key to put it into a 'Pause' mode. It has happened way too many times and I am sure I would have caught myself doing it. I think you did just what I did...you found a key that would bring it out of the freezed-up mode. In my case, it was the right mouse key that sometimes worked. I just tried several time starting the "Preview from current slide" and hitting the space bar, but it would not cause the freeze-up. So maybe it was not your hitting the space bar that caused the 'Pause'??? But thanks for recreating the problem....

Thanks, Gary

[Lin Evans]

Hi Gary,

Since no others have had this problem, I would bet that you have a sticky spacebar or pause key which is providing a keyboard interrupt at inopportune times. Next time it happens press the spacebar and see if the show starts. If not try the right arrow key. Report back.

Best regards,

Lin

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

Peter,

How cool it is that you had the same problem!!! So I am not toooo crazy.

But, I know for sure that I have not hit any key to put it into a 'Pause' mode. It has happened way too many times and I am sure I would have caught myself doing it. I think you did just what I did...you found a key that would bring it out of the freezed-up mode. In my case, it was the right mouse key that sometimes worked. I just tried several time starting the "Preview from current slide" and hitting the space bar, but it would not cause the freeze-up. So maybe it was not your hitting the space bar that caused the 'Pause'??? But thanks for recreating the problem....

Thanks, Gary

[goddi]

Hi Gary,

Since no others have had this problem, I would bet that you have a sticky spacebar or pause key which is providing a keyboard interrupt at inopportune times. Next time it happens press the spacebar and see if the show starts. If not try the right arrow key. Report back.

Best regards,

Lin

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

Lin... I seem to be good at having problems that no one else has. I know for sure that my hands were not anywhere near the keyboard when this happens. Perhaps, my mouse is what might be inputting something strange. When it has happened, to try to get it to unfreeze, I have tried every key on the keyboard to see if anything would work. Only the right mouse key seemed to have be able to 'unfreeze' the problem and let the Preview play. Strange but true.

I will keep my eye on it when/if it happens again. But as I said earlier, with my luck, after posting this problem, it might never happen again..... Just venting the problem seems to help!

I'll report back... Thanks, Gary

[nobeefstu]

Gary,

Only the right mouse key seemed to have be able to 'unfreeze' the problem and let the Preview play. Strange but true.

I will keep my eye on it when/if it happens again. But as I said earlier, with my luck, after posting this problem, it might never happen again..... Just venting the problem seems to help!

I'll report back... Thanks, Gary

You may want to check your Project Options settings and see what you have enabled and preset. Avanced tab has your mouse and keyboard controls for your show ... this includes Preview.

[goddi]

Gary,

You may want to check your Project Options settings and see what you have enabled and preset. Avanced tab has your mouse and keyboard controls for your show ... this includes Preview.

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

nobeefstu...

I have not changed any of the defaults. Mouse buttons: Left=none; Right=next slide. MouseWheel=disabled. Permit Control of Keyboard=checked. I hope it happens again so I can take more time to see what might be going on.

Thanks... Gary

P.S. One thing I have noticed is that this problem occurs always right after I have made an adjustment in one of the slides. I make the adjustment and I immediately want to see the effect so I run the Preview from a slide. However, lately, after each change, I do a Save and Create first, then do the Preview. It does not seem to happen when I have done this.