Using Al's PTE Adjustor

[LumenLux]

Al, I am having trouble using your PTE Adjustor Model Ver. 3.02 (27 May 2003)

This is my first occasion to use this later version. The Model is really slick. You seem to have automated so much that even I should be able to use it. Maybe it is too late tonight, or maybe I just don't get it. Here is what I am trying to do. (Your first example in the instructions seems to cover this, but I must be doing something wrong.)

I have a completed .pte file that runs fine. I decided to add one slide at the front end and lengthen the background sound track by 24 seconds. I want the first slide to be on screen for 24 seconds. The first slide should use all the new sound section and all the other slides should keep their delays and transitions as they were but just slid back by the 24 seconds of the new slide. Using your Adjustor, I enter 24.000 in cell F3. When I push the button to calculate, the spread sheet runs like a slot machine but I do not see any change when it is finished. All numbers in cells, and the total length of show listed to the right, do not change.

Hopefully, you can patiently tell me what I am missing. You have really refined your great program since I last used it. Apparently, I am not doing my part.

[JRR]

LumenLux:

Al is "enjoying" a few days of camping in the rain with his wife, which is why you have not had the usual speedy reponse from him.

He should be back later today I think.

[LumenLux]

Thanks Jim. Of course you or someone else may know the answer? Of course we will still give Al proper credit And if all goes well, I may be in the great outdoors by the time Al gets back. It's allright.

[JRR]

I was going to try to help as I have used the model a few times, but I seemed to hit the same glitch you just did !!

I know it something simple, but I am sorry we'll have to wait for Al.

Watch out for the mosquitoes !!

[alrobin]

Bill,

Which button did you click to calculate? There are actually 4 of them, depending on the type of adjustment you are trying to make. Since you are changing the time at which the slide "appears", (i.e. time from the beginning of the show), you must click on "Calculate sequence changes".

I tried it out, and it works for me! (of course, I've pestered it so much it does what I tell it to! )

Sorry for the inconvenience - but let me know if you are still having problems. Hope you have a good holiday.

JRR: What rain? Algonquin Park has mostly sunshine all summer long! (we did have a little shower, but only enough to dampen down the mosquitoes).

[alrobin]

Sorry, Bob,

I got you mixed up with someone else! I seem to do that more and more these days!!

Edited addition: I realized I should elaborate a bit more on my previous reply. There are two ways to accomplish what you are trying to do.

Method #1: add the desired start-time increment in cell "F3" (i.e. 24 sec). Click on Calculate Sequence Changes. The changes in start time should show up for each slide below the one modified, in column "E".

Method #2: increase the "delay time" for the second slide (i.e. the present delay time in Cell "J3" plus 24 sec), by entering the resulting value into cell "K3". Click on Calculate Delay Time Changes, and you should see the same modified slide-start times in column "E" as in Method 1. By "delay" time, I am referring to "time to the start of the next transition". So by adding time to this value, one is increasing the "delay" before the next change starts.

It should be noted that in the case of synched shows, the "delay" time for a slide (or sequence) includes the present "length of transition" time for that slide plus its remaining time "on-screen". If the transition time is longer than the delay time, a glitch will probably occur.

In the case of non-synched shows, the total time for a sequence is simply the sum of the "delay" time, as input by the user to PTE, and the "transition" time (also input separately to PTE).

Hope this works for you.

[Ken Cox]

you getting that CRS disease ?

ken

[alrobin]

Ken, I hope you're going to remind me what that is, because I seem to have forgotten!

[Ken Cox]

CAN'T REMEMBER S____

ken

[alrobin]

Bob,

The mosquitoes must have addled my brain - it doesn't pay to take a holiday!

Jim R confirmed that there is a problem in the case of a show automatically synched to music - and, to make matters worse, you must also be using "default" times for each slide, particularly the second one, for the change not to register.

Adjustor treats a show which is automatically synched as a "non-synched" show, as there are no separate lines in the PTE script for customized times. So, you have to make your changes in column "K", not "F". If the time for the sequence you want to change is set as "default" there is a problem, as the only place where you can change the timing for this scenario is in cell "O3" ("default delay time"). However, this would set all "default" times to the same value, which would be unacceptable.

One way to get around the problem is to first customize the time in PTE for the sequence you want to change, so that it uses a specific time instead of the "default" time, and save it for use in Adjustor, where you will now be able to adjust the "delay" time for that slide. (just customize the delay time, not the transition time, unless you want to change it too).

Another way to overcome this problem is to change the show from "automatically synched" to "custom synched", save it under a different name, and then use Adjustor to add in the 24 seconds wherever you want.

Sorry for all the confusion on this and the complicated solution. Hope you are able to get it to work.