TonyFalla Posted November 2, 2008 Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 It is just not my day today, I made a sequence about 3 years ago and backed it up by using Templates, not sure what version of PTE I was using at the time. In it I had attempted to do some of the things that can now be done easily in O&A so I decided I would see how easy it was to update.When however I loaded my original PTE I found that some of my images had been lost. I know why and perhaps other people know of this but I didn't. I had the majority of my images in one folder but I then had 4 sub-folders within that folder that contained my images that I used to recreate an O&A type movement. What I did is that within each of these subfolders I called the images Pic1, Pic2, etc. When the template was created all the images were put into 1 folder and only one Pic1, one Pic2, etc was retained.I have never seen anything that says all the images should be in one folder (the original worked as I wanted it) and hadn't realised until today that Template didn't recreate the sub-folders. Does anybody know if this still applies to the latest version of PTE?Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fh1805 Posted November 2, 2008 Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 Tony,Sorry to hear of your latest problem. I'm afraid I have no experience to draw upon to help you but I can't help feeling that Templates is yet another area of PTE that just isn't "intuitive" to use.It may seem to everyone that I keep banging on about this. But one has only to read the posts to see just how many of the usage problems (not the bugs!) can be traced back to an overly complex user interface that is by no stretch of the imagination an "intuitive" one.regards,Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted November 2, 2008 Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 BUT PETERIMHOif new and old memebers had spent more time with the 4.48 series they might not be asking so many questions re basic movements -we had as many as 16 betas on some versions to even get to 4.48- i still start with 4.48 to get me on the right track -- but then i don't do all the fancy things the majority of the new people are doing -- if they had learned how to walk before they entered the Boston Marathon the problems might not be there people keep on asking and Igor keeps on giving ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted November 2, 2008 Report Share Posted November 2, 2008 Ken & Tony,Ken I completely agree with you and as a veteran of Pte I'm sure you will agree that one should never use a PC for permanent or semi-permanent 'Storage' of Photographs nor Music nor Pte Shows.And to rely on a PC to 'store' Templates is simply asking for trouble ~ It's simply just too risky !!When one considers what's going on within a PC over any reasonable period of time:- what with Security updates,and contineous scanning of Anti-Virus and 'unsolicited' Microsoft upgrades and the ocassional 'lock-out' its reallyno wonder that Templates get lost or corrupted. Tony,Microsoft OP.Systems can't even guarantee the security of 'Microsoft Word Templates' nor 'Excel Templates' overany reasonable time domain much above 9~12 months without some form of corruption or text displacement.I always advise users to create 'Libraries' of archival materials and when these reach about 250~350 Mb in size simply burn them to CD-Disc and create your own reference Library ~ it's a simple solution and much more secure.Brian.Conflow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Evans Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 Do you have an executable of your show? If so the images can be recovered.Lin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lin Evans Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 Hi Peter,What does "intuitive" mean to you? What may seem "intuitive" for some presents a total mystery for others. I agree with Ken and Brian that the majority of issues people complain about have little to do with the interface not being "intuitive" but rather that a majority have to do with jumping into the deep end without flotation devices before learning to swim. Try to understand keyframing as presented by the competition if you want to see a perceived non "intuitive" interface. Try to understand Sony Vegas Video's interface for an enlightening experience with possibly the epitome of non-intuitive. Try to unravel and plumb the depths of Photoshop and layers, etc. There really is no such thing in my experience as software which is particularly "intuitive" but rather individual learning curves associated with different approaches. I believe that after sufficient time with nearly "any" program a user with moderate intelligence and normal computer savy can learn to work with it. It takes time and users need to begin with the simple and work toward the complex - that's why we write user guides, provide PDF and AVI tutorials, etc. Cross-cultural issues and language issues may play a role in how PTE is perceived by various users, but it's not generally useful to attempt to oversimplify complex software by crippling it by trying to oversimplify it for beginners. Just because a function is available doesn't mean one must immediately use it in my opinion.At the basic level PTE is extremely easy to use and understand. Just load images and run a show complete with transitions. If you want to add background music it's very easy to do. People only need to learn a few simple commands to produce beautiful results. With power comes complexity. With great power comes great complexity. As PTE advances in terms of power and flexibility the interface necessarily becomes more complex. I've been using Photoshop since it has been available and I still have much to learn. Is it because the interface isn't "intuitive?" I don't think so. It's because to use it to its full potential one must learn a great deal of new terms, procedures and different approaches to different problems. Likewise I believe with any powerful software. Can there be improvements to PTE's interface? Of course there can, and there have been. Will it be possible to make it fool-proof for those who rush into attempting to do things before they fully understand the interactions? I don't think so...... Best regards,LinTony,snip....It may seem to everyone that I keep banging on about this. But one has only to read the posts to see just how many of the usage problems (not the bugs!) can be traced back to an overly complex user interface that is by no stretch of the imagination an "intuitive" one.regards,Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyFalla Posted November 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 The problem is nothing to do with keeping Templates too long the fact is that when I created a template all my images both in the main folder and in the sub-folders were all combined into one folder. Any images in different folders where I had used the same name were not put into the template. I have been working with computers for over 40 years and know all about backup. I have numerous copies of this template on both external hard drives and CDs / DVDs, the problem with the templates is that they were not created correctly in the first place and I was stupid enough not to check that the backup had been created correctly.My question was does anybody know if this problem still exists or am I the only one to use images from several folders for one project?After spending several hours searching through the various backup CDs / DVDs and being unable to find my original PTE, I did however find that I have loads of copies of the original layered TIF file from which I created the JPGs. I can therefore recreate my images fairly easily.I have to agree with Peter that the term template is misleading and this has been there since the first version of PTE I had. For a long time I thought it was a method of loading an Outline / Skeleton project which you could then add your own images into. It was only when browisng the forum one day that I discovered it was in fact an archiving or backup routine. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronniebootwest Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 Tony,I always advise users to create 'Libraries' of archival materials and when these reach about 250~350 Mb in size simply burn them to CD-Disc and create your own reference Library ~ it's a simple solution and much more secure.Brian.ConflowBrian, you are so right! However, I do not think that people should always put absolute faith in CD backups because if poor quality (cheap) CD's have been used then the likelyhood is that they will not retain the data for very long. (a couple of years at most). If the backup you are making is important, then always use a high quality and respected brand name of CD. That would be my advice.Ron West Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xahu34 Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 Tony,I tried to reproduce the effect of lost images. I programmed a show with two distinct images in different folders, the images having the same name. I tried to create a template and a zip-backup, using versions 5.52 and 5.6b5. In both cases PTE refused to do it, showing a window with an appropriate information.Best regards,XaverMunich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyFalla Posted November 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 XavierThanks for that, it shows that PTE has been updated and no longer allows this problem to occurTony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 Tonyyou said " not sure what version of PTE I was using at the time."In the future when making a new show put the info in the startup window - options/main - you do not have to click the box that enables it, but the info you put in is always there -- another trick i use is add the ver # to the name of the pte - sometimes the simple things make your life easier ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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