PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6 Beta 15

[Igor]

PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6 Beta 15

Download link:

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/apr-deluxe_beta.zip (6 MB)

What new in this Beta:

+ Improved scrolling of the timeline when you move blue triangle cursor outside visible area.

+ Added "Color view of keyframes" option for timeline in Objects and animation editor.

* Fixed bug of previous betas when VideoBuilder couldn't open a project with button object(s).

* Fixed bug of previous betas when preview of a slideshow started from selected slide shown flash of previous slide on slides with disabled transition effects.

What new in version 5.6:

+ Added export of slideshow as a video. (See Main menu -> Create)

- Export of HD video for playback on PC, Mac.

- Export of video for iPhone/iPod.

- Publish online on Youtube.

- Publish online on Vimeo with HD quality.

+ New 3D transition effects between slides:

- Added "Flip 3D" effect.

- Added "Swap 3D" effect.

- Reworked "Curling of page 3D" effect. Set large radius parameter to get completely new effects.

+ Improvements in Objects and Animation window:

- Mask objects for creating of special effects. You can apply several Masks to one image object.

- Music and sounds when you click "Play" button for preview.

- Added "Anti-shimmering (mipmapping)" option for Image and Text objects. This option prevents appearing of shimmering when object has zoom from small size to large size.

- Improved view of "Action on mouse click" list.

- Added new action "Run slideshow".

- Added "Pause" button.

! "Original size" mode of objects has been replaced. Now use "Fixed size of slide (in pixels)" mode in Project options | Screen tab. And "Size/position in pixels" button in Common tab of object properties.

+ Added "Virtual size of slide" parameters as alternate way to set aspect ratio of slide (Project options | Screen tab). It helps in work with "Size/Position" tool window in "Object and animation" editor.

+ Added new commands "Run Slideshow" and "Run Slideshow with Return" to Project options | "More" tab and as an action for objects. This option highly recommended if you want to start another slideshow from current one and for building of menu. It will guarantee flawless start of next slideshow from current one. In fact a series of slideshows will work as one large slideshow that provides optimal memory usage.

+ Added "Color outside slide area" option (Project options | Screen tab). By default if you run widescreen slideshow (16:9) on 4:3 display you see black strips around the slide. Now you can choose this color.

+ Added menu on Create button.

+ Faster rewinding of slides in created EXE file and preview.

+ Added "Crypt images/music against extracting from EXE file" option. See Main menu | View | Advanced options. (Enabled by default).

+ Improved installer of PicturesToExe, multi-lingual interface.

+ Fully rewritten shadow for objects. Now it has correct view for a long text object. And better visual quality.

+ "Protection of slideshow" options has moved to the last page of Project options (Advanced tab).

+ Changed caption of "Change Image File" button in the main window.

+ Various improvements.

! "Run application" options has moved to the last page of Project options (More tab).

! "Disable F1 key to show help window" has moved to "Customize help window" dialog (Main menu | Project).

* Fixed an old bug (since v5.5) when after renaming of a main image in Slide list or File panel MiniPlayer didn't display renamed image.

* Fixed an old bug (since v5.1) when changing of display resolution, locking of PC or Sleep mode applied during encoding of video caused visual defects in created video file.

* Fixed an old bug (since v5.5) when all color text objects (excluding black and white) had slight almost invisible greenish contour.

* Fixed old bug of all previous versions: pressing Ctrl+O (Open project), "Ctrl+N", "Ctrl+S" and other key shortcuts whilst PicturesToExe creates large EXE file it caused incorrect work of the program.

* Fixed old bug (since v5.5) when "Image Load Error" might occur in Slide list, MiniPlayer and Objects and animation editor on projects with hundreds slides of large images (about 8 megapixels each one).

* Fixed old bug (since v5.0) Push effect had mixed up "Bottom-Top" and "Top-Bottom" variations with disabled hardware acceleration option.

[denwell]

Igor

Can you explain a little what the "Color view of keyframes" option is all about - I seem to see no differences in the O&A window?

DEN (NE UK)

[Igor]

I just re-uploaded Beta 15 with one small improvement for Objects and animation related with better visibility of items in Objects tree in not focused state.

Den,

Turn on this option, add button, image, text objects. And you will see that color of keyframes on the timeline is different for type of objects you are working.

[fh1805]

Igor,

Sorry if I am being stupid, but where do I find the option to turn on "Color view of keyframes"?

regards,

Peter

[denwell]

Peter

In the "Tools" menu (bottom RHS of O&A view)

DEN (NE UK)

[fh1805]

Thanks, Den. I hadn't noticed that Tools button before.

regards,

Peter

[denwell]

Thanks Igor - I see it now!

Just a thought - have you considered providing the ability to 'scrub' the audio with the blue triangle in the O&A timeline now we have audio there?

It would help to position a keypoint with more accuracy - even a quick reaction with the 'pause' control/spacebar can miss an important point in the audio track.

DEN (NE UK)

[uuderzo]

Wow! No more jump at the end of slideshow while scrolling outside the visible area!

Thank you Igor! Umberto.

[Igor]

Umberto,

It's first and last bug I was shown in another country. My friends in England told me about this bug and shown it to me on their PC. I can only dream about such possibility see a problem directly with my eyes

[Adda]

Hi Igor!

In German language the two different options "anti-shimmering" and "Low quality of resizing" have the same translation "Vorschau Qualität".

I think, it's a bug.

Best regards

Andreas

[xahu34]

...In German language the two different options "anti-shimmering" and "Low quality of resizing" have the same translation "Vorschau Qualität"....

Andreas, Igor,

The German translation looks much better than about a year ago, when I made some remarks on it. But there are still several translations which are wrong or misleading.

Examples: "Transparenz" means exactly the opposite of opacity, so it should be replaced by "Deckkraft". "Übergabepunkt im Objekt (zeitabhängig)" is totally unclear, and should perhaps read "Skalieren der Übergabepunkte (bei Zeitänderung)".

Regards,

Xaver

Munich

[johnny66]

Hi Igor;

I am a new member, and have beta 15 installed. I was wondering if you could tell me what is the Option of the "Path and name of sound editor" under the Advance Options menu for and how do you use it.

I have Adobe Audition 2.0 and have put that in the Path and name of sound editor. So how do I use it?

Can you help me Please.

Johnny.

[fh1805]

Johnny, Igor,

Unless I've been missing something for the last three years, there is no feature in PTE to go straight to the nominated sound editor. It would be a useful addition if we could right click on an item in the Project Options...Music tab and be taken into our nominated sound editor with that sound file opened ready for edit. Alternatively, perhaps there could be an "Edit" button on the Music tab which did the same thing.

regards,

Peter

[johnny66]

Peter;

Then what does the "Path and name of sound editor" in the Advance options of the View menu do? It allows you to put in a name of a sound editor file name or keep the one already in there, which is "sndrec32.exe". What does it do and how do you use it?

Regards

Johnny

[fh1805]

Johnny,

As I was trying to explain in my previous post; as far as I know you can nominate your favourite sound editor using this feature but you cannot then jump to it. Right now we have an option which we can customise but then we cannot do anything with it. I think the ability to be able to select one of our soundtrack items and then jump straight into our sound editor would be a useful feature. We can already do this with any of our slides (just select the slide in the Slide List and Ctrl+W) so why not with our sound files too?

regards,

Peter

[johnny66]

Hi Peter, Igor;

Thanks Peter for the explanation, of what it does. I appreciate it.

I agree with what you said: "I think the ability to be able to select one of our soundtrack items and then jump straight into our sound editor would be a useful feature." It would be a very good feature. Hopefully Igor could add that to the program.

Igor, I have to say that the PictureToExe is a fantastic program. I appreciate all your effort and your team members, in making what the program is today, and what it will evolve to in the future. Thank you!

regards;

Johnny.

[davegee]

Hi all,

Sorry to have to disagree, once again, about this.

The ability to take an already compressed file into another programme for edited is encouraging bad practice.

This subject has been covered before. You should always go back to the last saved TIFF, PSD or WAV file and start from there.

With regard to JPEGs there is a whole chapter on it in Martin Evenings CS3 book where he discourages that practice.

I know that many people do it and they do not see any differences in the files - but the difference is there, however minute and I don't think that PTE, or any other programme, should be encouraging bad practice.

DaveG

[fh1805]

DaveG,

You're making a BIG assumption - that my sound files are compressed! My sound files are WAVs until the very final mix-down - when they get converted to MP3.

PTE should be providing the users with a feature-rich product capable of producing the highest quality sequence. It should be the user's decision whether to adopt "good practice" or "bad practice".

And I'm not convinced that compression/decompression causes degradation. If I zip/unzip a data file with, say, WinZip I don't get any corruption. The algorithm, during de-compression (unzip), puts back exactly what it started with before compression (zip). If compressing/decompressing a JPEG or MP3 file is introducing "degradation" that is either visible or audible as the case may be then that tells me that the algorithm being used to do the compression/decompression is a load of crap.

regards,

Peter

[davegee]

Hi Peter,

I wasn't pointing a finger at anyone in particular.

Your first sentence seems to agree with the principle that you should remain in the "lossless" state until the very end - we are in agreement.

WRT JPEGs and "Compression/Decompression" - converting to JPEG is a one way street - there is no "Decompression".

DaveG

[Lin Evans]

Hi Dave,

Actually, jpg's are decompressed every time they are displayed. It's not the act of re-compressing which causes degradation, the degradation is caused the first time they are compressed. Only when a "change" is made to the jpg and the file is again compressed is the image degraded. As long as there are no alterations, the act of decompressing and recompressing are harmless.

Years ago, when computers had only small amounts of RAM, we used to play tricks on new programmers by compressing huge jpgs to reasonable sized files then watching the unsuspecting programmers squirm and scratch their heads when their systems locked up as the files expanded in memory to their full uncompressed sizes when the unsuspecting user tried to display them.

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Peter,

I wasn't pointing a finger at anyone in particular.

Your first sentence seems to agree with the principle that you should remain in the "lossless" state until the very end - we are in agreement.

WRT JPEGs and "Compression/Decompression" - converting to JPEG is a one way street - there is no "Decompression".

DaveG

[davegee]

Lin,

I'll try to re-word:

The point I was trying to convey (the point I have always tried to convey) is that the losses involved when saving to a compressed format (JPEG, MP3) are non-recoverable.

"Decompressing" does not recover the losses nor does it "fix" JPEG artifacts.

DaveG

[Lin Evans]

Hi Dave,

Absolutely correct. Once a file is degraded there is no recovery. On the other hand, having an automatic pointer to open an audio editor doesn't mean that one must alter an existing mp3, etc., it's only a convenience. Once the audio editor is open the user can choose the file to be edited, close any open files without saving, etc. It's somewhat like Windows setting file associations with various image editors for specific types of files so that when one click on an icon the file is opened with their choice of Photoshop, Irfanview, Fastone, PSP, etc.

Best regards,

Lin

[davegee]

OK Lin,

Now that we agree on something let's go back and consider Peter's statement:

".....we could right click on an item in the Project Options...Music tab and be taken into our nominated sound editor with that sound file opened ready for edit".

That implies that it would be possible to open, edit and re-save an MP3 file, apply further compression and further degradation of the sound and be able to do that as many times as necessary to get it right.

I know that Peter indicated (correctly in my view) that he uses WAV files until he has got it right and then converts to MP3.

But if that facility were incorporated into PTE it would be implying to someone less knowledgeable that it is "correct" to do the same thing with MP3 files.

In my honest opinion opening, editing and re-saving any JPEG or MP3 file is (what I call) "bad practice".

I don't think that PTE should subscribe to something which could be interpreted as "bad practice".

That's all I meant by my previous comments. It is nothing new - I have said this many times in this forum.

DaveG

[Lin Evans]

Hi Dave,

Is it really any different in substance than clicking on an Icon and viewing a JPG in Photoshop or Irfanview, etc.? When we open a jpg in any image editor we have the option of viewing it, editing it and re-saving or closing and opening a different file. Is it really any different with opening an audio file? The use can opt to close an mp3 and open a wav if it's available. In many cases the user will not have a wav but only have the mp3 and still need or want to edit it or modify it in some way.

In my own case I probably have a thousand mp3's and only a small percentage of these are duplicated as wav or other non-compressed audio formats. If I couldn't edit and re-save my mp3's for slideshows I probably wouldn't have any audio files in most of my slideshows. I almost never save the edited mp3 under the original file name so the originals are not affected by the manipulations which I think is good practice, but I do frequently modify mp3's, join several into a single file, add silence or other manipulations and resave the mp3's. Does it adversely affect the audio quality? Measurably, yes but not in a way that the listener could likely detect without sensitive instruments. Is it a common practice to alter an mp3 for a slideshow? I suspect it is and that most PTE users do this on a regular basis.

So I suppose that one must weigh convenience versus "good or bad" practice in audio or image manipulations when deciding whether or not to implement a feature. In my own case I would find being able to open an mp3 in my choice of audio editor without leaving pte a convenience, however one still must close and re-open PTE before any changes would be evident.

As a former programmer and commercial software developer, I often had to make decisions about whether a planned "feature" encouraged users to follow bad practices or not and it was not always an easy decision. I think making a feature "optional" with full disclosure of potential consequences is probably the best way to proceed. In some ways it reminds me of the "auto save" feature I lobbied for years ago with PTE. Auto save is a two edged sword. Many times I alter a slideshow for a limited special use and then save it under another name leaving the original unaltered. With auto-save there was the possibility that my original PTE file would be overwritten by an autosave before I had the chance to save under an new name. That issue was resolved by the autosave using an alternate file name and by the "choice" of implementing it or not by check-box.

In the case of PTE automatically opening a choice of audio editor with the selected audo file open would that be useful? For me it would be, but I would want it optional and with full disclosure of potential file degradation issues.

Best regards,

Lin

[fh1805]

Lin/DaveG,

I have no wish to "hijack" this thread but, Lin, you made a statement in your post, which if true, is news to me (the underscored bold italics are mine).

...That issue was resolved by the autosave using an alternate file name and by the "choice" of implementing it or not by check-box.

I was aware of the Auto-Save option, but the original implementation simply over-wrote the existing pte project file. I didn't like this and stopped using it. Your statement implies that this is no longer the case. Did something get improved - and I missed it?

Could you please verify and/or enlighten me?

regards,

Peter