PicturesToExe Deluxe 5.6

[potwnc]

You're right - I experience the same result. However, if you move the "visibility" slider completely to the left so that the text starts at the beginning of the sequence, it shows up in both the preview and in the O&A window. Something not working quite the way it should.

Thanks, Al, for confirming that I'm not losing my mind . I was also able to get some options to "work" but in this case I need the text to appear later than at the beginning of the main slide. I can obviously work around it by having 3 copies of the same main slide but since this has worked in previous versions it does appear to be a bug.

[Hawk]

Hi Ray

Yes a bug indeed.

Another work around that seems to work for now is

On your text keyframe set the "Opacity" to 0.0

Add another keyframe right behind it and set "Opacity" to 100%

Sent you mail

[potwnc]

Hi Ray

Yes a bug indeed.

Another work around that seems to work for now is

On your text keyframe set the "Opacity" to 0.0

Add another keyframe right behind it and set "Opacity" to 100%

Sent you mail

I'll try it and get back to you.

Ray

[stardealer]

It seems that PTE needs a change in any of the objects to recognize that recalculation must be done.

The easiest workaround in my opinion is -

Clone a (the last) keypoint of the main (or any) picture and move it to the end of slide-timeline and set opacity to a subtle change e.g. from 100 to 99,9

PTE then recognizes that something has to be calculated and your sequence works as intended.

So only one additional keypoint necessary to make it work for all objects in the slide.

regards,

Frank

[fh1805]

Ray,

I would never build a slide the way that you have. More than once in the past, Lin Evans has cautioned about trying to use objects that do not have an "origin" keyframe (i.e. one positioned at offset zero on the main image's timeline). When we first place a text object, PTE gives it an offset=0 keyframe. There must be a good reason for that.

I would have built the slide with all three text objects having their origin keyframe set to zero opacity. Then, at the point where I want the text to appear on screen I would place a pair of keyframes (zero opacity and 100% respectively) to give the fade in of the text. If I wanted a "Quick" appearance of the text I would set the time difference between the pair of keyframes to 50ms.

I don't know whether what you are seeing is a bug in v5.6 or whether what you were achieving in earlier versions was actually exploiting a loophole in the PTE code that has now been closed. Only Igor and the Wnsoft team can answer that.

regards,

Peter

[stardealer]

Hi Peter,

I typically don't use this way of modeling, but genrally speaking:

If the user-interface allows to do it, it should work (and it does, but only in O&A window).

Igor and his team must decide whether to fix it, or to deactivate the function that one can shift the start/end of a object in a slide.

When they decide to remove the function they have to deal in a intelligent way with older project files containing such keypoint design when these are opened in a version which doesn't allow to change this. So maybe it is easier to fix it than to remove it.

regards,

Frank

[xahu34]

In version 5.6, the mechanism of restricting the object’s overall visibility does not seem to work any longer in a correct way, even in cases, where there is only one keypoint at the “correct” position. There are examples where you can have 3 different views (Preview, Mini player, Play in O&A). This should be fixed.

Regards,

Xaver

test_Feb23_2009_11_25_30.zip

[alrobin]

The purpose of the "blue" area on the O&A timeline is to control the visibility of an object, whether at the beginning of the timeline or at the end (the end cutoff does not work in Preview mode either). It does not make sense that it would work "correctly" in the O&A window and not in the preview or the finished show.

[potwnc]

The purpose of the "blue" area on the O&A timeline is to control the visibility of an object, whether at the beginning of the timeline or at the end (the end cutoff does not work in Preview mode either). It does not make sense that it would work "correctly" in the O&A window and not in the preview or the finished show.

So now I can find many different ways to get this to work...

I hope Igor will respond soon to tell us how this is supposed to work - or not work - in 5.6. I agree with the posts that say if the software allows you to do it this way then it should work! I'm sorry for opening a "can of worms" but the way I did this in my test project is the easiest way I know of to do it based on the way previous versions of PTE have worked without a problem and the way I thought 5.6 should work. I have other projects created in 5.1 and 5.5 where I did the O&A sequence using this approach but where the objects are png instead of text and they all work just fine in 5.6.

If all objects are required to start at offset point 0 then what is the purpose of the blue slider bar in the O&A window?

Ray

[Igor]

Ray,

To demonstrate this problem I have uploaded the zip archive of a test project to www.peoplesoftheworld.org/demos/pte56test.zip.

This project was created from scratch using the latest 5.6. The O&A sequence is about as simple as it gets but the only view that gets it correct is the O&A view itself.

Igor (and anyone else) can you download it (about 2MB) and test it? Maybe something changed for 5.6 that I don't know about so I could just be taking the wrong approach.

I confirm this bug. We'll fix it soon.

Thank you!

[Irek Graff]

Instruction:

"Fixed size of slide (in pixels) is the option, which doesn't allow the picture to change in size

if the screen is larger than the picture itself. In this case, the black lines which color you may

change, appear. If the option is unchecked, the picture can be zoomed."

In 5.5 it works but in 5.6 I cannot keep the oryginal size of smaller pictures.

Do not I see something or is it a mistake of this version?

irek

[xahu34]

Irek,

You can use the screen option "Fixed size of slide (in pixels)" for restricting the overall pixel dimensions of the screen for your show. You can insert a (possibly small) image into a particular slide in a (simulated) original mode, relative to the specified fixed screen size:

Insert the image via the O&A window; highlight it in the objects list; open the "Size/position in pixels" window (Common tab); click the word "Size", or enter the original dimensions of the inserted image. The former (real) original mode does no longer exist.

Regards,

Xaver

Munich

[Igor]

Final version 5.6.1:

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

Changes in version 5.6.1

* Fixed old visual bug with waveform on the timeline if update audio file.

* Fixed bug of v5.5-5.6 with objects which used customized "Time range" values.

* Fixed problem with uploading of slideshows to YouTube

* Fixed bug of v5.6 when mouse cursor didn't change its view when cursor was placed over an object with action (Text, Image, Rectangle).

* Fixed problem with "Run Application" action of object under Windows Vista. Sometimes window of started application was hidden behind the slideshow window.

* Fixed problem with "Wait for a key press" option and objects with actions.

* Fixed problem of v5.1-5.6 with black picture if encode DVD-Video on some old Intel video cards.

* Fixed visual defects with greyscale Mask object in some cases (adjusting of opacity for Mask Container).

+ Various minor changes and improvements.

[kosheyar]

Final updated version 5.6.1:

Igor , Thank you very much for Fixed bug of when mouse cursor didn't change its view when cursor was placed over an object with action hyperlink .

[CorVdK]

Hello to All,

1) Opening PicturesToExe 5.6.1 final version, with a project, I noticed that the "arrow" cursor in the timeline window is not starting from "0", but at the end of the transition of the first slide (small grey flag).

2) Running the project with the start button in the screen window, the "arrow" cursor start to run, but is "popping" on every "slide flag" in the timeline window for a fraction of a second.

I don't know if this results in a delay of the final project, but it is worrying me.

I did not notice this in the older versions of PicturesToExe. Did someone else see this?

Regards,

Cor

[jevans]

Cor,

What seems to happen on my computer is that, if you load new images into the Slide list and then look at the timeline, the blue triangle's initial position is at the end of the transition of the first slide. However you can position it at the beginning by clicking on this point (i.e. t=0). When you start the player however, there are no jerks and the playback is smooth. As the blue triangle passes the beginning of each slide, the slide number becomes highlighted which gives the impression of a jerk but I don't think that there is any discontinuity in the playback motion.

[CorVdK]

Hello Jeff,

Thank's for your answer.

1) Yes, one can position the blue triangle back to the beginning, but that was not the case in the older versions I think. Maybe there is a reason for this change?

2) Indeed, there are no jerks in the playback (screen window), nor in the preview at the first sight. But the blue triangle is really "bumpin" against every slide number and there is a stop, a fraction of a second. I don't know what it gives for example in a show with 200 slides.

I have not seen this in previous versions.

Cor

Note:

I noticed when I make the timeline window smaller, the "bumpin" problem is almost gone.

When I make the window bigger the blue triangle is delayed for about a second and react further as above.

[debibelt]

Irek,

You can use the screen option "Fixed size of slide (in pixels)" for restricting the overall pixel dimensions of the screen for your show. You can insert a (possibly small) image into a particular slide in a (simulated) original mode, relative to the specified fixed screen size:

Insert the image via the O&A window; highlight it in the objects list; open the "Size/position in pixels" window (Common tab); click the word "Size", or enter the original dimensions of the inserted image. The former (real) original mode does no longer exist.

Is there a way to do this and apply it to all slides? I have to go 4 steps to do this for every individual slide? and I do this for every show I make (about 3 a week)...

[xahu34]

Is there a way to do this and apply it to all slides? I have to go 4 steps to do this for every individual slide? and I do this for every show I make (about 3 a week)...

Adding a second image has to be done via the O&A window, and the new image is automatically highlighted (Take care that it will not be inserted as a child object, as in this case it will not be inserted relative to the screen, but relative to the parent object). You can leave the "Size/position in pixels" window open, this will save one step. Clicking on the word "size" isn't that much work.

Regards,

Xaver

[debibelt]

well not that much work until you do it about a 1000 times

especially frustrating when this functionality was in the last few version of the software - strange to make new versions of software with more work for the end user

[davegee]

Debi,

It is not altogether clear what you are trying to do - could you be specific?

Are you trying to insert xxx number of slides all of the same resolution? Are they all different resolutions?

If they are all the same then, in OPTIONS/SCREEN, you can set the size of slide to be equal to your image resolution and tick the "Fixed size of slides" box. That should enable you to insert xxx images at the set resolution as before.

DaveG

[debibelt]

The images on my slides are 500px wide (or tall) lets say - same resolution but some are landscape, some portrait

in previous versions you would select "original" for the mode and they would all stay in orginal format/size (400x500 or 500x400) and it was a universal setting

Now they either fit to screen meaning they stretch to become the width of the slide or

I have to go into "size/position in pixels" and put "size" at 100% to maintain original height and width for each individual slide

if I adjust just the size of the slide itself it does not accomodate both landscape and portrait sizes AND it messes up the comment and navigation sections as well

[davegee]

Use 500x500 for your "Fixed size of slide" (see my previous post) and that should sort you out.

Your 500x400 and your 400x500 will "fit" to a 500x500 slide. "Fit to slide" is then the same as ORIGINAL.

DaveG

[debibelt]

I REALLY appreciate you taking the time to help me

however, when I do that, comments and navigation are shrunk down to fit on a 500px space rather than a 1078px space and are completely covered by vertical slides

it is a work around but not the same functionality at all (that is a frustration with the software, not you btw)

[davegee]

So what you are trying to get is your 500x400 images (in original size) in a 1024x768 show with text comments and a Nav bar?

Could I suggest that you use an older version - 5.1 will do what you want (you probably knew that).

In Project Options / Screen tick "Disable Scaling" and click on "Set for existing slides".

The loss of "Original Mode" has been the subject of MUCH discussion and your application is an excellent example of where it is needed most.

There is another "workaround" which you could use (in 5.6) if you are sufficiently adept at using actions in Photoshop.

Write an action to place your images in a 1024x768 (or whatever) black background and batch process all images using that action.

That way your new 1024x768 images with 500x500 images inset would fit to screen in a 1024x768 show and maintain the 500x500 image size you require (and allow for the comments and nav bar). If you use black as a BG colour in PTE it would still allow for panning and rotating if you wish to use it.

DaveG