Animation of the panning of 2 slides....

[goddi]

In a recent slideshow, I was able to create the panning of 2 identical slides so they look like one slide being panned. However, apparently that was just some luck because I can't quite reproduce this panning to be seamless. Let me explain:

I have an image that I want to have it pan from left to right. If I put this slide in only once, it would pan too fast. I am using the 'Auto spread slides along music' so each slide, lets say, last for 3 seconds. I want the panning of this image to last 6 seconds and not change the rest of the slideshow's setup. Here is how I have been doing it:

I animated the first panning slide to pan from the left to the right, stopping about half way (the ending keyframe is 00:06:000). I then copied this slide and inserted it immediately as the next slide. In this copied slide, I dumped the first keyframe and moved its ending keyframe to the beginning of the animation line and inserted an ending keyframe so it finished the panning to the right. So now the ending keyframe of the first panning slide is 00:06:000 and the beginning keyframe of the second panning slide starts at 00:06:000. By looking at the timeline, each of these 2 slides last for 3 seconds.

However, here is the problem. As the second panning slide appears (and I changed its 'fade-in' transition to 'quick'), this second panning slide looks as if it is panning faster than the first one. If each slide is to last for 3 seconds, why don't they pan at the same speed?

I want it to look seamless but I see this slight increase in speed and I don't like it. Any suggestions?

I have attached a small example. In this set, slide#2 and slide#3 (same image) are the ones I am trying to pan seamlessly. Watch as slide#3 appears and you will see the slight increase in panning speed. All of the PTE files are attached. I'd appreciate any suggestions. And I hope this makes sense.

Thanks... Gary

AnimationTest.zip

[Lin Evans]

Hi Gary,

You're making this way too hard! You have complete control over how fast a slide pans - there is no need to put the slide in two times to do what you want.

Use the "Customize Slide" feature to control the individual timing for any slide. This value overrides the default value in Project Options for the particular slide you set the custom value for.

Set the keyframes to make the slide do what you want it to then control how fast this happens with the time value in Customize Slide. The "Scale Keyframe in Objects (on Time Change) allows you the option of either keeping the timing between keyframes precise or spreading the change over the new timing.

Best regards,

Lin

[goddi]

Lin,

As I had mentioned before, I have Syncing Music to Slides and Auto Spread Slides Along Music checked. Doesn't this make a difference? If these are checked, then the slides are evenly spaced over the length of the music. So, I don't understand how, if I change the length of one slide using the Customize menu, that it won't change the timing of the other slides (which I don't want to change).

I can see what you say if I am not Syncing or Auto Spreading. Then I am just pushing the total length of the show to be longer, ignoring the music's length.

So, I dumped the copied slide. And now I have 3 slides and music to last 12 seconds, with Syncing and AutoSpread checked. In slide#2, I went into 'Customize Slide' and put in a value of 8 seconds. I reset the Keyframes to do the full pan from left to right. However, the music stops after the 2nd slide...about 12 seconds, as expected. So that is why I am doing it the way I am trying to do it. Are you sure your method will work in my situation?

Also, I don't think I understand when you say: "Scale Keyframe in Objects (on Time Change) allows you the option of either keeping the timing between keyframes precise or spreading the change over the new timing." Can you explain a little more what you mean?

Thanks... Gary

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

Hi Gary,

You're making this way too hard! You have complete control over how fast a slide pans - there is no need to put the slide in two times to do what you want.

Use the "Customize Slide" feature to control the individual timing for any slide. This value overrides the default value in Project Options for the particular slide you set the custom value for.

Set the keyframes to make the slide do what you want it to then control how fast this happens with the time value in Customize Slide. The "Scale Keyframe in Objects (on Time Change) allows you the option of either keeping the timing between keyframes precise or spreading the change over the new timing.

Best regards,

Lin

[Lin Evans]

Hi Gary,

Whether you have two slides each set to four seconds or one slide set to eight seconds the total time remains unchanged.

You said:

"In a recent slideshow, I was able to create the panning of 2 identical slides so they look like one slide being panned. However, apparently that was just some luck because I can't quite reproduce this panning to be seamless......."

Then you said:

"I have an image that I want to have it pan from left to right. If I put this slide in only once, it would pan too fast......"

Putting the slide in once and setting the timing to the total of what you had before as the total time in the two identical slides will not change the overall timing of the slideshow. What it will do is allow you to not have to worry about trying to recreate something which you did before by more or less "accident."

To understand how scale keyframes works, just make a little sample show having a single slide with two keyframes and a Pan or Zoom. Set the timing to 10 seconds via Customize Slide. Run the preview and observe. Now change the slide time to 20 seconds without checking "scale keyframes" and run the preview again. The pan or zoom action will happen exactly as it did in the original so that the actual duration of time between keyframes remains identical even though the slide will stay on screen for 20 seconds.

Now repeat the same but put a check in the Scale Keyframes" block and observe. The keyframes will be spread out and the pan or zoom will happen much more slowly because the animation is "scaled" to the new slide time. That's how "scale keyframes" works.

So to make your pan or zoom happen more slowly, animate the pan or zoom as you wish it to look, then adjust the timing of the slide with "Scale Keyframes" checked to make it happen slower or faster. It will happen more slowly if you increase the display time for this slide and quicker if you decrease the display time.

What you are trying to achieve doesn't require you to autospread slides, it only requires you to match the total music time with the total time of the slides. How you divide this time among the slides is not important except to achieve the synchronization you desire. I'm assuming your new "single" slide will occupy the exact total time as the two identical slides did before you removed one. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from using two identical slides to achieve a pan of some sort which can be done with a single slide having a longer time duration, it just makes it much more confusing to try to animate properly.

Best regards,

Lin

[Ronniebootwest]

Goddi,

Lin has explained to you what is needed and I could not have explained it better!

Follow his suggestiones and you will have a perfectly 'panned' slide.

Ron

[goddi]

Lin...

Ok...I see what you are saying about the logic of putting 1 slide in for 8 seconds (using your method of Customizing the Display Time) is the same as putting in 2 slides in at 4 seconds.

I experimented with your technique. However, my point seems to be getting lost in this discussion. Here is how I would like PTE to work. Say I have 4 slides and 16 seconds of music. I want the slides and music to be Sync'd and AutoSpread. (This is why I liked PTE in the beginning. Throw in some sides and some music and, da da...you have a slideshow that fits with the music's length. No need to edit music to fit and the slides' timing automatically adjusts to whatever is the music's length).

So I check Sync'd and Autospread in Project Options/Main tab. Now I am happy that the music starts and end with the beginning and end of the music...my main requirement. Each slide lasts 4 seconds.

Now, I want to make an adjustment. I want slide#2 to last 8 seconds... but I still want the slideshow to last 16 seconds and with the music spread over the 4 slides. So I uncheck Autospread and I go into slide#2 and change the Display Time for 8 seconds. I play the show: Slide#1 displays for 4 second; slide#2 displays for 8 seconds; slide#3 displays for 4 seconds; and, slide#4 displays for 4 seconds. This is great, except that the music stops at the beginning of the slide#4, after playing for 16 seconds.

So what I would like PTE to do is to display slide#2 for the 8 seconds; and then automatically recalculate the remaining slides to 2.6666 seconds, so that I get the 8 seconds for slide#2 and the rest are redistributed with the remaining time of 8 seconds divided by the 3 slides (with Syn'd and Autospread checked).

Now wouldn't that be just perfect? Are you telling me that this can be done now? I have tried and tried but I can not get it done. I understand what you are saying that "What you are trying to achieve doesn't require you to autospread slides," but I want to use autospread. Wouldn't this make slides' timing adjustment easier? Having to edit music to perfectly fit the number of slides would not be necessary. Whether a slide lasts 4 seconds or 4.20 seconds would be less of a concern than having to edit a music selection to fit.

If I am missing something here, please let me know. Maybe I am not seeing the forest for the trees! I have attached the above AnimationTest-2 so you can see what I am talking about.

Thanks...Gary

P.S. I am still trying to figure out the "Scale Keyframes" thing... Give me some more time to fiddle with it.

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

AnimationTest_2.zip

[fh1805]

Gary,

Having done your adjustments and got the pan running on one slide (but now having one slide too many for the musc), why not simply delete one of the other slides?

Seems simple to me, but perhaps I'm missing something.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Peter,

That is not my point. The above attachment with only 4 slides was only a demo of what I am trying to do with larger slideshows. I want to use the Sync'd and Autospread function so all my slides will be spread across the music automatically. I also want the flexibility to do what Lin showed me, and that is to extend the display time on some of the images. But you can not (at least I can't) customize the display time of a slide if you have the Autospread checked.

If PTE can Autospread the slides you have over the length of music you have included, why can it not also be made to subtract the total seconds of the 'customized display times' you have put in your slideshow and then recalculate the remaining time (total music time less the customized display seconds) and then spread that time over the slides that don't have a customized displayed time? Now you have a more flexible program for basic slideshows. And it would be neat if it could work with reduced display times for particular slides, too.

I think this would be a pretty neat improvement.

Does this make sense to anyone? I understand that this might be meaningless for those who don't use Sync'd and Autospread. But I think it makes lots of sense for those who would like to adjust display times while in the Autospread mode.

Gary

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

Gary,

Having done your adjustments and got the pan running on one slide (but now having one slide too many for the musc), why not simply delete one of the other slides?

Seems simple to me, but perhaps I'm missing something.

regards,

Peter

[fh1805]

Gary,

Thanks for the clarification. Now that I understand what you would like to achieve, it sounds not unreasonable. What would meet your needs would be a new option on Customize Slide that allows the user to Lock slide to here on the timeline and then for Auto-Spread to operate only on the "unlocked" slides.

Whilst the number of users of "Auto-Spread" might be quite small, I suspect the number of users who could make use of Lock slide to here on the timeline is much, much higher.

regards,

Peter

[goddi]

Peter,

I am glad you see what I am trying to accomplish. I think I will post it to the "Ideas..." Forum.

But I think the "Lock slide to here on the timeline" might not be understood correctly. When I first read it, it made me think the actual current position of the customize display time is to be locked where it currently might be on the timeline. What is to be 'locked' is the customized amount of time for the slide, not 'here on the timeline'. And I don't think it needs to be an 'option' that you choose. When 'Autospread' is checked, any customized display time should be automatically factored into the autospreading of the remaining slides. If you are not using 'Autospread', then the 'customized display time' choice will work automatically, as it does now. Right?

Gary

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

Gary,

Thanks for the clarification. Now that I understand what you would like to achieve, it sounds not unreasonable. What would meet your needs would be a new option on Customize Slide that allows the user to Lock slide to here on the timeline and then for Auto-Spread to operate only on the "unlocked" slides.

Whilst the number of users of "Auto-Spread" might be quite small, I suspect the number of users who could make use of Lock slide to here on the timeline is much, much higher.

regards,

Peter