AV Technology

AV production is probably the most creative and artistic area of photography.  To create a successful artistic AV sequence one must incorporate in an effective way both photography and/or graphics with suitable sounds and/or music and/or narrative.   This can be very demanding of one's creative muses, not to mention spare time, but can also be extremely satisfying, not only to the producer, but also to the viewers.

AV production can be equally demanding from a technical point of view since it often requires the latest state-of-the-art programs and computer gear, as well as high-quality audio and visual equipment (microphones, recorders, amplifiers, mixers, cameras, scanners, lighting equipment, etc.) However, a lot of expensive software and hardware is not required in order to get started in AV production - nearly everyone has a pretty decent digital camera these days, and there is software available for next to nothing, if not for free.

This page will address mainly the computer software considerations, and touch only briefly on the hardware.  For several years I have been using a most ingenious and affordable photo slide show program called "PicturesToExe", or "PTE" for short.  It is developed by a small company in Russia by the name of WnSoft Inc.   Apart from their success in putting together excellent-quality software, WnSoft distinguish themselves by their responsiveness to complaints, queries and suggestions, and the continual ongoing development of the program, despite the small size of their organization.

"PicturesToExe" can be downloaded from the WnSoft website (a trial version is available for 30 days).   Each show created in PTE is a free-standing ".exe" file.   No special player is required to run an AV show once it has been created.   Unfortunately for some, PTE is designed only for MS Windows, but some people have reported that they have been able to successfully emulate MS Windows on the new Intel-based Mac's and use them to run PTE.

Main window for PTE v 4.48:

 Click HERE for a sample of the main window from PTE v.48, with definitions of some of the components.

HERE is an example of the "Object Editor"; 

HERE is a typical view of the "Timeline" used for synchronizing shows to music.

PTE V.5 is still in "beta" format, so will not be described here until it is officially released (expected very soon).

PTE-101 Tutorial

 There are a number of excellent demos and tutorials for PTE.   A few years ago I put together "PTE-101", a basic, narrated tutorial for an earlier version of PTE; it can be downloaded HERE for free.  Since that time, several mini-tutorials have also been developed by various people for various aspects of the new version 5 (beta) of PTE.  All are described on the PTE Forum.

A simple example of a typical PTE project file suitable for version 4.48 can be downloaded HERE.

Adjustor (for PTE V.4):

 The "Adjustor Model" is a handy MS Excel spreadsheet for examining PTE (version 4.x) parameters in tabular format in order to better view the relationship between images and transitions for both synchronized and non-synched slideshows. You can download the original version for Excel 97 HERE, and a revised version for only Excel 2000 HERE.

 

 

Adjustor (for PTE V.5):

A simplified version of Adjustor for PTE version 5.x can be downloaded HERE.

With it you can:

a)view your "duration", and "transition" timing parameters in tabular form;
b)identify which slides contain more than one keypoint;
c)rename your slides;
d)spread the transitions over the total time;
e)pin certain times and spread the slides evenly between them;
f)manually input actual times at which transitions occur, and have the other timing parameters recalculated accordingly;
g)manually input new slide durations and transition times, and reflect these in the project timing;
h)transfer new timing and slide names, etc., back to PTE project file format, and confirm the results in PTE.
i)examine certain object data, and globally change the objects' "mode" to "fit to slide", "cover slide", or "original".
j)open another ".pte" file without closing Adjustor.
 

 

Grids:

I made several transparent grids to assist in lining up objects in the PTE v.4 "Object Editor",
and for testing various PZR animation effects in PTE v.5 "Objects & Animations".
They are all zipped together in a file which you can download from HERE.


Grid consisting of squares, 50 px by 50 px
(in "transparent GIF" format)


 

 

 

 

 



One of 4 grids for lining up and measuring PZR
effects in PTE v.5 projects
(in "PNG" format)

Demos, examples, discussion papers, etc:

The following is a list of various demos and examples I put together to test and illustrate some of the new capabilities of PTE v.5:

a) Child/object test

b) Big-Bend map demo

c) Project files for map demo

d) Fireflies

e) Nuclear effect

f) Mask demo

g) Rectangle test

h) "Glitter" demo

i) Large panorama of Brasov, Romania

j) Technical info. on preparing digital AV sequences

k) AV as an art form - paper with some digital AV philosophy (zipped MS "Word" document)

l) Replication of PZR Effects in PTE - how to facilitate copying of PZR effects to a number of images in a PTE AV production.

 

Useful software in the preparation of digital AV's:

a) photo slide show :  AV production software from WnSoft.

b) Free sound editor: "Audacity" .

c) Music file converter: "dBpoweramp Music Converter (dMC)" .

d) Photoshop plugins .

e) 3D Titles: "Xara 3D" .

f) Sound effects sites: "Grsites", "Frogstar", "Promoonly" .

 

 

This page was last updated on:  27-Dec-2007
© Al Robinson, 2007, all rights reserved