| Can I use the Slide Styles from this website in ProShow Gold? |
| I'm sorry to say that you cannot use these Styles in Gold. Almost all of the styles on this site use Keyframes, a feature that is not available in Gold. |
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| How do I Import Slide Styles into Producer? |
| Click here to find out. |
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| Why can't I find Pete's Slide Styles once I've imported them? |
The most likely reason for not seeing the styles you have imported from this site is that you are not looking in the right place.
When I first started this website, back in 2009, the few styles available were copied straight from my Slide Styles file in Producer, therefore they will appear in the 'My Own Slide Styles' category when imported. Once I began to increase the number of style available, I placed all new styles into a category named 'Pete's Slide Styles'.
If you download any of my style packs, they will be placed into a new category named 'Pete's Style Packs'. |
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| Why don't my photos stay within the grid lines? |
| Almost all of the free styles downloadable from this site have been designed to work in widescreen (16x9). If you use them with an aspect ratio of 4x3, they probably won't work. There are one or two that might function correctly, but you will find that Grids, Split Image Effects and Cubes will not align properly. |
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| Why is the picture quality of my shows not as good on TV as it is on my computer monitor? |
The most common computer monitors in use today have a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024. Many have even higher resolution. A standard TV has a screen resolution of 720 x 576. A widescreen TV has a resolution of 1280 x 720. So, it is easy to see why our shows look better when played on a computer monitor than on a TV. Even when saved to a DVD, the quality cannot improve as a DVD video is in 720 x 576 or 1280 x 720 and saved as an MPEG-2 video which is compressed, and that applies even if you have a High Definition TV.
One way you can improve the quality of your shows, if you have a High Definition TV, is to save them to blu-ray. Blu-ray uses a resolution of 1920 x 1080, which is the screen resolution of HD TV. (1080p)
If you have a modern HD TV with a USB socket, you can probably save your shows to a USB Memory Stick (as MPG2 with a high resolution) and play them direct from the USB socket on your TV in HD. (That's what I do. The quality is extremely good.)
The above applies to the PAL system. The numbers for NTSC are very similar. |
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| Which Image File Format is best to use for my Photos? |
With digital cameras, the most commonly used image file formats are: TIFF, JPG & RAW. Of the three, JPG is by far the most widely used and the most versatile, though it is the most 'lossy' and the most compressed. TIFF can be either 'lossy' or 'lossless' but is most often used in its lossless form. As a result, image quality is improved but at the expense of file size. TIFF files can be very large. RAW files are also lossless, but very large. The problem with RAW files is that each manufacturer has developed their own RAW file format. This means that the RAW file is not standard and can only be read by software developed by its manufacturer. ProShow Producer will read some RAW files but not all.
If you need to work on a photo in Photoshop, it is a good idea to save the finished thing as a PSD file (Photoshop File). This will prevent losing quality by saving the image as a JPG. You could also save the image as a PNG. Both PSD and PNG can be read by ProShow and both formats support transparency.
It is always a good idea to avoid saving any image repeatedly as a JPG, as this will inevitably cause noticeable loss of image quality. If you have the option of setting the amount of compression when saving an image, always choose the minimum amount.
As a rule, I generally use JPG files. When ever possible, I import them into ProShow Producer as first generation. For images that have been scanned or processed in Photoshop, I normally use PNG format. |
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| Can I use Slide Styles with Video? |
| In theory, yes. But there are various factors to consider before you start. Click here for more info. |
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| Can I convert 16x9 Styles to work in 4x3? |
| The simple answer is, yes. However, you might find that you have taken on more than you expected. In some cases, it is a lot easier to remake the style than it is to convert it. Having said that, some styles are quite simple to convert, it all depends on what is happening on the screen, how many Layers there are and how many Keyframes need resetting. If there are loads of Layers with dozens of Keyframes on each, it might well be quicker and easier to start again in 4x3 and completely remake the effect. |
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| What's the best way to upload to YouTube? |
You can upload several different file formats to YouTube. Whichever format you choose, the video will be shown in MP4.
If you are uploading a video with a standard TV aspect (4x3), set the Aspect Ratio to 640x480. If you are uploading a widescreen video, set the Aspect Ratio to 1280x720. You can do this by selecting the Custom setting in Show Options.
Videos uploaded to YouTube must not be longer than 15 minutes (unless you have permission to upload longer videos) and must not be larger than 2GB in size. Remember to set the Framerate to 25 and the Encoding to High Quality.
In the latest versions of ProShow Producer, it is possible to upload directly to YouTube by selecting the 'Upload to YouTube' option in Create Output. You then simply follow the onscreen instructions.
The videos I upload to YouTube are always uploaded in MPEG2 format with an aspect ratio of 1280x720.
Having said all this, YouTube do occasionally change their upload requirements, so it's always a good idea to keep an eye their website. |
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