Combining Two Shows

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Combining Two Shows

Postby decaf4me » Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:30 pm

I have created two separate shows, which I would now like to combine by adding one to the end of the other. I could not find any hints in the manual or this forum on how to do this. Probably just not using correct keywords. What is the best way to do this?

~Tina

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby Astra » Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:44 pm

Tina,
do a "Project" and put your First & then Second Show in it - Sagve it.
At the First Show - at Last Slide - use "Next Show".
Run "EXE" & you should see both shows running together.

Alexandra/Astra

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby cherub » Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:38 pm

Hi Tina,
If I understand your question correctly, you want to create one show out of the two shows that you have now, not just to play them one after the other.

Just like in any other Windows application, also in Producer it is possible to Copy and Paste :D
Select all the slides in one show and copy them, and then paste them at the end of the other show. These functions are found in Edit > Select All, Copy, Paste
You can also use Windows functions of selecting with [Ctrl] and [Shift]

To bring up your two shows you can use either of these two methods
a. Create a Project with your two shows OR
b. By opening your first show, select and copy all the slides and close the show. Open the second show and paste the slides at its end.

The only limitation is that the music track in the copied slides does not get copied. You will have to rebuild the audio for your second show.

Hope this helps,

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby decaf4me » Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:59 pm

Mona,
Thank you for your advice on my problem. I did use the 'project method', creating two shows in one project.
I tried to use the copy & paste method for a whole show of about 40 slides, but it makes Producer croak on my computer. So I resorted to just selecting one slide, copying, and pasting it into the first show. One slide at a time takes a bit of time, but it works. The reason why I am making a show this way is that I have 9 music pieces and want to use the wizard as a basis for each individual song. The finished show will be about 12 minutes in length. Obviously, songs will not be used in their entirety - lots of fades. Any ideas on how to do this, other than creating shows for each song using the wizard and then adding them to the main show, slide by slide?
~Tina

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby cherub » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:17 pm

Tina,
I don't use the Wizard for my shows, so I have little experience with it.
Using the Wizard for shows is a great way (and a fast one!) to get started with your show, but in the end it's the user's customization that makes a show unique.
If you chose to use the Wizard for your short individual shows, then copying and pasting into one large show is the only way that I'm aware of. You will have to add your music at the end of the process and to fine tune the timings when you have your final show.

If your computer is having trouble with the "Project" method, then just copy the slides from one show, close that show, open the other show and paste. I think that this way will be easier on your computer resources.

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby decaf4me » Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:14 am

The Wizard is just a jump start for the show. I do a lot of tweaking, replacing, etc. The fact that Producer stops working when I try to copy and paste several slides does seem to be a computer resources issue. I was hoping there would be a quicker solution to adding shows together. Thanks for your ideas, Mona.

~Tina

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby gpsmikey » Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:27 am

If copy/paste the second into the first causes a problem, that brings up two questions - how much memory do you have in your computer ? (and what OS?) and are you sure it caused it to "croak" or was it just busy loading it into the show ? (sometimes, it can take a bit to load all the slides etc and Producer is not overly clear exactly where it is in that process sometimes).

A third option that I have used for multi-segment shows is to create each one as an uncompressed avi file (they get big) then combine them in a video editor that allows me to add some more features that are easy in a video editor, but not that easy in Producer. The only down side to that method is if you want to make changes, you need to modify each segment you want to change. Advantages and disadvantages to that method, but worth considering, however, if you don't have enough RAM, that will also cause issues.

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby decaf4me » Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:02 am

Hi Mikey
Thanks for taking an interest in my 'combining shows' issue. I am using Windows 7 with 4 GB of memory. And yes, Proshow does actually croak: I get the message "Proshow has stopped working". Since I need to edit the main show again once I have added the individual shows, creating an output show doesn't work. I will just have to keep copying and pasting the slides one at a time and then add the music back in.

I wish I knew a bit more about how Proshow 'works'...like, when I copy a slide, is it copying the actual photos (in their original sizes?) or just pointers to where they reside on the hard drive? Is it copying slide styles and transitions, or just pointers? If it's only copying pointers, then it shouldn't be a problem to copy multiple slides, no matter how big the image files are, etc. Oh well...at least there's a work-around, however time-consuming it might be.
~Tina

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Re: Combining Two Shows

Postby gpsmikey » Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:54 am

Well, it is copying pointers etc (you can view the .psh file for your show in a text editor like Notepad etc). However, when you are building a show, while you are indeed copying the pointers for the show, the "preview" is being built in the pxc file (a temp file Proshow uses) and that can take up quite a bit of space. I am also not sure just what "stuff" it is keeping in memory (RAM) for working. I think that 4 GB for W7 is a bit tight (what ever happened to 64 KB being huge anyway?? ). You might want to consider adding RAM memory to your machine (although Producer is a 32 bit app, so it is limited in the amount of RAM it can use). I do know if the .pxc (cache) file gets corrupted, all sorts of weird things can happen (in which case, deleting the showname.pxc file and letting it be rebuilt will make things right with the world again).

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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