AV News Magazine | Page 37

AV News 195 - February 2014 So what about a menu system? What you need is the 'menu' (a one slide sequence with the buttons on it) and the sequences to link to. Put them all in one folder, this then makes it portable to put on other computers, or on a memory stick, etc. If the 'link-to' file has been made on a different version of PTE, or is an avi file, etc, then use the 'Run Application or Open File...' action. If the link-to sequence has been made on the same version of PTE as the menu, use 'Run Slideshow with Return...' option. When you have chosen this, a new box appears underneath, allowing you to identify the 'link-to' file. Chose the file and the full directory entry will be inserted, e.g. in this case "F:\My Documents\RPS\Articles for AVNews\Objects and Animation\Objects3\Arresting.exe". This is an absolute reference and PTE may struggle if you put this on a different computer, with a different file structure. Fortunately, as long as the 'link-to' file is in the same folder as the 'menu' file, you can remove the directory part of the reference, i.e. in this case reduce it to "Arresting.exe". When you change the text on the button, its size will increase to match the text length. 'Lions' and 'Elephants' will give different sized buttons. To equalise them, chose the longest, then in 'Properties' tab > 'Advanced' increase the 'Min Width' until the button grows just slightly. Note this size and use it to change the 'Min Width' of all the other buttons. Now they are all the same