Software for Slideshows (alternate issue)

[novascotiaskier]

There are a number of threads here that relate to this topic, by my issue is not quite covered by any one of them, hence the posting of this thread.

I have looked at a number of slide show packages, and none really hit on what I want: sort and show a number of photographs (transitions are not a big deal, but are nice to have) WITHOUT automatic resizing or cropping of the images and WITH the ability to lay down a sound track (voice over or music). Exporting to a "movie" (i.e., QuickTime or M4V) is also good to have (for youtube, etc).

My issue with Bridge is that I cannot lay down a sound track, nor set the slide duration to what I want (the presets are not quite what I need - for example, I want 3 seconds and the options are either 2 or 5 seconds), nor export to a movie.

The "consumer" packages, such a iPhoto or iMovie for the Mac all resize the photos and crop them, which is very frustrating since the photos are sized, cropped, and sharpend and "ready to go" for a projector.  As an aside, there is a bug in iPhoto that will not allow an export of a movie at the 20 minute length, so a tip is to sort your photos in iPhoto, but then import them into iMovie. Odd, given that the both use Quicktime (I think) for the codec .

Anyway, can anyone suggest a quality slide show package? 

thanks,
-Scott.

[keithrsmith]

I don't know what is available for the Mac, but you may have to go the route of running Windows software instead.

The two main contenders woudl be Proshow (www.photodex.com) or Pictures to EXE (www.wnsoft.com)  .

either can produce video in many different formats

Keith

[kpmedia]

I only use one of two tools, depending on how much time/complexity I want.

1. MemoriesOnTV - http://www.codejam.com/slideshow/index.htm (Windows only)
2. Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 (Windows or Mac)

I may also use VirtualDub (Windows only) for some further tweaking of the output files (cropping, resize of video), as well as MainConcept Reference (Windows or Mac) for final encoding to whatever format I want (H.264 for Youtube or other sites, MPEG-2 for DVD, etc)

The marriage of photo and video can be cumbersome, not a one-program type of ordeal, especially when you want more control over what's happening. Not just the goober-friendly "insert photo here, click two buttons, wait 10 minutes" sort of treatment you'll get with iWhatever or under-$50 Windows programs.

Quicktime is just a wrapper -- not a codec. As is AVI, MKV and MP4.

[keithrsmith]

The marriage of photo and video can be cumbersome, not a one-program type of ordeal, especially when you want more control over what's happening. Not just the goober-friendly "insert photo here, click two buttons, wait 10 minutes" sort of treatment you'll get with iWhatever or under-$50 Windows programs.

neither proshow or P2E are "goober-friendly" but are still around the $50 mark.  Both can produce sophisticated shows with movement, fades, sync'ed audio etc. .

download the trails and have a look

Keith

[novascotiaskier]

I've been off-line for a while (no access) so haven't been able to say thanks until now.

Thanks!

-Scott.

[novascotiaskier]

Update:

I have discovered that I can process photos in CS5 and import them into iPhoto, and the import them from iPhoto into Keynote, which does exactly what I want.  Unfortunately I cannot go straight from Bridge to Keynote, but must pass through iPhoto.

-Scott.

[johnmacp]

Have you checked out FotoMagico?  Its superb for quick slideshows with sound and slick transitions.

I also do a great deal of work with Keynote. It can do all you'll want and much much more, but the 'more' gets complex and time-consuming, but the end result can be spectacular. One caveat - Kn's sound handling is abysmal - it appears to use the main processor for sound and the graphics processor for images but they dont run in sync so your sound can vary wildly, from play to play, and from machine to machine, and worryingly vary even more when output to Quicktime. This is only important if you want exact sync of sound to action on screen otherwise its fine.

FotoMagico has much better sound implementation and can auto-sync slide sequences to match a soundtrack length, and it can 'almost' sync sound with image transitions BUT in reality it cant, despite FM advertizing that it can. In discussion with the FM dev team they have admitted to me that it cant consistently stay in sync. However that said for non-critical sync work its really very very good, but it does struggle with any complex image stuff - whereas Kn can actually do 'layers' of sorts with stuff all piling up on one slide to create the desired effect.

Both programmes have their strengths and I use Fm for some bits where I want to quickly match images to a soundtrack, pan and zoom on images, then output it as HD video and drop it back into Kn to do complex bits, and vice-versa - best of both worlds.

www.john-macpherson-photography.com