Slideshow software needed

jcdill

I don't think my requirements are all that complicated, but I'm having a really hard time finding slideshow software to do what I need.

1) I'm using a MacBook Pro - OS X 10.4

2) I need to make a ~5 minute slideshow with ~100 photos

3) I need to add several music clips

4) I need to choreograph the photo time intervals to match the music clips

5) When I add or delete a photo, the time interval for other items (photos or the fade intervals between photos) should NOT change.

6) I need to set groups of photos to a given display/overlap interval - some will play slower (4-5 seconds each) others faster (1-2 seconds each).

7) Most photos will have a standard fade interval between them, but I have several photos that I need to mostly overlay the following photo. E.g. play the first photo for 1 second, starting the second photo .25 into the first photo. (They are the same photo, with a mask on the first one, so the unmasked portion comes in gradually as the first photo fading out.) I can't do this in iMovie - it won't let the fade cover more than 50% of either image, which doesn't provide the effect I need, and it keeps changing the interval of the photo or the fade without telling me.

8) When I'm done I need to be able to export so that the viewer can play on any computer without special software.

9) The photos need to be kept at photo quality, not degraded. I processed these images from RAW in Lightroom and edited in 16bit in Photoshop, then saved as jpeg in high quality. I will be burning this to a DVD.

I've been trying this in iMovie, and am having endless problems with 4, 5, 6, and 7. I haven't even tried 8, and am very disappointed in the image quality (9). If 9 were the *only* problem I'd probably stick with iMovie, but given all the other problems I'm trying to see if there is something else that can do this better.

This is just a 5 minute slideshow, it shouldn't take hours or days to setup!

Finally, I've wasted a LOT of time on iMovie because a bunch of people (on another forum) said "iMovie will do what you want" when they hadn't actually checked to see if it would do it. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me if you have tried the thing you say your recommendation can do, or if you are just guessing that it can do that. I don't have endless time to locate/download/install/setup/try a program only to find that it doesn't do the thing you said it did. I hope this doesn't come across as demanding or unappreciative - but I really need to KNOW that the program can do what I need, rather than just keep "trying" and getting more frustrated, and running up against my deadline to get this done.

Thanks!

jc

jfriend

jcdill wrote:

I don't think my requirements are all that complicated, but I'm having a really hard time finding slideshow software to do what I need.

1) I'm using a MacBook Pro - OS X 10.4

2) I need to make a ~5 minute slideshow with ~100 photos

3) I need to add several music clips

4) I need to choreograph the photo time intervals to match the music clips

5) When I add or delete a photo, the time interval for other items (photos or the fade intervals between photos) should NOT change.

6) I need to set groups of photos to a given display/overlap interval - some will play slower (4-5 seconds each) others faster (1-2 seconds each).

7) Most photos will have a standard fade interval between them, but I have several photos that I need to mostly overlay the following photo. E.g. play the first photo for 1 second, starting the second photo .25 into the first photo. (They are the same photo, with a mask on the first one, so the unmasked portion comes in gradually as the first photo fading out.) I can't do this in iMovie - it won't let the fade cover more than 50% of either image, which doesn't provide the effect I need, and it keeps changing the interval of the photo or the fade without telling me.

8) When I'm done I need to be able to export so that the viewer can play on any computer without special software.

9) The photos need to be kept at photo quality, not degraded. I processed these images from RAW in Lightroom and edited in 16bit in Photoshop, then saved as jpeg in high quality. I will be burning this to a DVD.

I've been trying this in iMovie, and am having endless problems with 4, 5, 6, and 7. I haven't even tried 8, and am very disappointed in the image quality (9). If 9 were the *only* problem I'd probably stick with iMovie, but given all the other problems I'm trying to see if there is something else that can do this better.

This is just a 5 minute slideshow, it shouldn't take hours or days to setup!

Finally, I've wasted a LOT of time on iMovie because a bunch of people (on another forum) said "iMovie will do what you want" when they hadn't actually checked to see if it would do it. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me if you have tried the thing you say your recommendation can do, or if you are just guessing that it can do that. I don't have endless time to locate/download/install/setup/try a program only to find that it doesn't do the thing you said it did. I hope this doesn't come across as demanding or unappreciative - but I really need to KNOW that the program can do what I need, rather than just keep "trying" and getting more frustrated, and running up against my deadline to get this done.

Thanks!

jc

I can't speak for iMovie or for other programs that run on a Mac, but for item 9 (photo quality), do you realize that the regular DVD movie format is only 720x480 which is far, far, far less than typical photo quality (only 0.35 megapixels - less than a cell phone camera). If you just want the movie to play on a computer (and not on a DVD player), then you can probably save a higher resolution in a format that Quicktime or Windows Media player or Adobe Flash can read and show on a computer screen.

For all the other editing things you are asking for, I use ProShow Gold, but I believe it only runs on the PC. For the Mac, I would think you might be looking at something like Adobe Premiere Elements.

mercphoto

jcdill wrote:

I don't think my requirements are all that complicated

Well, actually, I think your requirements are pretty complicated, and that would seem to be validated by how difficult it is for you to find software to do exactly what you want. I'd get myself some time at the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store and see what they come up with. I'm going to guess you're going to need a pro-level application, and that will mean $$$.

jeffreaux2

Adobe Premiere Elements will do everything you asked...and much more.

dogwood

Soundslides is another option, though it doesn't exactly fit your specifications (ie changing/deleting photos does require a bit of re-jiggering of your audio/photo sequencing to match it up again). Anyway, I use soundslides for my day job all the time to mix and post audio slideshows. Of course I have the benefit of being able to use pro-tools to mix my audio prior to importing it into Soundslides.

jeffreaux2

You can run up to 99 tracks of audio and video simultaneously on the timeline in PE....if your mac doesn't squat. It is very flexible. Anything I have been able to think up...I have been able to do.

BinaryFx

jcdill wrote:

I don't think my requirements are all that complicated, but I'm having a really hard time finding slideshow software to do what I need.

1) I'm using a MacBook Pro - OS X 10.4

My first thought was "Keynote" (or MS PowerPoint):

http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/

Another option may be "Impress":

http://www.openoffice.org/

Photoshop can do *some* (but not all) of what you want with PDF slideshow export.


Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/