My girlfriend and I took about 200+ pictures on our last vacation. We would like to get software that would make a slideshow out of all the pictures.
We actually would like to be able to build a story with a slideshow. We would like slide transitions, text effects, thought bubbles and background music.
I have a copy of Premiere but it is mainly geard towards video editing and isn’t all that easy to use.
Other than Powerpoint & Premiere, what is good a software product that can do this?
FileMaker will easily import all your images in one step. You can add text (you can even have the computer read the text out loud like a narrator if you want). You can have it vary the display layout depending on various parameters that you input for each pic (like landscape vs. portrait orientation if they are rectangular like 35mm rather than square). You can have it pause on each pic until you click something to go to the next one, or pause for a finite # of seconds on each one. You can add sound effects, either for each slide (individually set up as “mood music” for that specific slide) or, again, dependent on some variable.
Not much on clever transitions from one pic to the next, though. If you want stuff like pic #17 gradually fading out as #18 fades in, you’d want something else to do it in.
I got a copy of Adbobe but there is no music addition capability. I should’ve been more exact as to text effects, I want to be able to add animation to the text effects as they appear or slide into position in a particular slide.
I’m checking out Filemaker as I type…I love tabbed browsing in Firefox!!
The Adobe webpage that describes Photoshop Elements 3.0 says that it can “make compelling slide shows that wow your friends with transitions, captions, music, and narration.” So you may just need to get an upgrade to the latest version.
Yep, that’s the one. Works great for images and multimedia presentations. Create a new, entirely blank database, then go to File menu: Import Records: Folder and it will create fields to hold the pix and thumbnails. Write a simple script to loop/go to next record [exit after last], Refresh Window, end loop, type in your descriptive text, put a button on your layout that calls your script, and you’re up and running.
You want sound to go with, define another container field, put it (small) just below the pic; open your MP3 or WAV or whatever in a sound playback app, copy all, click on the container field, paste; in your script, add step after the “Refresh Window” step, Go to Field [select/play] and specify your sound container field. Then it will play the music after navigating to each new picture.