PSE for Mac & slide show

[smorky]

As Wendy told in another thread, most of the PSE users work on the Windows system. Are here any Mac users also? I have an iMac and would be glad to exchange any experience.

By the way, I cannot understand why the functionality of the Mac-version of PSE is less than the Windows version. The file browser and the slide show maker are pretty miserable. (The rest seems to be identical.) Do you know a tool for the Mac for creating astounishing slide shows from the photos to burn on VCD/DVD. Is the add on from Roxio Toast 6 a good choice?

[Wendy]

Hi Smorky ...

I guess that I forgot to say that I'm a Mac user (I thought everybody knew that :) ) ... PSE3 for the Mac doesn't have the Organiser because it originated as Photoshop Album (which always was a Windows only product) and the Mac file browser is in fact the full blown CS file browser (which the Windows one isn't). Now you want to make a slide show:

Have you not got iLife on your Mac ... iPhoto is great for storing your photos and it does a superb slide show (with music of your choice) then there is iDVD, iMovie, Garageband, iTunes .. all you could ever want :)

I'm still using iLife 4 which came on the Mac but the latest Macs ship with iLife5 (you can upgrade if you wish). For more info:

http://www.apple.com/ilife/


Wendy

[Carbone]

Hi Smorky,

I wrote a tutorial about creating slideshows on Mac, for users visting the Adobe Photoshop Elements Forum (http://www.adobe.com/support/forums/main.html). The tutorial can be found here :

http://homepage.mac.com/carbmac/FileSharing8.html

It's the second item. People told me it was a good tutorial. It's based on iLife '04.

Enjoy!

Ray

[Wendy]

Ray,

I had my fingers crossed that you would drop by ... as I had lost the link to your tut :)


Wendy

[Carbone]

Thanks Wendy. I'm trying to be more regular around here, between my other duties and the Adobe forums. Another form of challenge ;-)

Ray

[smorky]

Wendy
I wasn't aware of the fact that you use a Mac. That's great knowing an "expert" working on the same system as I do. ':wink:'

Yes, I have iLife4. It came with my Mac. Unfortunately, one month later, iLife5 came out. No chance of an upgrade for free. Anyway, iPhoto is great for watching slide shows on the Mac. But you cannot share it with others (on DVD or VCD, QuickTime, etc.). iDVD has it's maximum with 100 slides per show. ':(' (Is that right or did I do something wrong?) Do you know, if it is unlimited with iLife5? On Apple's homepage, nothing is written about that. (It wasn't written anything about that limitation in iLife4 either!)

Ray
Thanks for your link. I've just downloaded your tutorial. (The RTF-file didn't work but the pdf went fine.) I will go through it and see, how it helps me.

Do you know, if the pdf slide show, created with PSE3, is only visible with Acrobat Reader 7 or even with earlier versions?

[Carbone]

I haven't tested the slideshow features of PSE2 yet. But since Acrobat 7 was out after PSE3, I'd think that it should work fine with Acrobat 6.

Ray

[Wendy]

Hi Smorky,

Oh I've been a Mac user for a long long time ... I have used Windows too but not recently. I took a look at iLife5 when it came out but I can't convince myself to upgrade as I don't use iDVD, Garage Band etc. All I do use is iTunes & iPhoto and the new version doesn't do anything I would use anyway ... OK it does fancy slide transistions but hey I like them to fade into each other anyway :) Zipping off to one side may look cute but after 50 slides your head must start going with it :)

Ray is the best one for transportable Slide Shows ... I tend to stick to my own on the iMac and if I want to show them to others then I simply get out the iBook and take it with me (rather as I would the Photo Album).

Do let me know how you go on and then maybe you will be able to talk me through the process ... if I ever get round to doing it :)


Wendy

[smorky]

Ray
Your tutorial is excellent. Pretty too much to try it all out tonight. But I think with iLife (even with the 04-Version) I have all on board I need for a slide show.

Wendy
Using an iBook is really a good thing. I wish I could do the same. But the iMac (even the new G5) is not handy enough to carry around. But one day I will also have an iBook (12" sounds great for me). :?

Does anyone of you experienced the limitation of 100 slides for one slide show using iDVD? Probably it's not a good idea of using so many photos in one show. But on the other hand, if I travel on vacation, I shoot more than this. And with transition effects, you can show more photos than with an ordinary projected slide show.

What I also like is the Ken-Burns-effect. But this seems only be usable with iMovie.

Anyway, I just collected my Christmas photos (from 2004) and will start to create my first slide show. (A perfect job for the Easter Holidays! :shock: ) I'm curious what will come out.

[Wendy]

Hi Smorky,

Ummm ..... carrying a G5 under one arm might be just a little difficult :) We have the 12 inch iBook and when we go on holiday we take it with us so that I can download all my photos from the camera into iPhoto ...... instant holiday slide shows. I seem to remember that Ken Burns Effect is on the new version of iPhoto.

Hopefully someone else may be able to give you an answer about iDVD.

... but do let us know how you go on with your slide show :)


Wendy

[Carbone]

iDVD is still limited at 99 slides per slideshow. The way around this (well, one amongst many) is to create your slideshow in iMovie. A tedious task, though, because you'll have to manually insert every transition.

Ray

[smorky]

It was a good hint to start with the capabilities of iLife04. Exporting a slide show from iPhoto as a QuickTime movie works fine. Except that you can attach only one song and not a whole album. :( Has this changed with iLife05?

It seems that the limitation to 99 slides in iDVD is a technical problem due to any DVD standard, I don't know. However, this might be a better way to create slide shows you can also view on your TV set (and devide it into two shows, if it exceeds 99 photos).

Working with iMovie is cumbersome. Each transition effect has to be calculated. It's a pitty that there is no direct import from iPhoto's slide show.

So up to now, I work fine with iPhoto. I'll let you know when I have more experience with iDVD and the other possibilities.

Probably Roxio Toast 6 is worth a look?

If there are any further suggestions and experiences with slide shows on Mac, please let me know. :wink:

[Carbone]

Just a thought... 99 pictures, at 5 seconds each... a slideshow would run for more than 8 minutes. If your guests are bored by the subject, you can be sure they'll be snorring in no time :-)

Seriously, it's always best to keep thing small. Vacation video, party pictures, everything you show to an audience at home should be short, or in short sequences. Better to have 5 slideshows of the same vacation (like 1 per day), then to present the 5 days in a row, and capture your audience for 45 minutes straight.

Ray

[Wendy]

Ray,

I'm with you on that one ... I tend to make my slide shows fairly small as I don't want to send everyone to sleep :)


Wendy

[Carbone]

If anyone would like to see a few slideshows made by Photoshop Elements users (from the Adobe forums), have a look at this page I created to host them :

http://homepage.mac.com/carbmac/tst/tst.htm

They are generall small slideshows, 1 or 2 minutes each. .Mac isn't particulary fast these days, so be patient while you wait for the slideshows to download.

They require, for the most of them, Quicktime 6 to be viewed (Mac or PC, no difference)

Ray

[smorky]

Carbone

That's a complete new - and general - aspect of creating a slide show. In the past when I projected slides on a screen, I had the rule of thumb, never show more than 200 slides. Just with using the dissolve technique it could be more, using flash effects and simulating motions with a couple of slides. And my first thought was: now I can use the dissolve technique, I want to show 200 slides and more.

But indeed I like the idea of deviding a show into small pieces, into chapters, that the audience keeps awake. They can use the break to go to the rest room, take a fresh beer, or give a sign that they have yet seen enough. Thanks a lot for that terrific idea.

At home I have only a slow internet connection - too slow for your slide shows. I will have a look on Monday from my workplace. :wink:

[smorky]

Carbone

Great slide shows on your site! They are all terrific! :P A strong influence has also the music. If you have good photos and a well fitting music, it's the best recipe for an attractiv show. No matter the topic of the show. But to tell the truth, for some shows, they really could last longer! Even for hours. Great work to all of them! I'll let you know, when my first show has finished. But first I have to order a bunch of CDs to have a big collection of music to select from.

Do you know, which kind of software they used to make the slide shows? Some have a really soft transition, others don't. So they must have different programs.

Any helpful suggestions from others, who work on slide shows would be helpful. (LOL) :P

[Carbone]

On the Mac, the choice is between iMovie, iPhoto and iDVD (the latter being difficult to extract to save for web usage, though). iPhoto is very easy to work with (pick a song, a transition and you're done). iMovie is more complexe because you have to manually apply transitions between each slides. But with the Share function, you can keep things to a reasonable size.

On the PC, I don't have the slightest clue. Jodi tried a bunch of them, perhaps she could let us know what were the ones she prefered.

Ray

[Jodi Frye]

I use Pro Show Gold 2.0 for home DVD entertainment.
I use ' Swif 'n Slide' by Vertical Moon for web sharing ( smaller files and allows to save in .mov formats so that my mac friends can view my shows.... .mov=Quicktime)...but I prefer Pro Show Gold.

[Carbone]

Thank you for the info :wink:

[smorky]

Jodi

With your slide shows, the music went on although I paused the show. That's really curious.

Carbone

For the Mac you can also use Roxio Toast Titanium 6, but I haven't tried. Perhaps here is someone who has experience with this. :?: It is said, that it uses different transition effects and Ken Burns effects. Sounds great, but I will probably start with iPhoto. (That is what I have already.) iMovie seems to be too much work to start with. :(

Perhaps there is some freaky shareware for the Mac out there? Something between iPhoto and iMovie (as easy as iPhoto but with as much possibilities as in iMovie :wink: )

[Jodi Frye]

smorky..' my show ' ?? You lost me... which show ?