Emailing a Slide Show

[wiggleroom]

Anyone know why a slide show created in Photoshop Elements 4.0 cannot be viewed properly from an email attachment? I created a simple slide show today (no voice overs, no text, just slides and music) and then emailed it to myself. This was a test, to see if if worked OK. It didn't. Although I received the email and opened the attachment, I got an error message. It said I did not have the latest software (??!!) and sure enough, when I went to view the slide show, it was all messed up. It did not automatically cycle through the slides like it was supposed to. How is it possible that the same computer that created the slide show (and played it back within Photoshop perfectly) is not equipped to play it back from email? Any help would be appreciated, especially since I'd like to send this show to friends. What good is a slide show if you can't share it?

[TonyW]

What format did you create it in? Was it a pdf or a wmv ? Both should work as long as you have a recent version of Adobe Reader (for the pdf) or Windows Media Viewer for the wmv file.

Tony

[wiggleroom]

I used pdf, and then tried the other one. The other one seemed to work while I was in Photoshop, but it never arrived in the in box. And that's weird. I'm wondering what software friends would need to view it. I like the soft transitions, fading out and then into the next slide, and I don't want to lose that like I did with the pdf file. But so far neither of them seems to work when sending in email. Help!

[wiggleroom]

Correction, the "movie" file arrived, it just took longer than I was expecting. It plays OK, but the slides are small in the middle of a large black screen. I did not see this in Photoshop, and I don't like it. Can you make the slide show fill the screen in this format? How?

[Barb O]

The dilemma when sending a movie (.wmv) file via email is to make the file size small enough that it will meet the size limitation of your isp or email provider. The fact that you said it took a long time for the email to arrive makes it likely that it is a larger file. So you might not be able to send a higher resolution movie/wmv file by email.

- What is the size of the WMV file?
- What resolution did you choose when you created the WMV file?
- What is your PC monitor resolution?

"I like the soft transitions, fading out and then into the next slide, and I don't want to lose that like I did with the pdf file."

This is sort of puzzling - because a PDF slideshow should be able to have transitions. It can not have pan and zoom.i

[TonyW]

The problem is that slide show video files are big - too big for emailing so you have to compromise - with pdf it's giving up some transitions and pan and zoom and with wmv it's small images. The other alternative is one of the movie hosting sites although again the quality may be compromised to keep file sizes down. I don't have a problem with pdf - which version of Adobe Reader do you have installed? I have version 8 and it works fine.

Tony

[wiggleroom]

Oh, dear. I don't know what version of Adobe Reader I have. How do I find out? And is it free to update? (the pdf version did not have fade ins; the "movie" version did, but tiny pics)

[wiggleroom]

Also, I don't know the size of the WMV file. I tried to find out by clicking on it, but there is no display of the file size. It just wants to play (inside Photoshop). At one point today I know I chose the small file size or resolution. The default was medium. But I don't remember if that option popped up when creating the wmv version. Also, I don't know my computer monitor's resolution, except to say that it is a new flat monitor purchased last year. The resolution on the monitor looks OK to me. It is not all pixely.

[wiggleroom]

I did a search on my computer and I have Adobe Reader 6.0. It was installed last August. Is it already two versions out of date? Anyone?

[wiggleroom]

I have to go so I'll log off and check back later. I found a bunch of websites for Adobe Reader 8.0, but not sure which are safe. Google pack? Too much stuff, if it slows down the computer. Advice would be appreciated. Bye for now.