A question for the more experienced users...

Question

Level 1

72 points

A question for the more experienced users...

I'm wanting to make a video slideshow of my collection of -- believe it or not -- slides. In Windows I used an application called ProShow Producer which had all the capabilities I wanted. However, since I moved from Windows to OS X, I haven't been able to find an application that works nearly as well, though a number of different apps have some of the features each, but nothing comprehensive.

Will Final Cut Express do the same thing, or am I forced to go back to Windows?

iMac Extreme, Mac OS X (10.5.4), Dual Monitor

Posted on Jul 10, 2008 9:55 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 10, 2008 10:18 AM in response to David Fields

Not knowing ProShow Producer, we don't know what features you're looking for. My guess is that FCE would not be an ideal choice, since it works with fixed resolutions designed for display on a television screen. FWIW, I've done several slide shows using Keynote, part of the iWork suite, and have liked it.

Message was edited by: R. Mitchell Fore

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

24,378 points

Jul 10, 2008 10:20 AM in response to David Fields

iPhoto and iDVD can both do slide shows and at some level they will be easier to use than FCE. However FCE can also be used to build a slide show.

What capabilities are you specifically looking for? And have you looked at iPhoto and iDVD for this?

And what exactly do you mean when you say 'video slideshow' - eg. do you want to project slide shows, burn the shows to playable DVDs, use the filters, effects & transitions in a product like FCE?

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Answer 3

Tracky

Level 1

90 points

Jul 10, 2008 10:29 AM in response to David Fields

Maybe i should not answer this, sinds i am an newby on Apple computers, you are a member for 6 years here and have problems to make good slideshows? ok, with windows that's maybe possible but with 'iWorks' you must have at least read about it. Simple and better than most Windows applications

Good luck to you,

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Answer 4

David Fields Author

Level 1

72 points

Jul 10, 2008 12:24 PM in response to David Fields

Please allow me to clarify, since I have obviously confused a few people.

Since none of you seems to understand what ProShow is, simply put, it's similar to FCE but focussed more around still images than video clips (though it can use those as well.) It contains hundreds of transitions and gives full control of 'Ken Burns Effects' up to and including pan, zoom and rotation all in the same image. It also includes the ability to adjust the timing of individual images and transitions as well as allowing full randomization of Burns and transitions between images for the entire project.

Finally, and most importantly to me, it shows the audio track waveform at a size to actually be useable (unlike iMovie HD) and adapt project timing to length of audio track or create audio fade-in/fade-out based on manual timing parameters.

I have run into serious limitations in iMovie (though I haven't given Slick a thorough testing yet) in that the audio track is too thin to be easily visible (when trying to set image timing to audio beat,) you have no ability to randomize transitions, you have no ability to 'batch' transition timing, etc....

The question returns, can FCE give me these capabilities?

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Answer 5

Jul 10, 2008 12:30 PM in response to David Fields

David. I do advanced and professional slide shows for birthday's and special events montages. I love FCE for it. You can control the clip length, cut and extend them etc... You can show the wave forms in the audio track, and if you know what you're looking at, edit to the beat of the song. It has more than enough transitions for me, and the ability to make you're own via stacking video layers and utilizing the filters. You can also do PIP and other cool overlays via the motion controls. The Ken Burn's effect is VERY easy to accomplish and has A LOT of manual control to it. There are plenty of tutorials explaining how to keyfram motion controls, opacity, filters etc.. I'm at work right now but when I get home I'll explain all of this in detail. In short, yes you can absolutly use FCE to make an advanced slide show with A LOT of manual control over the slides and audio (though I use garage band to edit my audio usually).

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Answer 6

David Fields Author

Level 1

72 points

Aug 19, 2009 5:24 AM in response to David Fields

Since asking this question over a year ago, I've made several upgrades in software that now serve the basic purpose. I am a little disappointed that there is no Mac application as thorough as Photodex's ProShow Producer without spending four times as much money, but I'll live with it.

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