Can iMovie create an automatic slide show?

Hello all

I know nothing comes easy, but I'd like to try to
make quick work of a large number of photos, and
somehow apply random transitions, and panning.

I've been experimenting with making slide show tests
(using iPhoto), then exporting it as a movie file.
Then burning to disc thru iDVD.

Well as can be imagined, this method of exporting
with iPhoto produces marginal results.

Does iMovie have the capability like iPhoto, to make
an automatic slide show?

Answer: no
you can do it, but the size of the file is insane, and it takes waaaayyy to long. (very labor intensive)

ENIGMACODE,

When ever I work with photos I use a 3rd party app "Photo to Movie" $50. I find it to be much more versaile and less problematic than anything else, excellent quality, itegrates well with iMovie or use as a stanalone application. Take it for a free trail test spin and you'll see what I mean.
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php

I've been experimenting with making slide show tests
(using iPhoto), then exporting it as a movie file.
Then burning to disc thru iDVD.

iPhoto slideshows are converted to MPEG-4 format when sent directly from iPhoto to iDVD. Then iDVD encodes it as MPEG-2. All that converting hurts quality, so the quality of an iPhoto slideshow isn't great on the DVD.

The movie exported from iPhoto is automatically MPEG-4 too. But depending on how the exported movie was handled later, the DVD you got may have been even worse than going direct from iPhoto to iDVD. Did you try sharing the iPhoto slideshow direct to iDVD?

Note that when you do that, iPhoto puts a movie loose in the Documents folder. iDVD encodes that movie for the DVD. There's normally no need to export a movie of your own.

No, there is no way to create automatic slideshows in iMovie; all the images imported together will have the same duration, pan and zoom, set in the Photo Settings window. But that doesn't stop you from simultaneously importing 50 images using one set of import settings. Then importing another 50 with different settings. Then another 50, and so on, then scrambling the order of images on the Timeline.

Karl