I have a couple of weeks to put together a slideshow of pictures that show the span of my parents 50 years of marriage, and got a recommendation to use VS8. As I've been learning, I've run across a couple of things that I can't get to work, and couldn't find answers for on this forum...perhaps because they're so basic, I should already know the answers?!?
1) Can I display multiple pictures on the screen at one time? I understand that I can put a jpeg in the video track (top), then overlay a photo in the overlay track, but this only works is there is "dead space" on the photo in the video track. Even if this would work, I don't think there's a way to get three on the screen, right? If I could, I'd time them to display up to three pictures at a time, timed so that the entrances were staggered, and all would display until the next "slide" came up.
2) When I put the first jpeg in the video track (on top), VS8 foces me to place the jpeg at 0:00.00, when I'd prefer to start it a couple of seconds later. Is there a workaround for this, other than to put the jpeg in the overlay track?
3) Is there a way to size or re-position photos that are in the video track?
When I did a slideshow with audio a few years ago, I was under the same time pressures, and quickly put the slideshow together in PowerPoint. While using audio was pretty clumsy, PowerPoint did allow the timings thing to work better...unless I'm just missing something in terms of VS8's capabilities.
I apologize if this is repetitive from other posts...or just plain stupid...but any help you can give me would be really appreciated! Thanks so much!
A few questions re pics in VS8...
Moderator: Ken Berry
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rwindeyer
To answer your questions:
1) Yes, but it's a LOT of work. Say you want 4 photos onscreen. Step 1 - start with a blank colour (duration say 30 seconds), insert a photo in the overlay track and position it as desired (eg top left), and duration 30 secs. Now RENDER that clip to a video file. Start a new project, lay that video file in the timeline, and you can place another photo in the overlay track at say 10 seconds, position top right, duration 20 secs. RENDER again. Repeat as desired. For multiple rendering you really should be working with DV files rather than mpeg.
2) For the main video track you have to start at the beginning. You can use a colour block (duration as desired) as a spacer if you like.
3) Not that I know of, but if they are in the overlay track you can easily.
Hope that helps.
1) Yes, but it's a LOT of work. Say you want 4 photos onscreen. Step 1 - start with a blank colour (duration say 30 seconds), insert a photo in the overlay track and position it as desired (eg top left), and duration 30 secs. Now RENDER that clip to a video file. Start a new project, lay that video file in the timeline, and you can place another photo in the overlay track at say 10 seconds, position top right, duration 20 secs. RENDER again. Repeat as desired. For multiple rendering you really should be working with DV files rather than mpeg.
2) For the main video track you have to start at the beginning. You can use a colour block (duration as desired) as a spacer if you like.
3) Not that I know of, but if they are in the overlay track you can easily.
Hope that helps.
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Newbie
Well, you've been very helpful...and you didn't call me stupid...yet! So, you're right, it appears as though the process you describe in #1 would be cumbersome and lots of work, especially since I'm probably going to have to do 50+ slides, most with multiple pictures.
Just in case I get ambitious and find a lot more time than my calendar will allow right now...could you give me more information about the RENDER process?
Also, I've never used DV files (as you can tell, I'm not very sophisticated at this process), so unless you tell me it's a lot less painless than the RENDER situation, I'm probably sunk! Is there any other software I should be considering? At this point, I'm tempted just to stick all the jpeg images on either the overlay or the video track and letting them fly...one at a time! This is discouraging, to say the least, since there are just so many pictures, and I'm going to try to keep the video to less than 10 minutes...preferably 7-8.
Thanks for letting me abuse your good nature yet again...I'd appreciate any additional advice you can give me!
Just in case I get ambitious and find a lot more time than my calendar will allow right now...could you give me more information about the RENDER process?
Also, I've never used DV files (as you can tell, I'm not very sophisticated at this process), so unless you tell me it's a lot less painless than the RENDER situation, I'm probably sunk! Is there any other software I should be considering? At this point, I'm tempted just to stick all the jpeg images on either the overlay or the video track and letting them fly...one at a time! This is discouraging, to say the least, since there are just so many pictures, and I'm going to try to keep the video to less than 10 minutes...preferably 7-8.
Thanks for letting me abuse your good nature yet again...I'd appreciate any additional advice you can give me!
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rwindeyer
Hehe - no worries! There's no such thing as a stupid question, and the reason some of us seem to know so much is that we've been around long enough to make the mistakes already 
To RENDER: You go to Share => Create Video File. You then have a choice from the dropdown menu what type of file you want to make; like I said I would recommend selecting the DV option rather than mpeg. It's that easy. A small (30 second) clip doesn't take long to create, but I do agree it's a lot of work. You may be best to just drop all the pictures in the timeline and let them go past, as you say.
Best of luck!
To RENDER: You go to Share => Create Video File. You then have a choice from the dropdown menu what type of file you want to make; like I said I would recommend selecting the DV option rather than mpeg. It's that easy. A small (30 second) clip doesn't take long to create, but I do agree it's a lot of work. You may be best to just drop all the pictures in the timeline and let them go past, as you say.
Best of luck!
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BrianCee
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jchunter
Newbie,
I strongly recommend that you complete a "vanilla" project all the way to the DVD stage before getting creative. If you put in a lot of work on a project before you understand how to manage properties and avoid bugs in Video Studio (let alone, how to use the VS controls), you will be extremely frustrated and annoyed. Read the top post.
John
I strongly recommend that you complete a "vanilla" project all the way to the DVD stage before getting creative. If you put in a lot of work on a project before you understand how to manage properties and avoid bugs in Video Studio (let alone, how to use the VS controls), you will be extremely frustrated and annoyed. Read the top post.
John
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Trevor Andrew
Hi
First of all make whether you work with Dv-Avi or Mpeg sure your project properties are correct. Then you can use ‘Same as project settings’ as your render template.
When making a slide show I prefer Mpeg.
You indicated that you would use ‘fly’ for your transitions, but you can use different ones.
In File / Preferences / General tab you can select ‘Use default transition effect’ then set ‘Default transition effect’ to ‘Random’
In the Edit tab set :-
Default inserted image/color clip to say 10 seconds.(this is your choice)
Default transition effect duration to say 4 seconds.
This will give you different transition for each image, replace the ones you don’t like.
I had some problems using the ‘album transitions’ (render times excessive).
Using VS 8 you can change/adjust the duration of some or all of the images in the timeline.
Use Shift Click to select multiple images, Click the menu ‘Clip’ (next to tools)
If you find time to play with the overlay track, there is a motion filter that works well.
After selecting the clip in the overlay track, click the Motion & Filter tab.
Hope this helps.
Trevor
ps i agree with John above, read the top post and tutorials
First of all make whether you work with Dv-Avi or Mpeg sure your project properties are correct. Then you can use ‘Same as project settings’ as your render template.
When making a slide show I prefer Mpeg.
You indicated that you would use ‘fly’ for your transitions, but you can use different ones.
In File / Preferences / General tab you can select ‘Use default transition effect’ then set ‘Default transition effect’ to ‘Random’
In the Edit tab set :-
Default inserted image/color clip to say 10 seconds.(this is your choice)
Default transition effect duration to say 4 seconds.
This will give you different transition for each image, replace the ones you don’t like.
I had some problems using the ‘album transitions’ (render times excessive).
Using VS 8 you can change/adjust the duration of some or all of the images in the timeline.
Use Shift Click to select multiple images, Click the menu ‘Clip’ (next to tools)
If you find time to play with the overlay track, there is a motion filter that works well.
After selecting the clip in the overlay track, click the Motion & Filter tab.
Hope this helps.
Trevor
ps i agree with John above, read the top post and tutorials
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Newbie
I'm really blown away by how helpful everyone has been. Thanks so much for all the guidance! I have a lot to learn! My parents have 5 children, so I'm not sure how I got voted as the one to get this project completed, but you can bet the other four are going to owe me...BIG TIME!
Back in November, my Dad was told that he had a couple of months (at best) to live. Thankfully, we got a second opinion and (after open heart surgery) has, it appears, a chance for a full recovery. Each moment we have is precious (that's what this project is all about, right?), so thanks for giving me some of your time...I'm grateful.
Back in November, my Dad was told that he had a couple of months (at best) to live. Thankfully, we got a second opinion and (after open heart surgery) has, it appears, a chance for a full recovery. Each moment we have is precious (that's what this project is all about, right?), so thanks for giving me some of your time...I'm grateful.