Multiple Questions About Slide Show Creation in VS10+

[shelleyevans]

Hello! New member to this board here-- I'd like to begin by thanking everybody who participates PROFUSELY. I have been reading your threads and tutorials since I started working with this program in December, and have found them incredibly helpful.

Yesterday I made my first official slide show-- 400+ slides with music, on a Dual Core Pentium with 3G of memory and two NTFS hard drives, one a 500G dedicated to media. It turned out beautifully, but left me with a few questions.

1. Is there any way to adjust "Automatic Pan and Zoom" parameters? (so that when pan and zoom is applied when the slide show is created, it pans and zooms less or more than the default settings...) (I'm pretty sure not, but I thought I'd check.)

2. Is there any way to create a DVD disk that also has a folder with the .jpg images used to create the slideshow? At the moment, I'm saving the slideshow as DVD Folders, and burning to disk with another program, which lets me add the folder manually, but I wondered if there was a simpler way to do it.

3. I have a pretty robust system, PLUS I have created a video-editing profile as per instructions on this board. It took me about 35 minutes to render a 30 minute slide-show. I was a little surprised, because I thought (foolishly?) that one could render images more quickly than video. Is real time encoding the best I should hope for? (My smart-rendered MPEG projects have been created in just-about-real-time as well-- same question-- is that what I should expect?)

4. I know that there are lots of tricks for creating good mpeg movies, which I use because my camera is a dvd camcorder. Are there similar settings adjustments that I should make to ensure optimal slide show creation? (Mine came out pretty good, so I'm just checking...)

What a cool program! Apart from the program itself, one of the big selling points for VS10+ was this very active and informed Forum. So thanks already, and in advance!

[GeorgeW]

Hi,

I tried to answer some of your questions (see embedded blue text).

1. Is there any way to adjust "Automatic Pan and Zoom" parameters? (so that when pan and zoom is applied when the slide show is created, it pans and zooms less or more than the default settings...) (I'm pretty sure not, but I thought I'd check.)

You can use the CUSTOMIZE button to modify the Pan and Zoom -- add key frames along the duration of the slide, then change the effect by modifying the values for each keyframe (you can add keys by moving the slider, and hitting the PLUS signed key icon). If you are talking about the Pan and Zoom in the Movie Maker Wizard/Tool, then there are those settings to adjust to the beat/duration of your music, etc...

2. Is there any way to create a DVD disk that also has a folder with the .jpg images used to create the slideshow? At the moment, I'm saving the slideshow as DVD Folders, and burning to disk with another program, which lets me add the folder manually, but I wondered if there was a simpler way to do it.

In the BURN step of the CREATE DISC module, when you are burning to disc, or creating a disc image, hit the little disc icon with the letter "i" on it (near the bottom left of the screen) -- it will bring up a window that will let you add a Personal Folder to your dvd.


3. I have a pretty robust system, PLUS I have created a video-editing profile as per instructions on this board. It took me about 35 minutes to render a 30 minute slide-show. I was a little surprised, because I thought (foolishly?) that one could render images more quickly than video. Is real time encoding the best I should hope for? (My smart-rendered MPEG projects have been created in just-about-real-time as well-- same question-- is that what I should expect?)

With pan and zoom, it's creating a video file, so it should be in line with the amount of time it takes to create video files. But you mentioned your "Smart rendered" mpeg video files are about realtime -- they shouldn't be realtime if you have footage that is actually being "Smart rendered" (i.e. when nothing has changed with the video, it works more like a copy/paste function, rather than a render function). Are your smart-rendered videos really rendering the entire timeline (i.e. even though smart render option is on, it isn't kicking in because the entire timeline is being rendered)?


4. I know that there are lots of tricks for creating good mpeg movies, which I use because my camera is a dvd camcorder. Are there similar settings adjustments that I should make to ensure optimal slide show creation? (Mine came out pretty good, so I'm just checking...)

I'm a little lost -- are you talking about the videos from your camcorder, or the stills you are taking with your camcorder? Or do you mean "in general", how to create a good still slideshow?

In general, when I create slideshows, I like to break them up into "logical groups" of pictures, and set each group to a "matching" song (or multiple songs spliced together). This keeps things changing -- because a show that is too long (and the same "style" throughout) might start to lose viewer interest. I also modify the groups of pictures by changing the "mood" -- some might be fast-paced, others use slow dissolves, maybe another just black-and-white, etc...

Hope that helps

Regards,
George

[shelleyevans]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful suggestions. I realize from reading your answers that my questions were quite imprecise, even though I was trying to be clear-- sorry!!

1. I gather from your answer that what I am trying to achieve by adjusting auto pan/zoom is not possible--- I created a "rough draft" of the slide show by using movie wizard. I was astonished at how well the computer cropped, framed and zoom/panned my images, but found that ALL of the movements were a litttle too fast, so the slideshow felt busy. To correct, I went in and manually adjusted (using the customize buttong as you describe) most of the slides-- but I had 400 slides! It was quite a job. I wondered if there was any way to tell VS10 that you want ALL of your automatically created pans/zooms to be SLOW vs. default rate. I suspect too much to ask.

2. Thank you! How did I miss that?

3. I have tried to follow recommended procedure, which seems to be, to drop one of my dvd clips onto the timeline, and have project properties match the first clip; then I create a video file, using same properties, and then burn to DVD (using the now missing JHunter guidelines). How would I know if VS10 is rendering my whole timeline as opposed to just the changed bits....? What kind of ratio should I be expecting-- ie, say I have a 30 minute DVD camcorder movie; I have made 20 straight edits, and created a 1 minute title sequence. Assuming smart render is working, how long would you expect that to take?

4. Here is where I was most unclear-- sorry-- what I meant was, are there any project settings that are recommended to get the best image quality (like the JHunter guidelines) when compiling a slideshow (ie, lower field first, or upper field first, or resave JPG files in bitmap format)?

Thanks already for all of your help; should you have any further ideas, I would be very interested!!

Best,

S.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Shelley

Smart Render

Smart render works when creating a file using similar properties, or a video clip that has no changes/edits.
The unedited portions being smart rendered, the edited portions being fully rendered.

In the case of slide shows your source files are Jpg¡¦s, these will have to be fully rendered to create a Mpeg. Afaik smart render will have no effect.

Rendering Mpeg to Mpeg will use smart render only if the target file uses the same video properties as the source file. Changing the Bit Rate for instance will require a full render.

Times:- How longs a piece of string?

I cannot give a specific time as to rendering, there are far to many variables.
Using Album transitions will increase render times dramatically, so much so that I avoid them.
Your PC speed and power also plays a big part.

Use your 30 minute clip, I assume its Mpeg.
No edits
Render to Mpeg using Same as First Clip, this should use the same settings. How long does it take? ( I took 5 min 40 sec )

Now repeat the render but change the bit rate, reduce it by 1000 kbps. I changed from 8000 to 7000. I abandoned the test after 5 minutes, render had reached 6%
I would have expected 70 minutes to completion. (2.25 times)

Perform a few complicated edits, and change the bit rate and you are in for a long wait. As I said earlier, try a few Album transitions.

Regards

Trevor

Ps Burn to Dvd, this also performs a render, but should be for menu structure only. The blue progress bar should indicate ¡¥convert menu¡¦ if it shows ¡¥convert title¡¦ then the main video file is being rendered.