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ProShow Gold Version 2.6 by PHOTODEX
This product is a stand out in the group of Slide show creation packages I have reviewed and used over the last several years. At $79.95 in a box ($69.95 downloadable) it is priced higher than many similar products but well worth the extra bucks.
I nstallation was a snap. The screen layout is easy to understand with icons on a menu bar that help you to find needed functions, a file directory area, thumbnail box showing photos in the current directory A large show viewing area and, across the bottom, a build-the-show area with lines for slides, special effects, and soundtrack.
While taking a quick look through the comprehensive manual that came in the box I found Paragraph headed “Creating a Quick Show” Sounded good to me so I dove right in.
My Daughter recently sent a CD to me with over 300 digital photos of her honeymoon in Bora Bora so I started there. I dumped the entire CD into a Bora Bora folder on my computer and began the procedure; a very large number of slides, a quick way to create something that she might enjoy and a sizable test of this product.
I selected all the photos in the folder and dragged them to the slide show area near the bottom of the layout. I then right clicked on the first slide and “selected all” the slides. In the next several steps. I opened the SLIDE menu on the taskbar bar and clicked on Randomize to place the slides in random order. I went back to the Slide Menu and Randomized Motion Effects as well as Transitions. I needed to add music. I found the program does not come with music samples but allows you to grab audio files from CDs or your PC based music. I searched around and found some songs I knew she liked and added a couple with a Bora Bora sound. After dragging these audio files to the audio line at the bottom of the desktop I clicked the AUDIO button on the toolbar, then clicked on Sync Show to Audio. This option made the slides, motions, and transitions fit the music. Unfortunately this meant the slides would appear for about one second as I did not have enough music, Not a problem I grabbed a few few music files from the internet, dragged them to the Audio area, and clicked Sync Show to Audio again. Better now at 3.3 seconds per slide and 2 seconds for the motion/transition part I now has a show lasting 38 minutes. Boringly long to most people but she loved it. Others who have seen it think I spent many hours setting transitions and motion effects to each slide in the show. It actually took about one hour to create.
I did notice some lag in saving the multiple transitions and other changes involving so many slides. Also saving the project took a while. Twice I locked the program up by trying to move on to the next step before the last one was completed. My lack of attention I am sure.
ProShow Gold has much more to it than the Quick Show I mention above. It is a very comprehensive product for the hobbyist and can actually do much to make their shows appear professional to viewers. It has become a must have for me.
For more technical details on the product go to the web pages for ProShow Gold at http://www.photodex.com/products/proshowgold/
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