Digital cameras forum: help with photodex proshow gold 2.5

thanks.
do you know if there is a way to get words to disappear on the screen and then have more words come on? or do you have to use the same picture twice?

also have you seen the contest winner on photodex.com. i was trying to figure out how he did some of that stuff or if he must have other programs he's using as well. ie...the flying puzzle piece, picture in picture, opening curtains etc..

I am glad to see this issue addressed, as I have had to use multiple slides to achieve desired motion effects (beyond the simple slide 1 and 2 example mentioned in manual and Help for ProShow Gold 2.5).

I have noticed that using multiple slides to have a continuous motion effect (mainly zooming) requires a little patience and creativity depending on the nature of the motion and when it starts. If Slide #1 is static and you desire motion (zoom in or out) to begin with Slide #2, then no problem. Use a "cut" transition (with time set at zero) between Slide #1 and #2, and the zoom starts exactly on time at the beginning of Slide #2.

On the other hand, if you have motion in Slide #1 -- particularly a wide-range zoom in or out, which will exaggerate this issue -- I have found that, at least for me, the zoom in Slide #1 does NOT end at the end of the "slide time" but instead seems to continue through the transition between Slide #1 and #2. (Based on the generic explanations in the ProShow manual, I had thought that the transitions were not part of the slide and that, for motion purposes, you could expect a slide's motion to end when the slide ended, but this does not seem to be the case.) Setting Slide #2 to "match previous" does not solve the problem simply because Slide #1 has not "come to rest" when the transition kicks in. This issue may not be noticeable in all cases, but if you look carefully you can see the mis-match between the end of Slide #1 and the beginning of Slide #2. If, say, you want to use a paintbrush transition (for example, to transition between a black and white and color versions of the same slide with a wide range zoom out on Slide #1), there will be at least a minor difference between the (apparent) ending position of Slide #1 and the beginning of Slide #2.

As has been mentioned here, I have often inserted an extra static slide in the sequence to allow for the motion to come to rest before continuing with the desired motion sequence. There's no end to the number of times you may want to do this to get the effect you want.

I've been using ProShow Gold 2.5 for about three months and think it's an outstanding program and appreciate your sharing your tips and moderating a forum on the product!

thanks for the replies. there is a puzzle transition but it doesnt do anything like it does in the contest winner. he does a lot of neat tricks in there, maybe he's mixing video in. im not sure. still trying to figure it out. even the borders around his pictures, some of the others have that too. maybe they add them in that way or set a different setting for view size. hmmmm.

i didnt know there was a newer version then 2.5

I recently created a 7 minute slide show that contained two separate video clips, dropped in two places in the middle of the show. I had a single soundtrack about 5 minutes long which (for thematic reasons) I wanted to keep as the sole soundtrack. (Note: Syncing the show to the soundtrack was not an option due to the large disparity between the desired length of the show.)

I tried "piecing together" segments of the soundtrack to start/stop within the applicable segment of slides so the soundtrack would not continue playing through the video clip and thus end prematurely. I painstakingly calculated the start/end/offset from previous track settings but encountered a glitch. Things worked fine until the beginning of the third slide segment (i.e., at the conclusion of the second video segment). The sound in the last second or two of the video segment (which I did not alter) suddenly decreased.

To work around this, I found a better approach that seems to allow you to piece together segments of a single soundtrack. First, don't use a soundtrack for the "show." Instead, manipulate the sound by starting your segments within the appropriate slide -- Use the Slide Options|Sound and then insert your audio track. Then, set the end time to the desired length and, most importantly, check "continue playback of sound after slide ends". I know this sound like a poor-man's soundtrack for the entire show, but it was the only thing I could come up with to keep the audio segments from interfering with my video clips. Hope this helps someone.

Ulead PhotoShow is what I used until I discovered ProShow Gold.

Here is link to ProShow Gold:

http://www.photodex.com/products/proshowgold

They have a free download if you care to try it.

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The first thing is to check the Photodex site and see if the version you are using has the latest patches.

Photodex is pretty good a responding to problems.
You should aim your question in their direction.

To keep improving their product they need to know if someone is having trouble.

If your problem has been experienced by others, they will probably have a solution.

Be sure to mention what version of Proshow Gold you are using and what version of Windows you are using.

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Hi to all
This is a Newbie to digital photography and this site.

It may not be good group etiquette, which may be why no one has mentioned it, but there is a very active Yahoo group for Proshow users which as you will find includes a lot of Mark Ridout's work and often provides useful hints and tips etc (including the opening curtains intro), which is so easy. It is done with just 1 slide of a pair of closed curtains. The next slide is typically a baby's face. The transition is about 20 seconds or so using a split transition that splits the first slide gradually in two and slowly revealing the second slide.

To Snapshot2 - as Moderator feel free to remove this link to the above group. I would not want it to detract from this group which has much more going on.
Keep snappin'
Pete
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proshowgroup/

Hi

Like to know how to get my Proshow dvd to work on a Panasonic player (it does not work)

You need to choose software that is more reliable. Granted, the software works for most slideshows, but it has some little quirks that will drive you mad. These quirks don't appear until you really try to control everything about your slideshow.

Also, the software does not lend itself to advanced PC's that have multiple optical burners (ie. two DVD burners). When I had one DVD burner the software worked fine, but when I added a second DVD burner to my secondary IDE controller (first set as master and later set as slave) the software would lock up my PC. I have been waiting for over a month now and the vendor still has not fixed the problem. Also, the software has not had any updates since April, 2005. That is just a little too long between updates. I would say one update every six months would be acceptable. It appears the company is too busy getting their new professional tool out the door, instead of supporting their existing products.

Don't get me wrong, it is a very fine product, but it has some warts that can drive you nuts. There are easier tools to use, but they don't have the depth of ProShow Gold. I just wish the vendor did a better job of supporting the product. When I can burn DVD's using three other software products, but not with the ProShow Gold software, it tells me the software is not functioning properly.

Be warned! It will work on the more basic PC setups, but not for the more full featured advanced PC's.

I need to find a download that isn't from the actual proshow site; but from the producer 2.51 version rather than the new 2.6 version. -wondering if anyone knows how I can download (the free trial) of the 2.51 version of producer; not the gold version! It will only give out the updated software. I need the one put out before dec 13th; the 1723 version of 2.51!

I had the same problem. You will have to burn your show as a "DVD Disc" (not VCD) and just leave the standard settings there by default (you really shouldn't need any changes from default to save space on the DVD). Create your show and it will most likely work on all DVD player formats. Mine did.

FYI