Graduation slideshow

[bettei Profile Private message]

I am a complete newbie for PSG, and under the gun to create a slideshow for my grandson's graduation. And while I have done a lot of slideshows with an old simple software I have, this PSG has so many features, and I am kind of lost in where to start....and I have very little time to learn all the techniques.

So far I have managed to get all the pictures into a show and a couple video clips in it of him playing football. And I have inserted a blank black slide at the beginning for a title slide, and that is as far as I have gotten. Creating an opening page IMO is very confusing. I found the backgrounds, but what else can I do beside use a background and add text?

And I also downloaded the graduation, summer 08 templates or whatever they are, but how do you use them? Can someone give me detailed instructions on how to access these things I downloaded? Too much to learn in too little time.

Thanks!

[iknowwhereitis123 Profile Private message]

Hi and welcome to the boards, I know there's people on here better equipped to answer your questions than me but
I am pretty sure what you download can be found in your folder list, Media Sorce file.

Not sure what kind of templates you downloaded though. If you mean the grad and summer backgrounds they should be in there as well.

Sue

[DickK Profile Private messageWebsite]

Stop. Take a deep breath. Relax.

Okay, now.... welcome aboard.

First things first. If you need a slideshow now (quick) then my strong recommendation is to simply do something easy and simple. You can always go back and add/redo but get something "in the can" and that means simple. Don't even try to learn a bunch of new stuff -- not a good idea if you're under time pressure -- for the first pass. Learn as much as you have to in order to get that far and NO more. Once you've got something done you can relax and play to your heart's content for as long as time and patience allows.

As far as an opening goes, keep it simple applies permanently in my opinion. Just drop a simple image or a stylized background on the first slide and put some captions on there to indicate what it's about. Remember this is all about the grandson, not you, not the slideshow. Just show the pictures and, trust me, everyone will be amazed.

Your real issue isn't about what's in the show but what you're going to do with it. Are you going to show it to a group on a TV (then you need a DVD output) or run it on a laptop (you want and EXE) or a laptop with a projector (still an EXE but maybe different settings) or...??

As for the other stuff -- what did you download and from where? Best advice at this point is probably to ignore it but there may be stuff that's useful there but I'm not sure. If you downloaded the PhotoDex extras then what you've got are a bunch of background images, maybe a frame and possible title slides--I don't remember exactly what's there. They're just that--pictures you can use or ignore.

Dick

[bettei Profile Private message]

You have the "relax" part right! And I am referring to the free downloads that came with PSG. I did want to check out the "graduation" ones especially and try to use them somehow. I do have the show assembled and music added so far.
I do have questions of course...I understand about saving your show every time you do some changes. However, I am getting a lot of save backup versions cluttering up "My Pictures" where I am saving them. Is it necessary to save them all, or if you are satisfied with your progress so far, can you delete some of the first "saves" safely?
What I would like to do is burn one show to DVD for television viewing this week to check things out, and then come back and add his actual graduation pictures at the last minute and burn another copy. I have several days between his graduation and party to do this. So I assume as long as I have the show "saved", I can come back and edit it and add more pictures, even though a copy has been burned of it?

And there is a video clip in the show that I wish to keep the original audio on without music overriding it. I haven't yet been able to get those settings right.

And it anyone has any songs that are appropriate for graduation, I would appreciate the input.
Thanks!

[JaniceMBrown Profile Private messageWebsiteYIM]

I too am doing a graduation show. However it is on a bit of a different scale. I am featuring 350 graduates for a local high school. With that in mind, you asked for music. Here is what I have in mine so far but still have a few more to find. I will list in order of what I feel are best for the occassion and I assume your grandson is High School graduate and not younger.

"Graduation" (Friends Forever) by Vitamn C
"Graduation Day" by Head Automatica
"100 Years" by Five for Fighting
"Goodriddance" by Green Day
"Pictures of You" by The Last Goodnight

Good Luck
Janice

[bettei Profile Private message]

I do have Good riddance picked. And I find that the song "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts goes with a lot of slideshows too where you have a personal interest in the subject.
And yes, it's for high school, my first grandson to graduate and I want this show to be a special one. So any tips I would appreciate, since I don't have much time for trial and error.

[iknowwhereitis123 Profile Private message]

Hi Betty, I'm going to let Dick answer the technical questions, he is always helpful and explains it all so easily.

As far as the songs go, there are some great suggestions on the post above. There's another one I used for a grad show for my son and his best friends from kindergarten through high school with this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ikSa3h3e8

You can also search Youtube for Graduation songs.

Anyway, good luck, and let us know how it goes!
Sue

[jeweliek]

Here is a really nice web site for grad music....
http://www.graduation-invitations-gradu ... songs.html

I also really love the song "You're Gonna Miss This"

Jewelie

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Bettei

As long as you keep the 'showname'.psh file and your resources (images, video and sound) you can delete the others. To add to the show open the .psh file and you can amend anywhere, even after having burnt a DVD. I have quite often done this.

As for your video audio, in the audio settings set the 'Soundtrack during other sounds' to a lower volume and your main soundtrack will reduce in volume while the video is playing. The 'Default for other sounds will also have to be at, say, 100% to hear the video audio.

[bettei Profile Private message]

Here is a really nice web site for grad music....
http://www.graduation-invitations-gradu ... songs.html

I also really love the song "You're Gonna Miss This"

Jewelie

Oh, so do I. His "Then they Do" is good for shows too.

[bettei Profile Private message]

I would still like to know about the graduation and summer "extras" that were a free download from PSG. I installed them and would like to know about how to use them. Are they a template that goes over a picture like a frame, or is it something that appears in the background?

And are there any backgrounds available as a second layer behind say a tall picture where the pic doesn't fill the screen? If so, how do you access them?

[iknowwhereitis123 Profile Private message]

Hi Bettei,

here is a little show I just threw together for an example for you. I hope it helps. I know it is overwhelming at first but you'll get it.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 2265&alb=0

Sue

[iknowwhereitis123 Profile Private message]

In case I wasn't to clear, ANYTHING can be a background, whether you use a pic you already have, or download it from ProShow like the Grads and summer backgrounds. You can also use these for your menu background.

As for frames, I downloaded them from ProShow but they call them borders. You just place the pictures you want on the slide, then in your folders list go to Media Sorces / ProShow built in Content / borders, and you should see the ones you have downloaded from there. Click on it, hold down your "control" key and drag it on top of the slide. Then you can go into "effects" and move them around. Make sure you move the "border" layer to the top of the list so that it covers the edges of your pictures. You will have to do some tweaking of your pictures to make them the right size but you'll get it.

Hope this helps,
Sue

[bettei Profile Private message]

Yes, it sure does. I understand about the layers, but I wasn't going to the folders list to browse, I was looking in the upper commands. It isn't very clear how to do that...but I understand now.

[boys5times]

Dick,
I'm butting in here just for a minute with a question of my own. For a slideshow to run on a laptop hooked up to a projector; wouldn't you just burn a DVD to play it?