Slideshow File Size Question

Post your tips & tricks here for creating slide shows with ProShow Gold. This could include suggestions for style and content in addition to working with the software itself
TomW

Slideshow File Size Question

Postby TomW » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:31 pm

Greetings. I’ve been reviewing the forum for the past several weeks and have compiled many helpful hints. Many thanks.

Presently, I’m putting together a slideshow of my college class reunion. The reunion consisted of some 14 events, which took place over some 3 and a half days. I have about 2,000 pictures, which I expect to cull down to some 750 (guesstiment), to make a slideshow for each event. Picture file sizes, without PP, range from 500kb to 4.5mb. – Most are 3-4mb.

I’ve also quesstimated an additional 15% (100 pictures) for overhead cover title slides, panning and zooming, audio, video clips ,etc.,

Can the project as outlined, fit on one DVD (4.0 to 4.2gb)? If not, what would be the maximum number of pictures to use? I would like to put it all on a single DVD, if at all possible.

Does the additional allowance of 15% seem adequate?

I’ll probably have a gazillion other questions once I get totally immersed in the project. Presently, I’m trying to find out the size of the tiger that is attached to the tail I have a hold of.

Thanks for any inputs,

Tom W

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Postby VernonRobinson » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:49 pm

Tom,
Welcome on board. A 4 Gig DVD can easily hold one hour without degradation of the image. The program can compress the data to achieve a 2 hour DVD, but who would sit through something that long :D . The size of project you are proposing should easily fit on a single layer DVD. I am not sure what you mean about the additonal allowance. But depending on the music and the audience, a duration of 3 to 6 seconds per slide should be adequate. Add more for an older audience.

HTH,
-Vernon

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Re: Slideshow File Siaze Question

Postby DickK » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:20 pm

Welcome Tom! And here goes with my thoughts on your undertaking.

TomW wrote:...Presently, I’m putting together a slideshow of my college class reunion. The reunion consisted of some 14 events, which took place over some 3 and a half days. I have about 2,000 pictures, which I expect to cull down to some 750 (guesstiment), to make a slideshow for each event. Picture file sizes, without PP, range from 500kb to 4.5mb. – Most are 3-4mb.

I’ve also quesstimated an additional 15% (100 pictures) for overhead cover title slides, panning and zooming, audio, video clips ,etc.,

Can the project as outlined, fit on one DVD (4.0 to 4.2gb)? If not, what would be the maximum number of pictures to use? I would like to put it all on a single DVD, if at all possible.

There's no way to know for sure because it would require knowing a lot more about the show. But let's just SWAG things a bit. With something in the range of 750-1,000 pictures, if we assume 6 seconds per image (that's short but not unreasonable) then we're looking at 75 min to 100 min. So, no it's not going to fit at max quality which is very desirable but it would at standard quality. HOWEVER -- think about that! Who's going to sit still for that long? In my experience, even when the show is superb and I'm the ideal audience, that is well beyond what can be expected to work. And building shows that big is much harder. If it were me, I'd whack that into at least 3 separate shows, maybe more if there are logical break points or story lines. Make a show for each of those and put as many as fit on each DVD.

TomW wrote:Does the additional allowance of 15% seem adequate?

Again, maybe is the answer because it depends so heavily on how fancy you get. Really it's not as much the number of images that counts for sizing the show as it is how long in time the show is. The SWAG above isn't really sensitive to less than about a 50% swing anyway.

TomW wrote:I’ll probably have a gazillion other questions once I get totally immersed in the project. Presently, I’m trying to find out the size of the tiger that is attached to the tail I have a hold of.

:shock: That's not a tiger, it's King Kong. Let's just say that's a huge undertaking, especially for a first project. Now, having said that, it is doable and I think the way to get it done is another reason to chop it into manageable pieces. Build something small--maybe an intro you can reuse, or focus on a single event, whatever. Get comfortable with a process and the software. Then do another piece, and another... etc. No way would I jump in and try to do that big an effort in one go, I'd wear myself out and take forever to get it done. Divide and conquer means you end up with a series of smaller shows people will actually watch and you can actually get done. Keep in mind also that as you go along you'll learn things that you'd wished you'd known when you started, so don't consider a piece "final" when you complete it and don't fret about the little stuff as you build it--keep it simple and get a few parts built. Later you can polish, them, combine them and add a few "fancy" things.

Start thinking about the audio background from the very outset. You're going to need a lot of it--where is it coming from? what music to use? what track(s) for this scene or that scene? are there any special audio effects needed to be found (camera clicks, thunder, crowd sounds... etc, etc). The pictures tell the story but the audio is crucial to setting a "mood" and needs to reinforce the story and not distract from it.

Lastly, there are some other threads here addressing large projects and reading them might help. In fact, scanning through the forum and doing some bookmarks or cut'n'paste saves to a text file may be helpful.

Good luck and sure, come on back with the questions!
Dick
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Aristotle ((PSG, PSE & Fuji HS20 user)) Presentation Impact Blog

TomW

Slideshow File Size Question

Postby TomW » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:40 pm

Vernon, Dick- Thanks for the timely and informative replies. I’m glad you feel it’s doable. I’ll plan on using those parameters as the upper limit.

There were 14 events and I plan to have a slideshow for each event, which should make things more “bite size”. I should have explained this aspect more completely in my original post.

The targeted audience is the attendees, who will undoubtedly be looking for their picture. I’ll have to insure pictures of all are included.

Dick, I agree about the workflow and learning new tricks as I go. I plan on doing a “rough” cut on each slideshow, see how it all fits together, then go through several iterations smoothing things out and applying newly learned tricks on each pass as appropriate.

Ref. Music I think I have more than enough music on hand. Sound effects also. Am looking for famous one liners from movies, radio, TV, etc. Found some, but the quality is lacking.

Ref searching threads. Will do. I’ve reviewed many of the sample shows and found some neat ideas.

Thanks again. I’m sure I’ll be back!

Tom W

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