PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

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PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby kens » 30 Jun 2021 09:26

PhotoStage Slide Show

Hi!
I am experimenting with this programme. Having uploaded 2 videos I am now unable to upload more until I buy it. The free bit is to produce a video but not do anything with it. I suspect I am hooked. regards Ken S.
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 06 Jul 2021 12:52

PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software.

As Ken has been experimenting with this program and has been successful in using it, I thought I would give it a go and see what is involved. I shall create a video to go with my MP3 of Blueberry Hill and explain each step I take along the way.

Download PhotoStage Slide Show from here.
https://www.nchsoftware.com/slideshow/

When you download the program from NCH Software and run it you see this:

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You basically have three areas of the screen.

Top left is called the Media Bin, where you put your photos/video clips/mp3 ready to put into your slideshow. They have to be put into here first as you cannot put them directly from a folder on your computer into the slideshow (all programs of this type work like this ie. things put into the slideshow have to already be in the program you are using).
(Note: Having said that, Ken has been experimenting with this and he says he has managed to 'drag' his files straight from the Folder on his computer onto the Slideshow Timeline .. at which point they have automatically been put into the Media Bin as well.)

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The top right section is where you watch the video you are creating as you go along. The Preview area. There is a small rectangular 'screen' where the video shows.

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Then finally is the bottom section, the Slideshow Timeline, where the pictures and music are actually put.

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When I am doing a video I always create a FOLDER on my laptop, find the pictures and music I want to use for the video and put them into it.

First, I make a note of the length of my MP3 so I can choose enough photos/video clips to fit the music. My MP3 of Blueberry Hill is 3min 12secs. Each photo should be displayed for about 7 seconds. Video clips, I download from Pixabay ( http://www.pixabay.com ) and of course these vary considerably. When choosing them you are told how long a video clip lasts, which can be anything from 7 seconds to over a minute. Once you have put a video clip into your FOLDER you can check how long the video lasts by hovering your mouse over it .. and the length appears in the drop-down box. For example, this video clip runs for 14 seconds. Video clips show in a folder with 'ratchet' slots down the side (as this one has); and photos show as plain rectangles (as is the one to the right of it).

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Next, you want to decide in what order you want these photos/videos to appear. I find it easier to decide in advance, in my FOLDER. So when I have decided on the first clip I want I highlight the name underneath it and add an 01_ to the front of it, leaving the rest of the file name as it appears. Then I choose my second photo/video clip and put 02_ in front of that .. etc. Then all the pictures/videos in my FOLDER will be in the order I want them.

This is what my final FOLDER looks like.

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This lot would last for about 3min 25secs (assuming I have photos running for 7secs), which is longer than the music .. but I know that putting TRANSITIONS in sometimes slightly overlaps one photo with the next (depending on the Transition), which makes the total time of the video less. So I always make sure I have more video time than the length of the Audio. If the length of the video part isn't spot on, I can increase/decrease the time a picture shows for (or even remove a picture completely/add another one); and/or speed up/slow down a video clip. With these programs you can usually 'fade out the music' to make it fit the video .. but I don't want to do that as it's the music I am making the video for!
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby kens » 06 Jul 2021 15:43

Hi!
Thanks for that clear description of how to set up making a video. I have found another good site for pics.
Just google pexels. Had a few problems with some items disappearing but seems to have resolved itself.
By the way it becomes compulsive so getting to bed very late. Ken
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 06 Jul 2021 15:46

Continuing with my ramblings on Creating Videos ...

Now go back to the PhotoStage Slide Show program.

Click on the Add Photos.

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A box comes up showing your computer/laptop filing system and you have to find the FOLDER where your photos are. Only the photos (.jpg) will show. You can click on each one individually and get it into the project, or do them all at once 'in a block'. Click on the first photo, then holding down the SHIFT key, click on the last one. All the photos will be highlighted.

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Then click on Open and they will all be put into the project. And yes, they have been put into that top left area ready for you to put into your slideshow.

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Next, I'll click on Add Videos. Again, you will have to find your project FOLDER so it can find the videos you want to include. Once there it will show all the videos in your folder. And it'll only show the videos (.mp4), although you know all your pictures are in that folder as well. Highlight them all.

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Click on Open and all those videos will be added to your project, and you will now see the below in that top left hand corner of the program. Note that they are not in numerical order, but in the order I added then, so all the .jpg are at the top; and all the .mp4 underneath.

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I'm very glad I put those numbers on the various photos/video clips as that will enable me to get everything into my Slide Show in the right order.

I'll now add my .mp3 and would expect that to appear at the end of the list.

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With everything I need in that top left hand box, I am now ready to create my Slide Show .. which adds everything in from that top left hand box.
It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 07 Jul 2021 08:12

Now that I have got all the material I need into that top left hand section I need to take a break (it's getting late!), so have SAVED what I have done so far by clicking on Menu (on the down-arrow) ...

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Then Save As... , giving it a name (Blueberryhill1) and choosing where to save it (in the same FOLDER as the rest of this Project). It has saved it as Blueberryhill1.spj.

I have now returned to continue with this project, have found the file Blueberryhill1.spj and double-clicked on it to run it .. and have been confronted with this.

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Well, that didn't give me very long to give it a fair trial! I haven't even completed my first project using it, and now it says I can continue using the demo version, but with restricted features. I wonder what those are?

I have decided to click on the top one and see how much it is to purchase it.

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OK. About £35 for the full version. Don't want to do that right now as I haven't even seen how my first project has panned out, so will continue using the demo version (with restricted features).

I have gone pack to the page where my program is running and I now see this .. so will click on Cancel.

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It has now loaded my project back up (without buying the program) so I can carry on from where I left off (with reduced features?).
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 07 Jul 2021 20:39

As I move my photos/video clips into the Slideshow Timeline (into the bottom section) the program will use it's 'default' settings. I have realised now that I could have changed these, but would have had to have done this before loading any pictures/video clips into that top left hand section (the Media Bin). Once they have been loaded in, the defaults have already been applied to them.

The defaults that come with the program are:

1. The video will be done with pictures in the ratio of 16:9. This is the 'standard' that YouTube use. The previous ratio was 4:3, a lot 'squarer'. There are YouTube videos up there in 4:3 but these are usually the older ones. When downloading pictures/video clips from Pixabay I had several sizes to choose from, and always went for 1920 x 1080 (which is 16:9) if that option was available.
2. The length of time a picture will show is 5.0 seconds. I had wanted 7.0 seconds, but no matter as the duration of each clip can be changed individually afterwards.
3. Transitions are automatically done using the 'default' of Cross Fade, which gradually fades out one clip and fades in the next. This can also be changed on individual clips to one of the other Transitions afterwards. The time taken to do a transition is set at 2.0 seconds. Again, this can be changed afterwards if deemed necessary.

First, I clicked on the top left picture 01_ (which selected it) and then clicked the button saying Add to Slideshow, which put it down the bottom (at the end).

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Then I clicked on 02_ and did the same, which added it to the right of Picture 01. Then 03_ etc., one at a time using the numbers in order until all the pictures/video clips had been added, in the order that I had planned.

Another way you can get your pictures/video clips into your Slide Show is to grab one (Click and Hold) and drag it to the position you want it in the slideshow. Every time you pass two existing pictures a green arrow will appear, and you can drop it off where you want it to appear. Obviously you can also drop it at the very end.

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I have checked the length of the video I have done so far, and it's 3min 16secs. My MP3 is 3min 12secs so it will drop in very nicely. I have clicked on the music file Blueberry Hill.mp3 in that top left hand box .. clicked and dragged it down to the very bottom where they tell you to put your Audio. This positions it to the very left, so I also clicked on the audio file again and dragged it slightly to the right so the music starts to play just after the video starts.

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One thing left to do now. I haven't done a Title!! I could create a blank coloured rectangle by clicking on Add Blank+ at the top, position it at the beginning and do the writing over that .. but then the video would be too long and either the music would start too late, or would end too early. I would have to remove one of my pictures to compensate. So instead, I will do the writing over the top of the first picture (I had planned to do that anyway, which is why I chose a picture with a strong blue sky).

I have clicked on Text at the top and get the following come up.

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So I have clicked on the first photo, the one with the blue sky as background, and have chosen Text Overlay as my text option.

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A white box comes up for you to type into. You can alter the Font Type (Arial); the Font Size (I have chosen 18pt); and the Colour (the default is RED). I have chosen WHITE lettering. You also have the option to Fade in and out the text. The default is 0.5. A good idea to activate this or the writing will 'suddenly' appear .. and then disappear.

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My finished lettering looks like this:

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Looking at it in the display box top right, it looks like this.

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Right. The basic video is done. Music is in. Title is done. Time to SAVE it as an MP4 and see how it all looks before I delve further into the other things that would look great in this video. Like trying different TRANSITIONS. Zooming and Panning those 'stills' (both photos and video clips) to make them move a bit and look more interesting.

Clicking on Export, Video File:

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.. I get this.

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So after all that effort I can't even get one MP4 to put up.

The moral of this story:

Once you have started using this programme, don't close the program down or turn your computer off. Just keep the whole lot running until you have made at least one MP4.
It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 09 Jul 2021 00:42

I'm sure you're all wanting to see my progress so far. So am I! As I can see great potential with getting this program to do what I want it to do I have decided to purchase it. Now I can SAVE what I have done as an MP4, which I have put up on YouTube.



Note in particular what this basic DEMO gives you.

1. Some pictures have 'black bars' on either side (eg. when you are watching the video, the second one. Also the one fronting the video for you to click on to watch, which you can see on this page). This is because I have downloaded a variety of picture sizes from Pixabay and this one is not the standard 16:9 size. PhotoStage Slide Show can correct this, so there are no black bars.
2. All photos are 5secs. You can adjust this to whatever time you want.
3. Every TRANSITION is the 'default' one of CROSS FADE. I shall be changing the Transitions so they are different between each clip.
4. There is no PAN & ZOOM in the video above. Any movement you see is a video clip, not a photo. Pan & Zoom can be applied to both still photographs and video clips (where necessary). This makes the photos appear to 'move' which makes them a lot more interesting and brings the video to life.

I will be explaining how to do all this in my next posts.
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 09 Jul 2021 23:26

Some comments on getting those photos/video clips where you want them on the slideshow.

1. To find a photo/video clip already in the slideshow, grab (Click and Hold) the grey bar showing at the bottom and drag it to the right or left. This will move all the pictures across the screen so you can find the one you are looking for.

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2. If you want to change where a picture is showing, grab it with the mouse (Click and Hold) and drag it horizontally along the line to the left or right. As you move across the other pictures a green arrow will move along with you, positioning itself between adjacent clips as you move along. When you get to the place you want it, release the mouse and your picture will drop into the line where the green arrow was.

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3. If you want to DELETE a photo from the slideshow, click on it with the mouse (a red line will show over it) and then press the DELETE button on your computer keypad .. or .. do a right-click over the picture and choose Remove Selected Slide.

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This deletes the clip from the slideshow but not from the Project. It will still be in that top left hand area .. and the tick will have been removed from it indicating it is no longer in the slideshow. If you want the clip completely removed from the Project then you have to repeat this with the photo in that top left area.

Removing those Black Bars

Now, to remove those black bars, which as I said are there because the photo I downloaded was not in the ratio 16:9.

Here's that second picture, which has the black bars either side of it.

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1. Click on the picture you want to adjust.
2. Click on Edit, at the top. The options you see below come up.
3. Click on Crop. The Crop options come up on the right, with a red rectangle showing you what you are cropping.
4. Find 16:9. You'll have to scroll down a bit to see the 16:9, so drag down that bar on the right (or scroll your mouse wheel).

The four steps above are indicated by the yellow arrows.

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Click on 16:9 and a red rectangle is displayed over your picture image on the left. The red rectangle is 16:9, but the original picture was not. Put your mouse in the middle of the red rectangle and using 'Click and Hold' you can move that red rectangle down/up over the top of your original picture for you to choose which part of it you want to keep. You can see the section you are choosing over on the right. The picture is in the same proportions as the original, but you don't have as much of it.

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The 16:9 rectangle you chose is now saved, and you can see it on the right. Just click back on Media at the top to get out of this screen.

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So here's what we have for the second picture in our Slide show. Not as much of the picture as in the original, but no black bars as it fills the whole screen.

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Here's another one I'll give this treatment to.

Original photo (with the black bars).

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Positioning red rectangle to get the part of the picture I want to keep.

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Adjusted photo (no black bars).

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I have gone through all the clips (photos) and adjusted them to 16:9 so they have no black bars.

Next to look at are the TRANSITIONS between one clip and the next. In the basic video I did above, all the TRANSITIONS were CROSS FADE, but it makes the video more interesting if you can ring the changes.
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby dentyr » 10 Jul 2021 01:58

Hello Hugh, Opinion only. In your video I agree that the transitions of cross fade is fine but only when the clips are of the same genre. At point 036 I would take out the transition and just shoot no transition to the two girls. Then no transition from them to the next clip. They are different "paragraphs" in the movie. My opinion.
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 10 Jul 2021 18:47

TRANSITIONS

Between each picture on the Slide Show there is a marker for you to be able to change the Transition .. with the time taken to do it underneath (2.0 secs). Place your mouse cursor over the Transition icon and you see this:

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The 'default' Transition is Cross Fade. When you click on that icon you will get to see what the alternatives are. You'll have to click on that grey bar on the right and drag it down to see them all!

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So choose the one you want by clicking on it. The time of 2.0 can remain at that default unless when watching the video you reckon it needs more (or less) time.

I am going to do this with the video I have done so far, and doing them one at a time I am choosing the following Transitions, in order.

Circle; Cross Fade; Dissolve Rough; Flip; Radial (Smooth, Counterclockwise); Page Curl; Doors; Circle; Split (Vertical Out); Flip; Page Curl; Circle; Fade.

The slideshow line now looks like this, with the Transition markers in between each clip showing a reminder icon of what I had chosen.

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To see how it has panned out (not 'panned' .. there is no Pan or Zoom in this DEMO .. any movement you see is in a video clip) watch the YouTube video below. Note in particular (a) there are no black bars on the edges of any photos (compare the picture below fronting the DEMO2 video with the DEMO1 video) and (b) the Transitions between the clips are varied and not all the same as in the last DEMO (Cross Fade).



Den had commented about maybe not having any TRANSITION at all between certain clips. But we don't have an option not to have a transition! Then Den suggested that you could effectively get no Transition if you changed the duration of the Transition to 0.1 seconds.

Hover with the mouse over the 2.0.

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Click on the 2.0.

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Change the 2.0 to 0.1, and then click Apply.

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Full of good ideas, is Den!

In my next post I shall explain the way Zoom and Pan work, carry this out on the clips in my video, and then put it up on YouTube.

Hugh
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 11 Jul 2021 22:54

Zoom and Pan both work by having a first rectangular frame positioned over your picture (the Start frame), followed by a second (the End frame). Both frames have to be 16:9 and the program automatically puts the frames onto your picture as a red rectangle. The first frame, when it's running, 'fills' the screen from side to side and top to bottom. This is followed by the second frame which also 'fills' the screen from side to side and top to bottom. Now, you are only getting to see the start and end frames, and what you have to realise is that in reality the picture 'moves' gradually from what is in that START frame to what is in the END frame.

For Zoom In, the first frame is the whole photograph; and the second frame, which must be smaller, is positioned over what you want to 'zoom in' to (ie. what is in here fills the whole screen). The great thing about this program is that you can 'adjust' the size and position of the rectangles to achieve what you want.

You adjust the 'size' of the rectangles by grabbing a corner or edge with the mouse (Click and Hold) and dragging it inwards or outwards. When the red rectangle is the size that you want, you can move the rectangle about over the top of your original picture until it covers what you want to display. You MOVE it by 'Clicking and Holding' in the centre of the rectangle (a North, East, South, West white arrow shows as your mouse 'cursor' so you know it's in 'moving mode') and then slide it about to where you want it positioned.

I'll give you an example. I have two photos of my granddaughters in boats on a lake. Neither of the pictures are 16:9, so there are black bars on either side!

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I had been going to CROP them to get rid of the black bars, but I have discovered that in this program you can only do one Effect on a photo. This isn't a problem, as I can use Pan & Zoom on it's own .. and set the picture size to 16:9 while I am doing it. This will do the Pan & Zoom and remove the black bars at the same time.

First photo. Click on it in the bottom section to choose it. Then choose Animations; Pan & Zoom. If you are wondering what the Ken Burns Effect is .. it's the same! So you can click on either. You can see from the below that there are black bars on either side of the photo (at the bottom); and see in the Applied Effects box that the red rectangle is round the original photo.

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Grab that grey bar on the far right in the Applied Effects box and drag it down to the bottom (or roll your mouse wheel down in this area). You will see the 16:9 ratio. Click on that.

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Then drag that right hand grey bar in the Applied Effects box back up to the top again and you will see the red rectangle over the picture is now a 16:9 rectangle. If you click with your mouse in the middle of it you can drag it down a bit to cover the area of the picture you want it to cover. To drag, you 'Click and Hold' .. and the mouse pointer will have changed to a North, East, South, West white icon. Of course you will lose some of the original picture as you are only keeping the 16:9 part of it.

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To confirm that those black bars have gone, look over at the picture in the display area on the right.

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This top red rectangle we have positioned is the first frame of the Zoom we are doing. It says Start Point just above it.
Grab that right hand grey bar again and drag it down a bit (or scroll the mouse) so you can see End Point, with the smaller red rectangle over the photo. This has been put in and positioned automatically by the program. It may not be as you want it.

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This rectangle is too small and not in the right position. To enlarge the rectangle, grab it by a corner (or side) and pull it out a bit. To re-position it over the area of the photo we want as our End Point, put the mouse inside the rectangle and click and drag it over the final area we want. In this case; it's the granddaughter in the boat, centred within the red rectangle. You may not notice a lot if difference between these two screenshots, but look closely! The red rectangle is slightly larger, and the boat is in the middle of the rectangle..

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Second photo. I have done the same with the second photo. Done a Pan & Zoom. Clicked on the 16:9 ratio; positioned the Start Point where I wanted it; enlarged the red rectangle for the End Point and positioned it over the picture where I wanted it.

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To sum up, if there are black bars in the photo you need to do a 16:9 ratio, which is at the bottom of the Applied Effects box. Check out the Start Point and the End Point. You can enlarge/decrease a red rectangle by clicking on a corner and pulling. You can re-position a red rectangle by clicking with the mouse in the middle of it and dragging it.

If you wanted a Zoom Out you would have the rectangles the other way round. Make the Start Point the smaller rectangle (by pulling it inwards), and the End Point the full photo one (by pulling it outwards).

The objective of this post is to show you how Pan & Zoom can have a massive effect on 'still' photographs and give them interest by making them 'move'. To see how this DEMO has worked out click the YouTube video below.



In my next post I shall do what I have done here to all the Blueberry Hill photos as necessary. And there is one video that I need to do this to as well, near the end. The one with the hills in the background. It may be a video, but nothing 'moves' for 40 seconds except for the tips of the grass in the foreground. As mentioned above, with this program I can only do one 'effect' .. so will have to remove the 'Crop' on each picture I did to remove the black bars. Then when I do the Pan & Zoom on the original photo, clicking on the 16:9 ratio will make sure that the black bars are again gone.
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 12 Jul 2021 16:02

Back to my Blueberry Hill Project.

As mentioned above, when I click on a photo in the Slideshow Timeline and try to Pan & Zoom it, I get this.

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I have discovered that I can remove the black bars at the same time as doing a Pan & Zoom so have no need to do a CROP on the ones I want to Pan & Zoom. So I will remove the CROP from those pictures.

Clicking on the picture and then Edit I get the Crop screen showing, and clicking on that x to the right of the word Crop it removes the Crop effect.

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Now I can click on Animations, Pan & Zoom. I won't go through all of the pictures I am going to Pan & Zoom, but will show you a few of them so you can see where I have positioned those red rectangles for the Start Point and the End Point.

One thing to note. When I got this programme it had making videos to 16:9 as the Default. If you look under the 'display' screen top right it clearly says Default.

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If your 'default' is not 16:9 then click the drop-down arrow on the right and choose 16:9.

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How do you know what the 'defaults' are for what you are doing? I had said earlier that I should have checked the 'defaults' for the program before I started putting pictures into the Media Bin, as once they are in there the 'defaults' have already been applied to them. Having got this far with my Project I certainly can't change the 'defaults' now .. but I will take time off to check what they are.

Click on Options, at the top.

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The first Tab that comes up is General.

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And you can see in there some of the 'defaults' that we know have been applied.

1. Default still image duration (seconds) .. 5.0
2. Default transition duration (seconds) .. 2.0
3. Default transition type .. Cross Fade.
4. Add transitions automatically is ticked. Perhaps if we 'untick' that box for next time then we can have "No Transitions". I'll tell Den about that.

Click on the Tab Media Files. At the bottom, it says:

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That is the 16:9 ratio. (Get your calculators out to check! 1920 ÷ 16 = 120. 120 x 9 = 1080)
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 13 Jul 2021 00:30

Back to Animations, Pan & Zoom.



Second picture, of the hill

Start Point.

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End Point.

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This is why I like this program. The picture will move from my first frame to my second, and these are areas of the picture of my choice. This is not a 'Pan right to left', or a 'Zoom In'. It is a 'movement' at an angle up the hill.



Picture of the path .. which is a video clip. The start frame is the whole picture; the end frame is a smaller one, with the path in the centre. So this is a ZOOM to the end of the path. Note that I have deliberately clicked the 16:9 ratio even though the original video clip was 16:9 anyway. I shall be clicking on every 16:9 as I move through the clips.

Start Point.

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End Point.

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The two girls under the archway in the trees. The first red rectangle was created automatically by the program when I clicked on 16:9, and it was at the top of the box. I just moved it down so the two girls were in the right place, in the middle. I enlarged and positioned the second red rectangle where I wanted it to get a ZOOM, with the two girls ending up in the centre of the picture.

Start Point.

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End Point.

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Then there is the video of those hills that lasts for 40 seconds, and only the ends of the grass are moving. I have done a Zoom with two rectangles the same size, so this is effectively a Pan. Haven't used Pan left or Pan right as I want to choose my own positions in the picture to pan. These are the areas in the picture I chose:

Start Point.

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End Point.

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The video is done now. I can watch it Full Screen by clicking on those 'View Fullscreen' arrows in the top right hand corner of the Preview screen.

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Now to SAVE it as an MP4 to put it up on YouTube.

Click on Export.

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The options I always choose are below. In particular, to change where it is saved to the same Folder as my Project; and Widescreen TV (which is .mp4 of course).

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So this is it. Video DEMO3 has had all black bars removed from photos, either by using CROP and no Pan & Zoom. There are two pictures like that. One is the picture of the couple with the dog (which you can see below), and the other is of the two 'little' girls. Or, when doing a Pan & Zoom, making sure I had Keep Proportions set at 16:9. I have also chosen a variety of TRANSITIONS.

You may think that doing all this takes a lot of time, but rather like setting up and playing your keyboard, once you get used to the programme it doesn't take long to set the video up as you want it. The hard part is finding suitable pictures for your project and deciding what order you want them in!

Compare this final video below with the two basic ones I had earlier, DEMO1 and DEMO2.



Hugh

PS. If you want to ask me any questions about all this please feel free to do so. Post a question (or comment) underneath as a POSTREPLY, or email me at hugh@ar-group.org
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby kens » 13 Jul 2021 13:02

HI
A great thanks to Hugh for his efforts. It enabled me to produce videos that are reasonable. I am still on a learning curve but improving by reading the blog.

regads Ken S
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 15 Jul 2021 17:52

More features of this program I am investigating.

1. One thing I always like to do is to have my Title "zooming in", so am wondering if it will do that for me in PhotoStage Slide Show. It had said at one point that you couldn't do two Effects (you can do as many as you like in VideoPad) but doing a Title was not mentioned as one of them.

2. Also in this PhotoStage program one of the Animations is Speed.

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This can be used on a Video clip to slow it down, or speed it up. This will do two things (if you want it to). 1. It will enable you to fit the clip to the music, and 2. It will change the overall time of the whole video so the Video fits to the Audio.

3. And thirdly, some of the video clips I import from Pixabay have "Audio" attached to them. The only Audio we want in our videos is the MP3 music we are attaching. We don't want 'tweeting birds' or 'waves crashing on the shore' or 'traffic noise' mixed into the audio. The Audio on these clips can be MUTED.

I shall do a short DEMO to explain about the above.

1. I have started my DEMO Video with a blue rectangle and written the Title in WHITE, using the Font Arial with a font Size of 8. For my Start frame I want the whole picture, so the writing is small and in the middle.

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This is what it looks like in the display.

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The End frame I want those words to 'fill the screen' (so they will appear LARGE) so I have positioned a smaller red rectangle round those words.

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This is what those words look like when they fill the screen. Bearing in mind that the program runs 'smoothly' from the Start Point to the End Point, the effect is to Zoom In.

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2. Changing the Speed of a Video Clip.

Click on Animations, Speed and you get the clip at it's default speed (100%).

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To slow it down or speed it up just change the percentage number.

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3. If you look in the Media Bin (top left) you will see any imported clips that have audio attached to them as they have a blue 'musical note' Image in the bottom right hand corner.

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When you put the clips onto the Timeline they have a little loudspeaker showing.

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Click on the loudspeaker icon and you can tick the box to Mute the sound. I have done that with this clip.

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When you look closely at that loudspeaker icon on the Timeline you will see a red x in front of it showing that the sound is muted.

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The video below shows how these three features have been applied.



Hugh
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 18 Jul 2021 17:45

Back to my video of Blueberry Hill. I have re-loaded the Project into PhotoStage Slideshow so I can make a couple more adjustments to the video.

Having discovered that I can do a 'Zoom' on my Intro I am going to do that for this video. Clicking on that first clip, I can do the text again by clicking on Text (at the top) and the white box shows. Clicking inside of this box brings the Text up (I can't see it because it's white!). I have then highlighted all the writing (either click and drag across the whole box with your mouse, or do a Ctrl + A on your keypad). If I am going to ZOOM then I have to have the writing smaller to start with, so I have changed the Arial Font Size to 8pt. Click the X in the top right hand corner of the box to close the box and SAVE the change.

I now click on Animations at the top and choose Pan & Zoom.
The First Frame is the whole picture with the Title in the middle in 8pt.

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The Second Frame is the smaller red rectangle, placed round the 8pt writing. This will then show that writing 'filling the screen' .. so what I have is a Zoom.

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I then nipped back to the Text Overlay box and ticked the Fade in and out, changing the time to 1.0 secs.
I can see the cursor for the writing, but not the writing as it's 'white on white'!

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Then in that last frame, with the lady walking down the wood, I have the words Played on Yamaha AR80 Organ showing top right of the screen. I had the Font Size for this too large, so have changed it to 8pt. Also, the writing was not 'centred', so I have added some spaces at the end of each line to (a) not have it so close to the right hand edge, and (b) to have the two lines 'centred' one above the other.

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I had clicked on Right, and Top so the writing was in that area.
As this is a video clip and goes on for some time, I also changed the Fade in and out time to 5.0secs.

I am happy with the whole video now, so have posted it to YouTube as a Public video. This means that anyone with the LINK can watch it, and it will be listed on my Channel.

But ...

When I did this, YouTube once again chose the picture to 'front' my video .. and that was the same as the other three I have put up, DEMO 1, DEMO 2, and DEMO 3, the picture of the couple with the dog (see below).

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So then I had four videos with the same fronting picture! So what I have done this time is to get a 16:9 picture from the second picture, the one of the hill with the trees on top.

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Then click on Upload thumbnail, find the picture on my computer and click Open, which uploads it as a new Thumbnail.

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... and this is the Thumbnail being used for my video (as below).



Any questions or comments, please click on POSTREPLY below.

Hugh
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 22 Jul 2021 18:01

Ken has pointed out to me that his choices for Animations don't appear to be the same as mine.

This is what I have:

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.. and this is what Ken has.

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In reality, these two programs are the same in how they work. If Ken were to click on his Pan he would have a drop-down box to choose Pan Left or Pan Right. Thing is, we don't ever want to use either of these, and we don't want Auto Zoom either. Both of these create 'default' Pans and Zooms, and the whole reason why this program is so good is because you get to choose your Start Frames and End Frames for your Pan/Zoom. The Auto Zoom just zooms the picture centrally. Ok if what you wanted to zoom in on is central, but that wouldn't work if you are wanting to zoom towards something on top, bottom or sides of the picture.

The one I need to use is Pan & Zoom; and the one Ken needs is Zoom. These are both the same. You choose a Start Frame (which fills the screen at the start) and an End Frame (which fills the screen at the end). And that is your 'zoom' or 'pan'. For a ZOOM, one of those frames is the whole photo; and the other a smaller frame, placed centrally over what you want to zoom. Which you have as which gives a ZOOM IN or a ZOOM OUT.

For a PAN, the two frames have to be the same size, side by side .. and you obviously lose a portion of the photo at the top, bottom, or both. Depending on your choice of Start Frame and End Frame you can either Pan Left or Pan Right. The Pan Animation will auto choose how much of the picture to pan, and which part of it. Best to use the Zoom to Pan, and choose the rectangles yourself.

The extra icon I have is Ken Burns. This is what they called Pan & Zoom originally .. and then came to the conclusion that no one knew what a 'Ken Burns' Effect was .. so better call it by what it actually does .. Pan & Zoom!
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Hugh-AR » 30 Jan 2022 17:20

Using the Cube Spin TRANSITION

There is a Cube Spin Transition near the bottom if the TRANSITION page. Wasn't very impressed with that is it looked to me very much like the Reveal Transition.

What I hadn't realised was that there is a slider in the middle called Distance. If you move the slider across to about 10 (on a 2 second Transition) it makes the cube 'move back' as it turns. To make the turn 'smooth', click Smooth as well.

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This is how the Transition looks when handled correctly.



A great tool for making videos!
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Re: PhotoStage Slide Show from NCH Software

Postby Rev Tony Newnham » 31 Jan 2022 07:56

Hi

Although this programme seems to do a lot, I can see very little on a quick scan through the posts above that can't be done in a normal video editing programme such as Premiere Elements, which is what I'm currently using. I admit I've not tried the fancy effects, but it's simple to drop still pictures in (the video I did just before Christmas for our local Organists' Association is all stills and titles). For me at present a programme specifically to produce slide shows is pointless, particularly as I currently mainly do videos with moving pictures. "Horses for courses" as they say.

Incidentally, PowerPoint allows you to export as a slide show, with audio, although I found timing can be a bit hit and miss - and it's been a long time since I've needed the facility.

It's definitely worth looking at specialized software if you have a need for the facilities on offer.

Every Blessing

Tony
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