Help me make a slideshow

May 1, 2007 12:31 PM

As the resident "hey, he's pretty good with computers" guy, I've been entrusted to create a slideshow for an end-of-the-year banquet. I need to find a program that will allow me to do this as easily as possible. I also need suggestions for programs or a workflow or both to take this slideshow and put it onto 200 DVD's, for all attending to take home a copy. I have an iBook G4, running the latest version of OSX.

I specifically need (and want) to do a few things with this slideshow, aside from cycle through photographs. I realize that I could use iPhoto, but I am hoping that there is/are programs with a little bit more customizablility. Also, the program needs to be free or very cheap, as I will not be getting any money to do this.
Here are the things that need to happen in the slideshow:
- I need to be able to set it to music
- I need for it to easily handle in excess of 500 photos
- I need for it to be exportable as a movie file, for the DVD's
- I want as much customizability with the slideshow settings as possible (as in more than iPhoto alone offers.)
If iPhoto truly is my best option, tell me so.

The DVD is what I'm really having trouble with. I would really like it to be playable on a standard DVD player, as well as have all of the files (slideshow, image files) as data for use on a computer. I realize that I can use iMovie to do the whole DVD player-playable part of the disc, but I do not know how to take my slideshow and make it into a movie file that iMovie can use (or even how to use iMovie, really, but that's a hurdle I can get over myself). I also don't know how to do a dual burn with the data and the movie(if this is even possible). Suggestions, tips, programs, workflows that have worked for you, or anything else pertinent that will help me complete this task that was kind of just thrown in my lap.

Additionally, any tips on how to burn 200 DVD's efficiently? I have 3, potentially more, (if I enlist friends) DVD burners at my disposal.

I have just shy of a month to get this done, FWIW.

posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew to computers & internet (11 answers total)

I'm not sure if it would work on a Mac, but Microsoft PhotoStory sounds like it would fit the bill pretty well.

I wonder if you could just use iMovie, and import pictures instead of video clips? That'd let you easily put it to music, and export as a movie.
posted by DMan at 12:41 PM on May 1, 2007

Yeah, I think you can go from iPhoto > iMovie > iDVD and then you'll have much more control of transitions, music, menus, etc.
posted by luriete at 12:47 PM on May 1, 2007

Have you considered Keynote? It can export your presentation to a video file. Getting that on to a DVD may be slightly less than easy, but not by much.
posted by odinsdream at 12:47 PM on May 1, 2007

iMovie is probably the easiest way. Import all your pictures, arrange them, add music tracks, and export it or burn it to DVD.

If you're going to be burning 200 DVD's, I'd enlist the help of some friends to split the burning among multiple computers (in the name of time and sanity)
posted by chrisamiller at 12:49 PM on May 1, 2007

You could use flash to create an interactive, standalone player that works on computers, alongside your static images. you can download a full trial version of flash from their website; its good for thirty days. and i recommend installing slideshowpro.net - highly customizable, and heavy-duty. As for publishing a DVD out of the slideshow, well I've never used iPhoto, but it sounds like the way to go. As for burning, you are looking for what's called "mixed mode" burning, basically, allowing data to be retained outside of the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS that make up the DVD build that works on normal players. DragonBurn does this, but I have not personally used it.
posted by phaedon at 1:12 PM on May 1, 2007

Here is a tutorial from Apple on how to use iMovie to create image slideshows, using iMovie's various transitions.

Here is another tutorial from Apple explaining how to export a finished iMovie project to iDVD, to author a DVD.

You'll save a lot of time and have fewer problems exporting your master DVD to a duplication company like DiscMakers, but there is a nominal per-disc cost involved.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:20 PM on May 1, 2007

nthing just using iMovie - it has a Getting Started guide in it that covers the basic featureset, and adding pictures to a project is literally drag and drop. (if they're in iPhoto, then you can get to your library from within iMovie even.) you can use the Share menu to send it to Quicktime to save as a regular movie file, and then send to iDVD to add menus and such. iDVD can save your project as a disk image, which you can then ship off to a duplicator or to your friends for duplication. you may be able to take said disk image and load it into something like Roxio Toast to make it a hybrid disc, with both regular DVD video and computer data parts (though you'd wanna check that out first - didn't see anything on their website saying specifically it could, though I didn't look very hard).
posted by mrg at 2:29 PM on May 1, 2007

ProShow Gold does all you want and more (if you feel like putting some money behind it)
posted by softlord at 2:57 PM on May 1, 2007

Except that it runs under Windows, not Mac OS X.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:07 PM on May 1, 2007

First, the DVD spec doesn't permit more than 99 slides. You'll have to build 5 slide shows (and I don't think iDVD lets you link slideshows together.)

If you make them in iMovie, you're fine - it'll just see a single video track. (some basic transitions and moves there too.)

Now, what you COULD do, is this:
Create the slideshow in iMovie.

Export from iMovie a Quicktime of the slide show (compressed for web), this will be the digital version.

Also, Send the iMovie over to iDVD

Create your DVD in iDVD and then do a "Save as disc image."

(please test the following)
I believe this will yield a disk image.

Now, you have an image on your hard drive. On this image, in a folder, add the QT movie and a folder containing all of the Slideshow photos.

You now should have an image that you can copy to a hard drive (to take to other macs) that should be able to burn multiple DVDs of your iMovie Movie, with a smaller version that can playback independent of a DVD player (cross platform) along with the slides.
posted by filmgeek at 9:43 PM on May 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks. I'll try what filmgeek said.

But if that doesn't work, I have copies of both toast and dragonburn floating around, so i'm sure i'll figure it out eventually.

and yes, i've already enlisted the help of 10 friends to get these suckers burned in a timely fashion.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 9:08 AM on May 2, 2007