Increasing slideshow photo duration?

Captainjwl

Newbie Joined: Dec 18, 2009 02:03 Messages: 8 Offline

Solved by

Dec 18, 2009 02:22

Hi guys. New here but have been reading on your website for a while tonight and have already come up with some interesting ideas and work arounds. I haven't found a direct answer to my question yet though. This is the closest so far though. http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7894.page

My question is, can I change the default/automatic duration of my photos when I choose the slideshow feature? It seems to automatically do 3 seconds but I want 5 seconds. Is there a setting in the power director or can I edit a settings file on my pc? Reason I ask is that I am building a slideshow with about 600 photos (so I want to use the automatic features of the slideshow program instead of manual) and want to put it to a certain time frame of music without it looping the photos or speeding them through like it does. Currently it speeds the photos through at around 3 seconds a piece and then loops them again to fill out the rest of the time to the music. I built the music for each of the 600 photos to last for 5 seconds a piece. In summary, my question is, is there any way to hard-nail the slideshow photo duration to 5 seconds?

Thanks in advance guys. This power director 8 is pretty awesome and reliable for me. I am highly impressed with it.

Josh

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 18, 2009 22:46

G'day Josh -

All you need to do is go to Director's Chair > Edit > Preferences > Editing... and there you can change the default duration of images, transitions and other things.

Unfortunately, & I know I'm reading between the lines, if you use some of the slide show templates your default settings will be ignored. For example, in the Cell Template the durations you set are irrelevant.

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Dec 21. 2009 22:06

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Captainjwl

Newbie Joined: Dec 18, 2009 02:03 Messages: 8 Offline

Dec 18, 2009 23:18

Thanks for the input Tony. Yes I have changed that duration to no effect during the slideshow templates as you pointed out.

Is there any other way in slideshow to alter the duration of photos? If not, I will likely load the 600 photos, record/publish the movie and then reload it and slow it down as suggested in another post.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

BTW - Tony I love your avatar and JRR Tolkien quote!

Cat.Man

Senior Member Location: Romania Joined: Jul 29, 2009 01:09 Messages: 188 Offline

Dec 19, 2009 05:13

Hi Captainjwl!Welcome
Can you help is here,for me has been helpful:
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/9059.page
Good Luck

Sincerely Catalin. God is my only Master and my family is my only treasure!

Bannon

Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2009 20:07 Messages: 22 Offline

Dec 21, 2009 20:15

Like the Captain, I too would like PD8 to adjust the duration of the slides to the length of the music without repeating the slides. Competing products have this capability and I think it would be a great enhancement.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 21, 2009 22:30

Hi again -

Here's a little freeware tool that analyses the BPM (beats per minute) of any music you throw at it.

http://www.mixmeister.com/bpmanalyzer/bpmanalyzer.asp

Once it's analysed the BPM you can use that to calculate the required duration of slides & transitions. After the basic calculation is done, it needs tweaking (resetting preferences and reloading photos) to get it just right, because the transitions use part of the duration of each image. Without transitions, it would be a piece of cake.

I believe this is a very basic version of the same kind of tool that is included in "competing" products (just can't think of one that sells for similar money).

Cheers - Tony

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Bannon

Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2009 20:07 Messages: 22 Offline

Dec 22, 2009 06:17

Quote:

I believe this is a very basic version of the same kind of tool that is included in "competing" products (just can't think of one that sells for similar money).

Premiere Elements and Videostudio X2 both will adjust the duration of the photos to accomodate the length of the one or more songs you use in the slideshow and they are similarly priced.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 22, 2009 07:49

Thanks for that Bannon -

All good information... I'll look into those.

In the meantime... I just threw together a quick slide show using Power Director - together with Mixmeister - you can see it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDaSYaX1ddM

It's not there as any great kind of piece... just to show the result of not really much effort.

1. Assemble folder of photos.
2. Select music.
3. Mixmeister analysis... 116 bpm - rounded off = about 2 beats per second.
4. Import images into PD.
5. Adjust image duration in preferences to 4 seconds = 8 beats per image.
6. Adjust transition duration in preferences to 0.4 seconds (just to trial)
7. Drop everything in - run test. Almost follows beat, but needs tweaking (too quick)
8. Dump everything - adjust image duration to 4.3 seconds
9. Drop it all in again. Closer.
10. Minor adjustment of a few individual slides' durations.

Observation. First tried it without transitions. Very unforgiving! Even short transitions (mine were set to 0.2 seconds, which is about 5 frames) allow viewer visual adjustment.

Yes - absolutely - a bit of a fiddle - & wouldn't it be nice if PD did that without the mucking around.

It can be done.

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Dec 22. 2009 07:50

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Bannon

Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2009 20:07 Messages: 22 Offline

Dec 22, 2009 08:20

Thanks for the follow up Tony. I guess I was thinking in terms of the more elaborate slideshow capabilities PD8 possesses but your process for creating a simple slideshow, which is likely what I'm after anyway, is worth testing.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 22, 2009 23:23

Hi Bannon & Josh -

Aside from making a beat matching slide show manually (as above), it is possible in PD8 to use one of the templates.

The only slide show template in PD8 that is able to detect beat in music and adjust transitions is the Cell Template... &, even then, it requires music with a strong, steady beat. All other preset templates essentially ignore the music.

Here's a short example, customised so that only 6 images appear at once, showing how the beat has been detected. Titles were added manually and timed to land "in the middle of the bar" (ie. beat 3 of 4/4).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Ybaoaaqws

Cheers - Tony

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Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Dec 22, 2009 23:30

WOW Tony, you are good, that looks excellent.

Cheers

Robert S My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 23, 2009 01:43

Thanks Robert -

It's not really good flower music (actually it'd rather suit hang gliding or surfing clips)... but it gives the idea anyway.

Cheers mate -

Tony
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Bannon

Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2009 20:07 Messages: 22 Offline

Dec 24, 2009 15:55

The PD8 manual refers to a Slideshow Preferences button in the Slideshow Designer and for some reason I can't find it. Is that function not available in the trial version?

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 24, 2009 16:17

Hi Bannon -

Are you talking about the Slideshow Preferences button that pops up at the bottom of the screen (right beside Music Preferences) when you select one of the templates?

Cheers - Tony
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Bannon

Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2009 20:07 Messages: 22 Offline

Dec 24, 2009 16:23

That's the button I'm refering to Tony. It does't pop up on any of the templates in my trial version.

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 24, 2009 17:49

Select all your timeline images - click slideshow - select template - it should be there! That's very odd!
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Bannon

Newbie Joined: Dec 21, 2009 20:07 Messages: 22 Offline

Dec 24, 2009 17:55

Strange indeed! I did those exact steps and tried the three templates included in the trial version (i.e., Cell, Motion, and Normal) and nary a Slideshow Preferences button to be found.

Thanks for your help Tony and if we don't exchange any more messages on this topic tonight, Merry Christmas!

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Dec 24, 2009 18:35

Bannon -

It's a mystery to me too. Sorry I couldn't help.

All the very best to you and yours. Thank you for the greeting. Maybe Santa will bring you a Slideshow Button

Merry Christmas - Tony
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Robert2 S

Senior Contributor Location: Australia Joined: Apr 22, 2009 05:57 Messages: 1461 Offline

Mar 21, 2010 01:41

I know this is an old thread but I have not been able to find a solution.

1. I drop a bunch of photos on the timeline.
2. I use the slideshow button and when using the "normal" effect there is no way to alter the default 3 second transition.

Now I have used the Directors chair option and even extended the length of the individual photos to 20 seconds and the transition length to 10 seconds but still no ability to extend the transition effect any higher than 3 seconds when using the slideshow option. Am I missing something?

Cheers

Robert S My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Mar 21, 2010 02:13

Hi Robert -

I'm not sure whether you're building the slideshow manually or using the normal template.

If you're doing it manually - you're inserting the transitions - the maximum duration can only be half the length of the image before/after it... so if images A & B have durations of 10 seconds, the maximum transition time is 5 seconds.

If you're using the normal slideshow template - you clicked the slideshow button - then you've lost control of all durations, as it's built into the template. The only way of modifying that is to apply video speed later.

Cheers - Tony
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