Suggestions for a simple Presentation app...

rubaiyat

rubaiyat

Registered
I am trying to put together a simple presentation, basically a controllable free standing slideshow.

I have tried an enormous range of OSX software including the obvious QuickTime, but they all screw up in one way or another.

Can anyone out there recommend an app that would do the job?
 
Keynote is quite great for those. iWork, with Pages and Keynote, costs 79 USD IIRC.
 
Both Keynote and Pages require I build the presentation one page at a time dragging, positioning and sizing each image from the desktop. I have hundreds of images and they are at an odd small size which is difficult or impossible to set up in iWorks

Going via iPhoto gets my images into the Inspector pallettes but otherwise only complicates the issue.

iPhoto itself only allows me 3 sizes in exported movies and is incredibly slow. I hate taking things into iPhoto anyway as it just chokes up my boot volume with dupes in odd places I have trouble tracking.

iMovie creates enormous (Gbs!!) files.

Preview doesn't let you save slideshows in either of the obvious formats ie QT movie or multi-page pdf file. Actually it simply doesn't let you save.

The whole iLife/iWorks is a fiasco at such a simple task.

The closest I have got so far is Graphic Converter, which is fast if not well laid out, but for some reason the Push from below transition fails.

All the 3rd party apps I have tried so far fail in one aspect or another. Can anyone suggest an app or technique they use for this?
 
Another good option is to put the slideshow together in Keynote and then export it as a QuickTime file. You can then use QuickTime Pro to turn that quicktime file into a kiosk-mode full-screen file that can be interacted with only in very limited ways.
 
Not sure how soon you need it, or how much money you're willing to spend but a few ideas that came to mind:

OS X v10.5 (upcoming) will support built-in slide-shows for folders full of images, with some ability to move forward and backward.

Aperture has nice slide-show capabilities.

I think PhotoMechanic (which is easier to learn and cheaper than Aperture) is also capable of this.

Last but not least Photoshop LightRoom has slide-show capabilities I believe.

All of these should do a better job than iPhoto and other consumer grade products, or individual slide presentation products. If you're in a hurry, I would say Photoshop Lightroom is your best bet. It's not too expensive, will give you a lot of other great photography-related functions, and it's available now.

-PJ
 
PuckJunky,

Slide-shows that only show the contents of a folder of images are not portable, rely on a combination of system and software that the user is unlikely to have, and fall apart as soon as anything in the chain of requirements or images is disturbed.

In other words they are VBI (Very Bad Ideas).

Lightroom will only export to pdf without the sound or transitions.

Aperture can't export a slideshow without a convoluted, slow Automator procedure via iDVD.

Photo Mechanic is similarly restricted as far as I can tell*.

They all share a large price tag, bloated system requirements and make it inordinately difficult for such a simple task.

Now if Apple only let Preview do the obvious and save its slide-show to QuickTime...

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* Picture Arena is a worthy alternative to Photo Mechanic at a much lower price, but is no more capable at making slide-shows.
 
Maybe I'm not understanding something... are you putting this show together for other people (iow, to distribute to other people)?
 
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