Video Factory for slide shows - How suited?

Based on some helpful comments on this forum, I've been directed to Video Factory (Sonic Foundry) as a program for creating VCD's with a fair amount of control over the audio. As opposed to the limited control in the JASC Album.

After downloading the demo version, I have some questions about VF 2.0. Basically it is a program optimized for editing video as opposed to single slides or photos. As a result it appears that it can be awkward for a photo based slide show because the paradigm is a strip, not cells or photos. For example, I had little luck in importing a slide show from a file; the order, timing, etc. were all lost. Also there doesn't seem to be any way to deal with groups of slides, only "sliding" each one along the "strip" one at a time. I couldn't figure out how to set a standard time for each slide except by eyeballing it on the strip.

Maybe I'm not far enough up the learning curve, but I'm hoping someone else is and can let me know if it is worth climbing.

Thanks a million for any ideas.

jlstanton,

I am a big fan of sonic foundry, but I only use it for slideshows when I really need to. It is a non-linear video editor which makes it about 100 times harder to use than a well designed photo slide show program. The advantage is you usually have 100% control over everything but the disadvantage is it WILL take you a lot longer to use it.

Any more I just use proshow for slideshows because I can do almost everytihng Id want to do in a show but in 1/20th the time.

Is there some feature you decided on a video editor rather than a program designed to make shows? I cant imagine using a non-linear editor to make a still slideshow unless there was a really, really good reason for it.

Adam

jlstanton said:

Based on some helpful comments on this forum, I've been directed to
Video Factory (Sonic Foundry) as a program for creating VCD's with
a fair amount of control over the audio. As opposed to the limited
control in the JASC Album.

After downloading the demo version, I have some questions about VF
2.0. Basically it is a program optimized for editing video as
opposed to single slides or photos. As a result it appears that it
can be awkward for a photo based slide show because the paradigm is
a strip, not cells or photos. For example, I had little luck in
importing a slide show from a file; the order, timing, etc. were
all lost. Also there doesn't seem to be any way to deal with
groups of slides, only "sliding" each one along the "strip" one at
a time. I couldn't figure out how to set a standard time for each
slide except by eyeballing it on the strip.

Maybe I'm not far enough up the learning curve, but I'm hoping
someone else is and can let me know if it is worth climbing.

Thanks a million for any ideas.

Click to expand...

Video Factory is the professional version of Video Explosion Deluxe. That have the same interface and import in the same fashion. Vedeo Factory permits many more tracks than VED and has some other advanced features, but costs 3-4 times what VED costs. Pinnacle Studio Deluxe has a storyboard format along with a timeline format, that whould make it easier for you to drop your images where you want them and imports the whole folder where the images are stored so it might be easier for you to work in that program rather then VED.
Tom

Adam said:

jlstanton,

I am a big fan of sonic foundry, but I only use it for slideshows
when I really need to. It is a non-linear video editor which makes
it about 100 times harder to use than a well designed photo slide
show program. The advantage is you usually have 100% control over
everything but the disadvantage is it WILL take you a lot longer to
use it.

Any more I just use proshow for slideshows because I can do almost
everytihng Id want to do in a show but in 1/20th the time.

Is there some feature you decided on a video editor rather than a
program designed to make shows? I cant imagine using a non-linear
editor to make a still slideshow unless there was a really, really
good reason for it.

Click to expand...

1. Ability to pan across panoramas
2. Zoom into or out from images
3. Picture in picture

4. Mix stills and video in same slideshow (most digital cameras are now capable of movie clips)

5. Much greater control over audio - for example, reduce volume of background track when you over dub a commentary
6. Separate control of caption fade-in/fade-out. Rolling credits

That's just scratching the surface. I find myself using very few transitions of the type available in programs like ProShow - movies and TV rarely use anything other than straight cuts, fades or dissolves. Panning and zooming with stills can create a real sense of movement and added interest.

ianc

Thanks for the replies. They are very helpful. I think that I would love Video Factory because of the control it affords over everything (played with it some more last night), but as an earlier poster noted, it takes forever to use because it deal with strips of media, not defined photos. So if you have to arrange each photo individually and moving one photo could force you to go through all the rest of the slide show, slide by slide, to make adjustments.

Proshow sounds like an interesting compromise, although Video Factory could certainly expand it's market by including some basic slide management functions to minimize this problem.

Thanks and other ideas still very welcome.

Tom Marlow said:

Video Factory is the professional version of Video Explosion
Deluxe. That have the same interface and import in the same
fashion. Vedeo Factory permits many more tracks than VED and has
some other advanced features, but costs 3-4 times what VED costs.
Pinnacle Studio Deluxe has a storyboard format along with a
timeline format, that whould make it easier for you to drop your
images where you want them and imports the whole folder where the
images are stored so it might be easier for you to work in that
program rather then VED.
Tom

Click to expand...

With video factory, it has a 5 second time per slide by default. All that you need to do is find the pictures that you want included in its explorer window and it will automatically put the photo into the show. It could not be simpler. That is the same way the Ulead's DVD show works.

For moving a slide, you can group a set of slides together and move them.

By the way, Video Vegas is the professional version from Sonic Foundry. Video Factory is its "kid brother."

Also, when you save a project in Video Factory, you can tell it to copy all of the individual elements into the same directory.

Randy

jlstanton said:

Proshow sounds like an interesting compromise, although Video
Factory could certainly expand it's market by including some basic
slide management functions to minimize this problem.

Thanks and other ideas still very welcome.

Tom Marlow said:

Video Factory is the professional version of Video Explosion
Deluxe. That have the same interface and import in the same
fashion. Vedeo Factory permits many more tracks than VED and has
some other advanced features, but costs 3-4 times what VED costs.
Pinnacle Studio Deluxe has a storyboard format along with a
timeline format, that whould make it easier for you to drop your
images where you want them and imports the whole folder where the
images are stored so it might be easier for you to work in that
program rather then VED.
Tom

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ok...how about changing a whole bunch of slides to a 4 second time per slide? Appears that you have to do it one at a time...right?

Randy Olson said:

For moving a slide, you can group a set of slides together and move
them.

By the way, Video Vegas is the professional version from Sonic
Foundry. Video Factory is its "kid brother."

Also, when you save a project in Video Factory, you can tell it to
copy all of the individual elements into the same directory.

Randy

jlstanton said:

Proshow sounds like an interesting compromise, although Video
Factory could certainly expand it's market by including some basic
slide management functions to minimize this problem.

Thanks and other ideas still very welcome.

Tom Marlow said:

Video Factory is the professional version of Video Explosion
Deluxe. That have the same interface and import in the same
fashion. Vedeo Factory permits many more tracks than VED and has
some other advanced features, but costs 3-4 times what VED costs.
Pinnacle Studio Deluxe has a storyboard format along with a
timeline format, that whould make it easier for you to drop your
images where you want them and imports the whole folder where the
images are stored so it might be easier for you to work in that
program rather then VED.
Tom

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

fjstanton,

Right. Video factory, while being an EXCELLENT video editor, isnt designed for slide shows. It is a non-linear video editor - there is no shortcut to make it easier for slideshows. I have both and have used both a LOT. I use proshow for slideshows and video factory for video editing. (If Im wrong, please somoene tell me how to do that, because I think it is impossible!)

In proshow, just select all of the slides, click on the time indicator in any of the selected slides and type '4'. Hit enter. Done. Video factory will never do that because it is not designed for that. If sonic makes it do that, theyd be breaking all the rules of video editing and Id hate it for other reasons when editing normal video tracks.

On another note, I wish I could justify paying for Vegas+, but this is more of a hobby for me...Im already spoiled with video factory for my needs. Im actually surprised just how good video factory is considering the incredibly low price. I got it for $60 at compusa.

Adam

jlstanton said:

Ok...how about changing a whole bunch of slides to a 4 second time
per slide? Appears that you have to do it one at a time...right?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure about Video Factory but in Vegas you can set the default for slide duration and the overlap for automatic cross-fades by editing Preferences (under the Options menu) - the initial defaults are 5 secs and 0.5 secs respectively. Perhaps Adam could check to see if this is available in VF.

Vegas 4 also has "ripple" and "shuffle" editing modes so that when you drag a new slide onto the timeline, or move an existing slide, then space is automatically created. I'm certain that this is not in Video Factory as it was a new feature introduced a month ago with Vegas 4.

Adam said:

Right. Video factory, while being an EXCELLENT video editor, isnt
designed for slide shows. It is a non-linear video editor - there
is no shortcut to make it easier for slideshows. I have both and
have used both a LOT. I use proshow for slideshows and video
factory for video editing. (If Im wrong, please somoene tell me
how to do that, because I think it is impossible!)

In proshow, just select all of the slides, click on the time
indicator in any of the selected slides and type '4'. Hit enter.
Done. Video factory will never do that because it is not designed
for that. If sonic makes it do that, theyd be breaking all the
rules of video editing and Id hate it for other reasons when
editing normal video tracks.

On another note, I wish I could justify paying for Vegas+, but this
is more of a hobby for me...Im already spoiled with video factory
for my needs. Im actually surprised just how good video factory is
considering the incredibly low price. I got it for $60 at compusa.

Adam

jlstanton said:

Ok...how about changing a whole bunch of slides to a 4 second time
per slide? Appears that you have to do it one at a time...right?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I think VF does have ripple...I'll check. I'm working with trial versions of both products right now and will check out your ideas. I'll let you know what I find.

ianc,

I dont see any options for that in my copy of sonic foundry. Damn...now I have to check for upgrades agian... Ill post again if I find a feature for that in the update.

Adam

ianc said:

Vegas 4 also has "ripple" and "shuffle" editing modes so that when
you drag a new slide onto the timeline, or move an existing slide,
then space is automatically created. I'm certain that this is not
in Video Factory as it was a new feature introduced a month ago
with Vegas 4.

Adam said:

Right. Video factory, while being an EXCELLENT video editor, isnt
designed for slide shows. It is a non-linear video editor - there
is no shortcut to make it easier for slideshows. I have both and
have used both a LOT. I use proshow for slideshows and video
factory for video editing. (If Im wrong, please somoene tell me
how to do that, because I think it is impossible!)

In proshow, just select all of the slides, click on the time
indicator in any of the selected slides and type '4'. Hit enter.
Done. Video factory will never do that because it is not designed
for that. If sonic makes it do that, theyd be breaking all the
rules of video editing and Id hate it for other reasons when
editing normal video tracks.

On another note, I wish I could justify paying for Vegas+, but this
is more of a hobby for me...Im already spoiled with video factory
for my needs. Im actually surprised just how good video factory is
considering the incredibly low price. I got it for $60 at compusa.

Adam

jlstanton said:

Ok...how about changing a whole bunch of slides to a 4 second time
per slide? Appears that you have to do it one at a time...right?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I don't think there is any dispute that if you use something like Premiere you can put out a pretty impressive slide show. But that's like using Deep Blue to balance your check book. It seems to me that differences between NLEs and the best of the slide show editors is diminishing rapidly. As far as I can see, there are just two big differences left between them; price and time. If I had to pay what I paid for Premiere for a slide show editor, it had better come with Playboy bunny to deliver it personally and if it took as long to create as it does with Premiere, that bunny had better plan on sticking around for some personal tutelage.

There is also auto cross fade, but I'm not sure how that works yet. But yes, Ripple is there. I just wish they had a command that would enable one to pick a an area on the track and apply a standard time to each frame. It so close to being efficient as well as flexible.

jlstanton said:

I think VF does have ripple...I'll check. I'm working with trial
versions of both products right now and will check out your ideas.
I'll let you know what I find.

Click to expand...

Adam

I downloaded the VF demo to check it out myself... and to compare it with Vegas.

Unfortunately, there isn't the option in VF to change the 5 sec default for still picture duration. However, once the images are on the timline, it's easy to change the duration of some or all of them. Select the images by clicking on the first and shift-clicking on the last in the range. Press G on the keyboard to group them. Control-drag the right edge of the last image to extend or shorten all of the images.

The ripple mode is present in VF but is less convenient than in Vegas where you can just drag new images into the middle of an existing sequence. To achieve the same in VF, drag an image from Explorer or the Media Pool whilst holding down the right-hand mouse key; when you drop it into a sequence a pop-up menu gives you a choice of ripple insert which clear a space for the new image. In Vegas, a similar technique can move an image to a new position in the sequence (shuffle edit).

Another tip is to right-click on an image and choose "Select Events to End", you can then drag the selection to the right to make room on the timeline.

Visit the Sonic Foundry forum: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowTopics.asp?ForumID=12

You'll find a very friendly and helpful bunch - much like dpreview. Try searching for PIP or "Picture in Picture", for example, for some very useful tips.

Overall, I found VF an excellent package, the main features I missed from Vegas were the multiple video tracks and Track Motion.

ianc

Adam said:

I dont see any options for that in my copy of sonic foundry.
Damn...now I have to check for upgrades agian... Ill post again if
I find a feature for that in the update.

Adam

ianc said:

I'm not sure about Video Factory but in Vegas you can set the
default for slide duration and the overlap for automatic
cross-fades by editing Preferences (under the Options menu) - the
initial defaults are 5 secs and 0.5 secs respectively. Perhaps Adam
could check to see if this is available in VF.

Vegas 4 also has "ripple" and "shuffle" editing modes so that when
you drag a new slide onto the timeline, or move an existing slide,
then space is automatically created. I'm certain that this is not
in Video Factory as it was a new feature introduced a month ago
with Vegas 4.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...