Several AV suggestions

[Theo Dibbits]

I was very impressed with Howard and Suzanne's presentation and the quality of their AV work.
The problem with digital photography is that most of our work remains unseen on the PC. Hence the popularity of the digital comp.
Making a quality AV would be a good way to showcase our work to friends and family (without boring the pants off them)

Here are my suggestions:

1 IAC licensing
I looked on the IAC website (http://www.theiac.org.uk) and because ADAPS is a member of the PAGB it looks like a license would cost £ 8.54 per year per person. (to use commercial music legally) I have emailed them to ask confirmation and who at ADAPS would have to confirm membership. Once I receive a reply can we please formalise the procedure and put it on the web.

2 Music workshop
I have no intention of paying ADOBE any more money but some one showed us the use of Audacity which is a free download audacity.sourceforge.net which is available for linux as well and CDex. Can we have a workshop of using these pieces of software (or any others that are free and legal) to prepare a sound track.
i.e. music ripping, multi track, fade in and out etc. Voice-over would also be great. It may end up in a session of the blind leading the blind but we would certainly learn a lot. Our presenters had the slides changing in tune with the music. How to do that.

3 Picture preparation workshop
I really liked some of the transitions they showed. Clearly the pictures need to be prepared specially. It would be nice to do a workshop in preparing the pictures including sizing, layers and layermasks use for transitions. I could probably figure most of it out but it would be better to get it right first time.
(still not clear what size is used for what) Or possibly ask Howard & Suzanne back for this specific subject.

4 Pictures to Exe
Next would be a workshop or presentation on the use of PtoEX. Not only on preparing a slideshow for the PC but also how to make a high quality production for showing on a HDTV. Mine look good on my monitor but absolute cr... on the TV. Yet the ones I send to my family are normally shown on their TV. I suspect it has to do with file size and file type but not sure.

5 Alternative software
I am sure there are alternative pieces of software out. But unless some one does a short presentation it is hard to pursue them all.
If people are already using them maybe they can just show the main features.

What do other members think?

Theo

[Tom Gerrard]

Anyone interested in trying to make an AV can download a trial version of ‘Pictures to Exe’. free of charge to have a play with. To buy the full version it will cost about £16 which includes free upgrades to newer versions for life. It is available from:-

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/


Another site to visit is Beechbrook Cottage which contains many AV’s for you to download, save and view at your leisure. There are also tuition AV’s available to help you with Pics 2 Exe. Downloading these AV’s is free of charge. (Free, I so much like that word!). Please do have a look; there are some excellent examples of what can be done with such a low cost program.

http://www.beechbrook.com

Play and enjoy.

Regards, Tom.

[bob robertson]

Hi Theo

one of the reasons I decided to join this club was the superb demo. that was shown on the open night.

I ''dabble'' in Av's largely to create an outlet for my somewhat low tech.digital pictures as my prime work is monochrome prints.

it would be good to have the oportunity to meet others in the club who are doing av and consider what collectivly we
would wish the club to offer or what we can do for ourselves.

I find Av's very rewarding despite the long periods of time I spend sorting out pictures and audio in aydacity which is an excellent programe as is Pix to EXE.

thank you fro raising this issue.

Bob Robertson.[ new member ]

[John]

Two things are on the agenda for the near future. I will be booking a Saturday morning workshop for Glenys to cover Pictures2Exe and we'll follow this up shortly thereafter with me showing how to make a Blurb book. The processes are similar in many respects. Hopefully Sue will cover Audacity as she now has thew transitions between tracks issue well sorted out.

Announcements of dates soon.

[pammie]

Hi all

I have had another cancellation for March 2012 so I could put in instead an evening of AV by adaps members. They need not be long - 5 mins or so each - but it may be a good opportunity to have a goal to show off the skills you are going to learn!

[bert haddock]

Hi Pammie,
I made an av to send to my friends in Norway after my trip inside the Arctic circle to photograph the northern lights and the wildlife etc, I could cut it down to around 5 mins if you need to fill a date in March, I am sure there are enough members playing around with AV to make a very entertaining evening,
it all depends on the date in March as I am away from the 10 Feb until the 9 March as I am going to South America and the Falklind Islands,
Regards,
Bert.

[mike-e]

Hi Pammie,
Happy to show some wedding portrait showreelpix if thats Ok
Mike

[yachtsman1]

Although not yet a member, I have been interested in AV for the last 4 years. We recently moved from North Yorkshire to Southport & I answered a post from your member Ian on the PTE forum, hence my becomming a prospective member of the club. I have posted links to a few of our recent shows on my Flickr Group, they are on Mediafire & can be found here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/espic_digital_media/ . I hope the club develops a dedicated AV group which would possibly persuade us to join. Warning, Ladies beware of downloading "Another Place".
Eric & Margaret
Yachtsman1.

[PhilipHowe]

The best programs to use would be windows movie maker on the pc and I think it's called imovie on the mac. The reason for doing this is that the they both produce standard videos which can easily be made into DVDs, youtube videos and be played back on all operating systems.

Pictures to exe, as the name suggests, is to make a program that you can run on,a windows pc only.

There are plenty of royalty free music sites that you can grab soundtracks from, however, they obviously won't be as recognisable as a classic track by whoever has won the x factor.

[Ianuk50]

I have now used both Windows movie maker and Pictures to EXE and there are merits in using both depending on the intended audience and end product i.e. slideshow for the club or competition or DVD. It is relatively easy to produce a simple AV in minutes but have learned already that 'keep it simple' is a good rule; try not to be too fancy with bells and whistles and concentrate on a good storyline/music. Make a story board for your AV and plan ahead before diving straight in. I think we could start off in the new year with a Saturday morning session for those who want to get into AV production and swap ideas. I see it as another string to the ADAPS bow and something our members could get into easily given the excellent standard of photography we already enjoy.

[yachtsman1]

The best programs to use would be windows movie maker on the pc and I think it's called imovie on the mac. The reason for doing this is that the they both produce standard videos which can easily be made into DVDs, youtube videos and be played back on all operating systems.

Pictures to exe, as the name suggests, is to make a program that you can run on,a windows pc only.

There are plenty of royalty free music sites that you can grab soundtracks from, however, they obviously won't be as recognisable as a classic track by whoever has won the x factor.

Hi Philip
Your statement about Pictures to Exe is not strictly accurate, the programme can also produce DVD's for use on any media player, it can also produce versions for use on YouTube and other media. In fact the only media it cannot be used on is Vimeo. I have produced over 400 DVD's of shows I have made which have raised money for various charities. They have been sent all over the world & will play in most countries on their particular systems. However, when you buy the software, you need the De-lux version for the additional features. The de-lux licence lasts for 2 years, and the standard version for life, but doesn't include the video production feature.
Regards Eric
Yachtsman1

[yachtsman1]

Sorry, should have added this link. http://www.wnsoft.com/
Eric
Yachtsman1.

[PhilipHowe]

Thanks for clarifying, my point was that movie maker and imovie are free and come with a wealth if support directly from Microsoft and apple respectively.
Millions of users and experience.

[yachtsman1]

The feature about PTE that makes it an almost Universal favourite is how it renders your pictures to allow them to be shown in their original quality. Once you've bought the De-Lux version the standard up grades are for life, it's only the DVD & other media production version that is for 2 years. However, providing you use the original version you bought, the DVD production side will remain active for life, it's only when you upgrade after 2 years the new DVD version (if there is one) cannot be used. For myself I bought the De-lux version in 2007, have upgraded to version 6.04, when sound editing was added on the next version, I didn't need it as I use Audacity. Since then the abilty to add movie clips has been added, but I still use 6.04.
Regards Eric
Yachtsman1.