PPT storyboarding with Photo Story 3

M

Mitch Gallant

I decided to try the storyboarding approach for DVD creation using WinXP's
Photo Story 3.
Here is the procedure I used, and the results for this system:
XP Pro sp2 fully patched. Dell Latitude C 800 850 MHz 512 Meg RAM 12
Gb available HD space

(1) open PPT presentation, saved all images as jpg. I didn't bother removing
the animations or embeded icons for sound etc. This worked nicely. For 22
slides, takes about 4 minutes.

(2) Open Photo Story 3 (dnld'd from MS) and import images, add sound clips
to slides, adjust time delay on each slide (default is only 5 seconds) to
allow sound to play. Adjust so there is no motion (zooming etc..) during
slides and do color balance.
NOTE: I found that for such a long presentation, with my hardware,
previewing near final stage hangs/crashed Photo Story. So, SAVE the Procject
frequently, definitely before you preview it :). I find that if I close
PhotoStory and preview separately in WMP 10, it plays fairly smoothly.

(3) Since I am targetting DVD, saved the video file as "Profile for
creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98 4:3 aspect ration and 30
ffs. Saving takes about 3 minutes for my config.

(4) Opened Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3SE and tried to import that WMV file
(which is a video file type supported by MovieFactory). Failed! Unsupported
format.
Used WinAVI to convert from WMV to DVD format (.vob). Conversion is
fairly fast with WinAVI. Tried importing this vob into MovieFactory. FAILED
... audio type (Dolby.. ) not supported in MovieFactory. So looked carefully
at WinAVI converter config. The DEFAULT for conversion is audio AC3 (Dolby
digital) so disabled that and selected MPG2 audio. Converted again. SUCCESS.
Ulead MovieFactory accepts that format. COnverts quickly (as close to target
burning DVD format obviously). Created simply DVD setup (chapters etc..).
Content length about 12 minutes. Ulead process and burns DVD (on external LG
MultiSession DVD burner) in about 7 minutes. (Note ... must select 4:3
aspect ratio explictly in ULead MovieFactory!!)

(5) Opened DVD on home DVD player. Results: Images are somewhat blurry.
Text, which was good font size in original PPT are reasonably legible.
Sound voice-overs on tracks are perfect. Transitions that were in storyboard
are very poor in created DVD. Biggest annoyance was chopping around the
edges. (Note recommendations in storyboarding articles about allowing
sufficient border around images slides! )

So this first time experience in Storyboarding PPT images is reasonably
good. It is reasonably labour intensive.
Any comments on this: ?
How would I use Photo Story 3 to ensure that the images quality in final DVD
are better? I noticed that MS Movie Maker, if targetting DVD saves as
uncompressed (large file) AVI. I assume that would help in the final DVD
conversion? I'd like to get to the stage where my images are only limited by
the TV display capabilities and not any intermediate conpression conversion
process in intermediate stages from PPT exported images to DVD gen.

- Mitch Gallant
www.jensign.com
 
M

Michael Koerner

Mitch;

Thanks for posting this Definitely going to keep the parts that work <g>

I was on that Radar Chain form 1956-1994 Per Ardu Ad Astra

--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


|I decided to try the storyboarding approach for DVD creation using WinXP's
| Photo Story 3.
| Here is the procedure I used, and the results for this system:
| XP Pro sp2 fully patched. Dell Latitude C 800 850 MHz 512 Meg RAM 12
| Gb available HD space
|
| (1) open PPT presentation, saved all images as jpg. I didn't bother
removing
| the animations or embeded icons for sound etc. This worked nicely. For 22
| slides, takes about 4 minutes.
|
| (2) Open Photo Story 3 (dnld'd from MS) and import images, add sound clips
| to slides, adjust time delay on each slide (default is only 5 seconds) to
| allow sound to play. Adjust so there is no motion (zooming etc..) during
| slides and do color balance.
| NOTE: I found that for such a long presentation, with my hardware,
| previewing near final stage hangs/crashed Photo Story. So, SAVE the
Procject
| frequently, definitely before you preview it :). I find that if I close
| PhotoStory and preview separately in WMP 10, it plays fairly smoothly.
|
| (3) Since I am targetting DVD, saved the video file as "Profile for
| creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98 4:3 aspect ration and 30
| ffs. Saving takes about 3 minutes for my config.
|
| (4) Opened Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3SE and tried to import that WMV file
| (which is a video file type supported by MovieFactory). Failed!
Unsupported
| format.
| Used WinAVI to convert from WMV to DVD format (.vob). Conversion is
| fairly fast with WinAVI. Tried importing this vob into MovieFactory.
FAILED
| .. audio type (Dolby.. ) not supported in MovieFactory. So looked
carefully
| at WinAVI converter config. The DEFAULT for conversion is audio AC3 (Dolby
| digital) so disabled that and selected MPG2 audio. Converted again.
SUCCESS.
| Ulead MovieFactory accepts that format. COnverts quickly (as close to
target
| burning DVD format obviously). Created simply DVD setup (chapters etc..).
| Content length about 12 minutes. Ulead process and burns DVD (on external
LG
| MultiSession DVD burner) in about 7 minutes. (Note ... must select 4:3
| aspect ratio explictly in ULead MovieFactory!!)
|
| (5) Opened DVD on home DVD player. Results: Images are somewhat blurry.
| Text, which was good font size in original PPT are reasonably legible.
| Sound voice-overs on tracks are perfect. Transitions that were in
storyboard
| are very poor in created DVD. Biggest annoyance was chopping around the
| edges. (Note recommendations in storyboarding articles about allowing
| sufficient border around images slides! )
|
| So this first time experience in Storyboarding PPT images is reasonably
| good. It is reasonably labour intensive.
| Any comments on this: ?
| How would I use Photo Story 3 to ensure that the images quality in final
DVD
| are better? I noticed that MS Movie Maker, if targetting DVD saves as
| uncompressed (large file) AVI. I assume that would help in the final DVD
| conversion? I'd like to get to the stage where my images are only limited
by
| the TV display capabilities and not any intermediate conpression
conversion
| process in intermediate stages from PPT exported images to DVD gen.
|
| - Mitch Gallant
| www.jensign.com
|
|
|
|
 
E

Echo S

Mitch Gallant said:
To add some references, a very useful site on Movie Makes and Photo Story
is:
http://www.papajohn.org/

Yeah, PapaJohn's a good guy. I don't think there's a PhotoStory group, but
you might want to try
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker and
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.video -- I know he
posts quite frequently in those groups.

As far as I'm concerned, you can crosspost to this group and those if you
want, as I suspect many reading here would be interested in the answers to
your Movie Maker and Photo Story questions also. They're a bit off-topic,
but I think they're still very relevant.
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Echo S said:
Yeah, PapaJohn's a good guy. I don't think there's a PhotoStory group, but
you might want to try
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker and
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.video -- I know he
posts quite frequently in those groups.

As far as I'm concerned, you can crosspost to this group and those if you
want, as I suspect many reading here would be interested in the answers to
your Movie Maker and Photo Story questions also. They're a bit off-topic,
but I think they're still very relevant.

Thanks for that infor. I fwd'd the link of this discussion to PapaJohn.
I noticed in my DVD authoring software (Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3SE) that
there is capability to storyboard directly within that app (didn't notice
that until I had already storyboarded using Photo Story :)
I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your TV" in
MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have showed the
edge problems.
I also have CyberLink PowerProducer DVD Gold authoring tool, but for some
reason it will not open .. as I posted here:
http://www.cyberlink.com/english/cs/support/qa.jsp?m=edabcf5de2d21697d934ab238e6d9f8f&ID=CS000334921
I have expended about as much time as I can on solving that problem.
For anyone who can REALLY provide the silver bullet to help solve my
PowerProducer Gold hang for me, there is a gratis complete JavaScience web
site content CD ready to be shipped as a reward :)

I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends to
blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
approach. But as I said, I am working with power-PowerPoint lovers so I must
conform :)

- Mitch
 
E

Echo S

I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your TV" in
MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have showed the
edge problems.

When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant parts of
the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on some TVs,
it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really no way to
tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being some of them)
have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on. One's for
titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will show on most
(all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is where you want any
text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most (all?) TVs.

I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something like a
"safe area" option in them.
I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends to
blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
approach.

Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Steve Rindsberg said:
Hey buddy, you come into The Hammer Store, you get Hammer Advice. You
wanna know
about screwdrivers, ya go to Screwdrivers 'R Us.

What can I say? Guilty as charged.


lol .. well no nastiness intended .. really!
But there is something about a screwdriver that is just so compelling!
- Mitch
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Steve Rindsberg said:
None implied, none inferred. All in fun. Really!


The orange juice ... the ice cubes ... the little plastic sword with the
orange
slice and vat-grown cherrie ...

Yeahhhh.

Well I prefer a nice cold crisp Keith's .... salt of the earth ...
here's tipping my glass .. or rather a shaker to this group:
http://www.jensign.com/keithsbal75.jpg
- Mitch
 
M

Mitch Gallant

PPT 2003 exports jpg images by default on my system as 960x720 (1.333
aspect), and the quality of the generated images is quite impressive. Is
that exported jpg resolution configurable?
(My current LCD monitor size is 17" with the display resolution set at
1280x1024).

As I mentioned in my OP on this thread, with MS PhotoStory I used the save
setting "Profile for creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98 4:3
aspect ration and 30 ffs. That suggested resolution seems somewhat low (DVD
is 720X480?).

Also, I noticed that my DVD authoring/burning app (ULead MovieFactory 3 SE)
has ability to directly create image slide-shows, so maybe PhotoStory isn't
necessary. I also have NeroVision Express 3SE and it also has slide-show
capability, but haven't tried it. I imagine these apps. are similar in their
results. Maybe importing PPT exported images directly into these tools makes
more sense than using MS as intermediate slideshow generator.
I didn't see any "safe area" setting, to assist with managing unwanted
display cropping in Ulead's product.

- Mitch Gallant

Echo S said:
I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your TV" in
MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have showed the
edge problems.

When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant parts
of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on some
TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really no
way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being some of
them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on. One's
for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will show
on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is where you
want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most (all?)
TVs.

I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something like a
"safe area" option in them.
I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends to
blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
approach.

Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com
 
M

Michael Koerner

Mitch;

There is a registry change here
Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00052.htm


--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


| PPT 2003 exports jpg images by default on my system as 960x720 (1.333
| aspect), and the quality of the generated images is quite impressive. Is
| that exported jpg resolution configurable?
| (My current LCD monitor size is 17" with the display resolution set at
| 1280x1024).
|
| As I mentioned in my OP on this thread, with MS PhotoStory I used the save
| setting "Profile for creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98 4:3
| aspect ration and 30 ffs. That suggested resolution seems somewhat low
(DVD
| is 720X480?).
|
| Also, I noticed that my DVD authoring/burning app (ULead MovieFactory 3
SE)
| has ability to directly create image slide-shows, so maybe PhotoStory
isn't
| necessary. I also have NeroVision Express 3SE and it also has slide-show
| capability, but haven't tried it. I imagine these apps. are similar in
their
| results. Maybe importing PPT exported images directly into these tools
makes
| more sense than using MS as intermediate slideshow generator.
| I didn't see any "safe area" setting, to assist with managing unwanted
| display cropping in Ulead's product.
|
| - Mitch Gallant
|
| | > | >
| >> I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your TV"
in
| >> MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have showed
the
| >> edge problems.
| >
| > When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant parts
| > of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on some
| > TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really no
| > way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being some
of
| > them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on. One's
| > for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will show
| > on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is where
you
| > want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most (all?)
| > TVs.
| >
| > I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something like a
| > "safe area" option in them.
| >
| >> I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends to
| >> blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
| >> approach.
| >
| > Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)
| >
| > --
| > Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
| > Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
| > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
| > PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com
| >
|
|
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Wow .. that is a very well written and useful article! Thanks.
- Mitch

Michael Koerner said:
Mitch;

There is a registry change here
Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00052.htm


--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


| PPT 2003 exports jpg images by default on my system as 960x720 (1.333
| aspect), and the quality of the generated images is quite impressive. Is
| that exported jpg resolution configurable?
| (My current LCD monitor size is 17" with the display resolution set at
| 1280x1024).
|
| As I mentioned in my OP on this thread, with MS PhotoStory I used the
save
| setting "Profile for creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98 4:3
| aspect ration and 30 ffs. That suggested resolution seems somewhat low
(DVD
| is 720X480?).
|
| Also, I noticed that my DVD authoring/burning app (ULead MovieFactory 3
SE)
| has ability to directly create image slide-shows, so maybe PhotoStory
isn't
| necessary. I also have NeroVision Express 3SE and it also has slide-show
| capability, but haven't tried it. I imagine these apps. are similar in
their
| results. Maybe importing PPT exported images directly into these tools
makes
| more sense than using MS as intermediate slideshow generator.
| I didn't see any "safe area" setting, to assist with managing unwanted
| display cropping in Ulead's product.
|
| - Mitch Gallant
|
| | > | >
| >> I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your TV"
in
| >> MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have showed
the
| >> edge problems.
| >
| > When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant
parts
| > of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on
some
| > TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really
no
| > way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being some
of
| > them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on.
One's
| > for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will
show
| > on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is where
you
| > want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most (all?)
| > TVs.
| >
| > I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something like
a
| > "safe area" option in them.
| >
| >> I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends
to
| >> blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
| >> approach.
| >
| > Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)
| >
| > --
| > Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
| > Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
| > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
| > PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com
| >
|
|
 
M

Mitch Gallant

There is an inaccurate comment in that article (I think). For PPT 2003, the
faq article indicates that the "DPI number is approximately 80" but in fact
the default value is exactly 96, the same as for PPT 97. So on my system,
with a default slide width of 10" the exported image width is 960 pixels).
- Mitch

Mitch Gallant said:
Wow .. that is a very well written and useful article! Thanks.
- Mitch

Michael Koerner said:
Mitch;

There is a registry change here
Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00052.htm


--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


| PPT 2003 exports jpg images by default on my system as 960x720 (1.333
| aspect), and the quality of the generated images is quite impressive.
Is
| that exported jpg resolution configurable?
| (My current LCD monitor size is 17" with the display resolution set at
| 1280x1024).
|
| As I mentioned in my OP on this thread, with MS PhotoStory I used the
save
| setting "Profile for creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98
4:3
| aspect ration and 30 ffs. That suggested resolution seems somewhat low
(DVD
| is 720X480?).
|
| Also, I noticed that my DVD authoring/burning app (ULead MovieFactory 3
SE)
| has ability to directly create image slide-shows, so maybe PhotoStory
isn't
| necessary. I also have NeroVision Express 3SE and it also has
slide-show
| capability, but haven't tried it. I imagine these apps. are similar in
their
| results. Maybe importing PPT exported images directly into these tools
makes
| more sense than using MS as intermediate slideshow generator.
| I didn't see any "safe area" setting, to assist with managing unwanted
| display cropping in Ulead's product.
|
| - Mitch Gallant
|
| | > | >
| >> I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your
TV"
in
| >> MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have
showed
the
| >> edge problems.
| >
| > When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant
parts
| > of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on
some
| > TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really
no
| > way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being
some
of
| > them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on.
One's
| > for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will
show
| > on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is
where
you
| > want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most
(all?)
| > TVs.
| >
| > I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something
like a
| > "safe area" option in them.
| >
| >> I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends
to
| >> blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
| >> approach.
| >
| > Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)
| >
| > --
| > Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
| > Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
| > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
| > PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com
| >
|
|
 
M

Michael Koerner

Your welcome.

--
<>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
<><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
<><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
<><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


| Wow .. that is a very well written and useful article! Thanks.
| - Mitch
|
| | > Mitch;
| >
| > There is a registry change here
| > Improve PowerPoint's GIF, BMP, PNG, JPG export resolution
| > http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00052.htm
| >
| >
| > --
| > <>Please post all follow-up questions/replies to the newsgroup<>
| > <><>Email unless specifically requested will not be opened<><>
| > <><><>Do Provide The Version Of PowerPoint You Are Using<><><>
| > <><><>Do Not Post Attachments In This Newsgroup<><><>
| > Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]
| >
| >
| > | > | PPT 2003 exports jpg images by default on my system as 960x720 (1.333
| > | aspect), and the quality of the generated images is quite impressive.
Is
| > | that exported jpg resolution configurable?
| > | (My current LCD monitor size is 17" with the display resolution set at
| > | 1280x1024).
| > |
| > | As I mentioned in my OP on this thread, with MS PhotoStory I used the
| > save
| > | setting "Profile for creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98
4:3
| > | aspect ration and 30 ffs. That suggested resolution seems somewhat low
| > (DVD
| > | is 720X480?).
| > |
| > | Also, I noticed that my DVD authoring/burning app (ULead MovieFactory
3
| > SE)
| > | has ability to directly create image slide-shows, so maybe PhotoStory
| > isn't
| > | necessary. I also have NeroVision Express 3SE and it also has
slide-show
| > | capability, but haven't tried it. I imagine these apps. are similar in
| > their
| > | results. Maybe importing PPT exported images directly into these tools
| > makes
| > | more sense than using MS as intermediate slideshow generator.
| > | I didn't see any "safe area" setting, to assist with managing unwanted
| > | display cropping in Ulead's product.
| > |
| > | - Mitch Gallant
| > |
| > | | > | > | > | >
| > | >> I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your
TV"
| > in
| > | >> MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have
showed
| > the
| > | >> edge problems.
| > | >
| > | > When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant
| > parts
| > | > of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on
| > some
| > | > TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's
really
| > no
| > | > way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being
some
| > of
| > | > them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on.
| > One's
| > | > for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will
| > show
| > | > on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is
where
| > you
| > | > want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most
(all?)
| > | > TVs.
| > | >
| > | > I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something
like
| > a
| > | > "safe area" option in them.
| > | >
| > | >> I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it
tends
| > to
| > | >> blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
| > | >> approach.
| > | >
| > | > Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)
| > | >
| > | > --
| > | > Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
| > | > Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
| > | > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
| > | > PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com
| > | >
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Echo S said:
When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant parts
of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on some
TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really no
way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being some of
them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on. One's
for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will show
on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is where you
want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most (all?)
TVs.

I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something like a
"safe area" option in them.


Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)

Perhaps a bit off topic now, but I'm impressed by the quality of responses
in this group. I'm thinking of buying Nero Ultra 7 which seems to have good
support for audio and video standards. Any comments on anyone who has bought
this product? or other competing products recommendations? I prefer
something that has as much control as possible instead of a product that is
targetting the drop-dead easy to use market.
- Mitch
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Steve Rindsberg said:
There's an Alice In Windowsland air to anything having to do with bitmap
import/export in PPT. It *changes* so. I'm guessing that it wandered
back
from 80 to 96 as a result of one of the SPs.

Thanks for pointing that out ... I've updated the article accordingly.

I was actually going to suggest that perhaps it was something like that
(feature creep). I'm glad to see that there are others who are willing to
update their web site content on a dime like that. Kudos!
- Mitch
 
M

Mitch Gallant

I actually have parts of Nero 6 also. Seems good and I know exactly what you
mean about that language pack version bs. No good excuse for that nonsense!
I was interested in Nero 7 .. because it has a lot of advanced audio
capability (like 5.1 audio recording capability etc.. ). Not sure if the
Nero 7 DVD authoring is usefully work buying it as a replacement for Nero 6.
I am a bit concerned that it might be somewhat bloated and my current
hardware is living precipitously on the performance edge!

I didn't actually have NeroVision express (but Nero and some of there
ultra-cool audio stuff), but was happily surprised to see that I COULD
download the Nero 6 update pack with NeroVision Express SE version, based on
the strength of my fcurrent Nero license. And, yes .. when I installed
NeroVision, I opted-OUT of Nero grabbing any file associations (I like my
Microsoft and Creative MediaSource associations thanks very much!) ..
- Mitch
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Well I think the exported ppt images at 960x720 should be sufficient quality
for input to any DVD slideshow authoring tool.
I next will try importing these images directly into the DVD authoring tools
(Ulead MovieFactory or NeroVision Express 3SE). Not sure if it is worth
trying the Windows Movie Maker and create a large avi first with the images.
Any ideas or suggestions on 2nd try ??
Actually I looked at my first attempt below with 640X480 and it isn't too
shabby except for some small text problems, border clipping etc..

Question: Since I am burning a few expendable DVD -R for this, if I get a
bad DVD video burn, is there a way to easily add some BACKUP data to that
disk so if the video created is no good, at least I have some backup data
and the disk isn't a complete writeoff? The slideshows only use a small
part of the DVD.

- Mitch Gallant

Mitch Gallant said:
PPT 2003 exports jpg images by default on my system as 960x720 (1.333
aspect), and the quality of the generated images is quite impressive. Is
that exported jpg resolution configurable?
(My current LCD monitor size is 17" with the display resolution set at
1280x1024).

As I mentioned in my OP on this thread, with MS PhotoStory I used the save
setting "Profile for creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98 4:3
aspect ration and 30 ffs. That suggested resolution seems somewhat low
(DVD is 720X480?).

Also, I noticed that my DVD authoring/burning app (ULead MovieFactory 3
SE) has ability to directly create image slide-shows, so maybe PhotoStory
isn't necessary. I also have NeroVision Express 3SE and it also has
slide-show capability, but haven't tried it. I imagine these apps. are
similar in their results. Maybe importing PPT exported images directly
into these tools makes more sense than using MS as intermediate slideshow
generator.
I didn't see any "safe area" setting, to assist with managing unwanted
display cropping in Ulead's product.

- Mitch Gallant

Echo S said:
I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your TV" in
MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have showed
the edge problems.

When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant parts
of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on some
TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really no
way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being some of
them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on. One's
for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will show
on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is where
you want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most
(all?) TVs.

I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something like a
"safe area" option in them.
I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends to
blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
approach.

Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com
 
M

Mitch Gallant

OK .. i tried the following and the image quality is very good on my aging
standard TV:

(1) Using Ulead DVD MovieFactory, select "create a slide show" and SVCD
format
(2) Add the images (in this case 22 images exported as 960x720 from ppt
2003
(3) Unfortunately, Ulead slide-show designer does NOT let you adjust the
timing of each slide to accomodate synching with different added audio
files, so I didn't bother adding any sound files or track at all.
(4) burn the SVCD (fairly fast)
(5) view the SVCD on my Toshiba combo DVD/VCR and oldish TV

The visual quality and text is very sharp and readable and MUCH better than
the first approach where I create a video from Photo Story (as wmv).
Question: When you create a slide show in either a VCD, SVCD or DVD, what
format is that stored in?
Is it still MPEG2? what about bandwidth usage?

Since I am very happy with SVCD and the ppt converted presentations I am
targetting will mostly be less than 1/2 hour, that suites the bill and CDs
are cheaper than DVDs.
I just need to find a good DVD authoring tool, with slide-show design that
allows adjusting time of individual slides so can synch with audio clips.
Microsoft MovieMaker can export to huge high quality uncompressed avi .. and
it has nice control of individual picture interval ... audio clip, cropping
etc.. but is using that MovieMaker exported slide-show as avi and then
importing into say Ulead DVD slide-show the same as creating a slide show
from images directly in Ulead MovieFactory?

- Mitch Gallant

Steve Rindsberg said:
Well I think the exported ppt images at 960x720 should be sufficient
quality
for input to any DVD slideshow authoring tool.

Just for grins, I'd also try PNGs or BMPs if the authoring tool will eat
'em.
These use lossless or no compression compared to JPG's lossy compression.
With text and other small, 'hard-eged' graphics, JPG can give you
compression
artifacts ... stuff that looks like hairs or paramecia hovering around
your
graphics.
I next will try importing these images directly into the DVD authoring
tools
(Ulead MovieFactory or NeroVision Express 3SE). Not sure if it is worth
trying the Windows Movie Maker and create a large avi first with the
images.
Any ideas or suggestions on 2nd try ??
Actually I looked at my first attempt below with 640X480 and it isn't too
shabby except for some small text problems, border clipping etc..

Question: Since I am burning a few expendable DVD -R for this, if I get a
bad DVD video burn, is there a way to easily add some BACKUP data to that
disk so if the video created is no good, at least I have some backup data
and the disk isn't a complete writeoff? The slideshows only use a small
part of the DVD.

- Mitch Gallant

Mitch Gallant said:
PPT 2003 exports jpg images by default on my system as 960x720 (1.333
aspect), and the quality of the generated images is quite impressive.
Is
that exported jpg resolution configurable?
(My current LCD monitor size is 17" with the display resolution set at
1280x1024).

As I mentioned in my OP on this thread, with MS PhotoStory I used the
save
setting "Profile for creating DVDs" NTSC 640x480 which is WMV Q=98
4:3
aspect ration and 30 ffs. That suggested resolution seems somewhat low
(DVD is 720X480?).

Also, I noticed that my DVD authoring/burning app (ULead MovieFactory 3
SE) has ability to directly create image slide-shows, so maybe
PhotoStory
isn't necessary. I also have NeroVision Express 3SE and it also has
slide-show capability, but haven't tried it. I imagine these apps. are
similar in their results. Maybe importing PPT exported images directly
into these tools makes more sense than using MS as intermediate
slideshow
generator.
I didn't see any "safe area" setting, to assist with managing unwanted
display cropping in Ulead's product.

- Mitch Gallant


I didn't see any "preview what this will roughly look likeon your TV"
in
MovieFactory before committing to burn to DVD. That might have showed
the edge problems.

When you create stuff for TV display, you want to put nonimportant
parts
of the pictures in the margins because, while that area may show on
some
TVs, it may not show on others. And, as far as I know, there's really
no
way to tell ahead of time. So some products (Adobe products being some
of
them) have what's called a "safe area" indicator you can turn on.
One's
for titles, one's for margins. Anything inside the margin area will
show
on most (all?) TVs, and anything inside the "title safe area" is where
you want any text to be if you want to be sure it will show on most
(all?) TVs.

I don't know the ULead products, but you might look for something like
a
"safe area" option in them.

I think sometimes when people user PowerPoint for too long, it tends
to
blind people as to the only way to go as the source slide authoring
approach.

Totally agree. (I might say "source screen authoring," though.)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/
PPTLive! Sept 17-20, 2006 http://www.pptlive.com

-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
 
M

Mitch Gallant

Steve Rindsberg said:
Just for grins, I'd also try PNGs or BMPs if the authoring tool will eat
'em.
These use lossless or no compression compared to JPG's lossy compression.
With text and other small, 'hard-eged' graphics, JPG can give you
compression
artifacts ... stuff that looks like hairs or paramecia hovering around
your
graphics.

Don't you need a good microscope to see paramecia? However I could have
sworn I saw a Simocephalus :)
- Mitch
 

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