Mac360 Twitter TweetsSponsorship and Advertising on Mac360Forums Member LoginRegister for Mac360 ForumsFrequently Asked QuestionsYouTube Video WatchDashboard Widget WatchPolls & SurveysMac360 Power Search Options
RSS FeedThe Mac360 Article ArchiveThe Cheap MacWhat's New!Mac Tips & TricksMacintosh User ForumsMac360 Reviews

Got Slide Show? How To Keep Your Family Awake.

FotoMagicoWe make slides shows with photos from iPhoto. But we don’t use iPhoto. It’s a bit too pedestrian.

Our shows have audio, slides, effects, text and display with broadcast quality on a DVD. How? FotoMagico.

Jack and I take thousands of digital photos each year. Yes, they’re in iPhoto and that’s fine.

When it comes to making a show-and-tell with our photos, we dig a little deeper—beyond iPhoto.

Not that there’s anything wrong with making shows in iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, GarageBand, and iDVD. They’re great.

With a bit of patience, near broadcast quality mixes of digital photos and movies can be developed using the iLife suite.

One of my favorite applications for those extras that make a presentation more than special is Bonix’s FotoMagico.

Of all the slide show applications available on the Mac, FotoMagico is more Mac-like while adding near-professional level tools and precision.

FotoMagico is instantly familiar. Tools on the right. Timeline for photos and audio on the bottom. Photo in the middle.

What you’re after is a slide show with pizaz; a perfect mix of sound and motion and visual images.

I know what you’re thinking. “Wait a minute, Carol. Did you say motion?” Yes. FotoMagico’s claim to fame is precision of motion.

That’s motion and in making static digital photos move on the screen. iMovie does that. iPhoto does it automatically.

Neither makes digital photos move the way you’ll see them move in FotoMagico.

Integration with iPhoto, iTunes, and Aperture is just a click away, so all your digital photos are drag and drop to the timeline.

Click on any two photos and set the transitions. FotoMagico shines with a professional level of precision for transitions.

Cut, fade, dissolve, twirl, swirl, push, pull, drop, cube, slice, dice, all with split second control between slides.

Panning and zooming controls are like you’ve never seen in iPhoto or iMovie. Zoom in, pan across. Slowly, ultra slowly, incredibly fast.

The tool section on the right of the screen is a svelt combination of simple, elegant, and extra precise controls.

Under Images Control, you can select Albums from iPhoto. Drag and drop to the timeline. Under Audio, there’s a similar list of Playlists from iTunes. Select, drag and drop, then position in the timeline.

The real fun begins with Options. Here you can select appropriate transitions and durations, and apply both pan and zoom and special motions to each image.

FotoMagico creates near broadcast quality title/text on the slides—complete with various Fonts, Colors, alignment, opacity, and—get ready—motion for each.

Motion on text isn’t the only motion feature. Adding motion to slides via zoom and pan is easy. Even easier are the controls to add rotation.

Just move the rotation dial left or right (precision to 1/10th of a degree) to rotate a digital photo, then add zoom or pan. It’s remarkably easy.

For the truly professional minded slide show enthusiast, there’s time-code capability for the audio tracks.

If iLife’s suite of applications leaves you wanting a little more, then FotoMagico is a good place to start.

Features are galore—title safe areas on screen, multiple output sizes, including High Definition.

Shortcomings? A few. An application of this caliber needs multiple audio tracks—at least two, and probably four.

Yes, you can do audio in GarageBand and bring it into FotoMagico to lay over the slides, but having that simple part built-in is a good touch.

Matching slide transitions to audio timecode in the timeline would be another feature to attract those who want TV quality output.

For near professional work, FotoMagico does more for slides and shows using your digital photos than any other Mac application, and competes favorably with PhotoToMovie.

We’re in the holiday season and that means more photos, more digital photos, and more—gulp—slide shows. Do something to make your audience appreciate your shows.

FotoMagico is a good place to start.

Question: Do you make slide shows using your Mac and digital photos? What application—iPhoto, iMovie, or something else? What and why? What do others think of your productions?

Post your own Comment.

Classy Mac360 PhotoBy Carol Mary Miller | I teach English in Paris, France. My husband works for a US technology company here. He switched from PCs to the Mac 12 years ago. I told him it would improve our marriage, give us more friends, and reduce stress. It did.

• Email This Article  •  Follow Mac360 on Twitter
• Posted in the Mac Reviews Section

Off Topic Note:  Check out more Mac software reviews on Page 2. You can help support Mac360. Order your copy of Mac OS X Snow Leopard from Mac360 through Amazon. Snow Leopard is $29 for the Single User Upgrade, and only $49 for the 5 User Family Pack Upgrade. Elsewhere around Mac360, Kate Mac is back after dumping Windows. Ron has updated the NoodleMac site to include more mini reviews of Mac software, and launched Mac musings on McSolo.

Mac360 posts daily Mac updates on Twitter, too. If you Twitter, give Alexis, Bambi, or Ron a tweet and follow Mac360 on Twitter to get daily Mac tips and tricks.

Chrome
Do Mac users really need another browser that is 1990s ugly?
Tue Nov 10 - Full Article »
xScope
Are you really a graphic professional if you're not using this utility?
Mon Nov 9 - Full Article »
Utility
If you could have only one utility on your Mac, what would it be?
Fri Nov 6 - View Topic »
Flock
Flock is the perfect Mac or PC browser for the social networker.
Thu Nov 5 - Full Article »
Animate
Animation is the domain of experienced graphic professionals, right? Not.
Thu Nov 5 - Full Article »
Diary
Journal or Diary. Your life is worth remembering beyond photographs.
Wed Nov 4 - Full Article »
Snow Leopard
What's in the FORUMS?
Mac360 Link Farm