JerryCentral

ProShow Gold is a fairly affordable software for producing a professional slideshow that photographers use for a variety of purposes.  Proshow is a PC based software to make a great dvd/cd slide show that can be played on a standard dvd player on a television or on a PC. 

To get ready to make a show, you will need a set of jpeg photos and a source of music/sound.  The photos can be any size as PSG will size the photos as it renders the slide show.  We have found that it is handy to size the photos down if we are making a very large show as we do for our wedding clients.  The sound can be almost any format but it will not work with a Itunes MP4 file.  So any MP3 or even your CDs can be a source for your show.  Legal software is always advisable for a professional product.

Open proshow and browse to the folder of photos and select all that you want and drag them to the blue slide panel that you see below.  If you have a MP3 file you can drag it to the audio line, you will see it load and the graphics of the sound below the slides.

Proshow is another one of those software that work on a database type system.  This means that when you save the project it doesn’t really save all the pictures and sound together.  What is saving is the reference to those files where they exist on your computer.  Once you render the show it is furnished and you can not edit it anymore, but now it can be moved intact.

It is easy to start a slideshow in PSG.  I like to save it into my production folder for a job.  It is handy to put all your filers together before you start - jpegs and sound file.  You can however collect your files after you have browsed to different folders and locations to find them.

This the screen that follows the Collect Show Files.  you can see how it has listed the photos and Jpeg files to be put together

Once you have the files collected you can move the project from place to place and it will find all the necessary files.

Now you can start working on the show,  Proshow has lots of built in transitions but be careful too many weird transitions can make your show look trashy.  Double click the button between the photos at the bottom and you can select one of these nifty transitions. 

Movement can really add interest to your show to get to the movement menu, you just click on the the slide at the bottom of the page.  Experiment with this, you can mix it up with moving the beginning position off the canvas and have it slide in as it zooms to the final view.  The zoom function can bring the viewers attention.

Make a title slide, or a series of slide using Photoshop and different layers that will be saved as you turn the layers on and off.  This effect will give a sense of animation as you build your title.  Try it out.  You will be required to make a custom title slide to complete the show.  Lets include your logo on the show to develop your brand.

Review your general show options.

Now let’s look at the output options.  If you know you want to play on a computer and produce the sharpest looking show on screen and with a digital projector then you will want to pic the PC executable system.  These will be the size thatthey will fit a standard CD. If you want to make a show that will play on a tv and a regular DVD player then you will want to pick the DVD options. We will neet to do some testing to see which type of dvd (dvd-r or dvd+r) will give us the most compatability.

Each system will have a set of options to review go through the option and test your show when you are finnished render both an executable and a dvd show on seperate disks.

After we select the DVD option we seee this screen.  If you click the customize menu, you will be able to add your custom title slide

Browse to your title page image and keep working until you get the title slide to look the way you want it.  Learn to use the help menu to answer your questions.  Click the little blue question mark and look for answers.

After you finnish editing the show you will select the dvd option for output.  From the menu you see below you will create your  DVD.  This system actually turns your slideshow into a video.

Proshow will render your show.  After you have made a DVD take it home and see if it plays on your TV.