Top 11 Free Slideshow Maker For Mac

I will admit I posted this first on Final Cut Express as I wasn't sure where to post my question. But, as I found other posts, many similar, but much older, posts (ie software options probably much different now) were posted on iDVD's forum. And, since that is where videos are generally sent for DVD encoding regardless of source software, I figured I should post here as well. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!! I want a software application that will create stunning slideshows (I intend to offer my services for slideshows and want to have a better than basic set of options).

I have Aperture, iMovie (of course), Keynote and iPhoto (of course) that can all do slideshows. I have always used iMovie. And, it provides great product. But, I'd like to add a bit more to it. I think animation is the correct term. I want to be able to have multiple photos on a page, each doing different things maybe (some of the themes on iDVD do this in the menu.

Having photos flow across the screen) or having photos stack on top of each other (Aperture has a theme that does this- but then the whole project is that unless you piecemeal a slideshow into mini sections and then maybe add to iMovie, if that is even possible or even desirable if things won't look consistent). I also like the ability to have a few photos on a screen shot and then zoom in on each photo individually and back out etc.- zooming in or out with a twist is great too (meaning as you zoom in or out, the photo rotates). Everywhere I have looked online, I seem to not be alone in finding software that can provide a bit more. This is generally what I have found:. Final Cut Pro can probably do whatever I'd like (maybe plugins would be desired to get smoother/easier results), but it will probably be overqualified and pricy for my purposes ($300 + plugins). Final Cut Express is no longer sold by Apple, but copies are available from other outlets.

I have heard mixed reviews on quality and have even heard that it still is not geared toward slideshows so it is not necessarily a smooth process. (and is still around $180), but plugins are available to add. ProShow is a Windows based program that everone rants about. But, it is a Windows platform- which, I've read you can get Parallels software to load PC software onto the Mac. Not really desirable for me.

There is a reason I abandoned the PC and I don't want to bring those troubles with me to my Mac. There is a web-based version that lets you build slideshows online. As far as I can tell, you can try it out. But, eventually you'd need to pay a yearly fee and not all features are available there (but there might be ways of adding features by paying for add-ons to your subscription- haven't ventured there yet). $30/year or $150/year. I have a PC yet.

As it is quite a few years old, I don't know how sluggish it would be with such a program. The program runs $70 or $250 depending on which level of software you get. There are additional sets of themes for $20 a disk so that you can expand your program. Portions of some of those themed disks are only applicable to the $250 program.

NOTE: I had to use my PC recently as I had a program that would allow multiple camera angles on a single file to create a wedding video for my nephew. Wishing iMovie would allow multiple camera files running side by side so you can choose which camera angle to view at different parts of the video time. There are a couple Mac-based programs I have downloaded free demos of: One of them is: Pulpmotion. It seems to be the closest to what I want, but the themes seem a little cartoonish (the company has a Kidsmotion program which looks like a great option to let your kids get creative, but I don't see the adult Pulpmotion version to be that much more sophisticated in the themes.) I am looking for elegant. With some fun themes.

There are a lot of themes, so maybe I just need to search for my favorites. But, my gut says you would not want to do a wedding slideshow with this program, but would be great for a fun slideshow for kids or just a review of a year, or maybe a high school graduation growing up video. It comes in two versions- Pulpmotion and Pulpmotion Advanced.

$50, $130. The second Mac-based program is Fantashow by Wondershare. It appears to be a new program out there (version 1). It is decent, but the music selection doesn't line up with photos.

You just drop the music lineup below all the photos. And, as such, you have a hard time seeing where the you are in the timeline. It has great potential as you can choose themes to use on batches of photos (ie have photos be pulled from a sphere for those five photos. And then build up six photos on top of each other, etc.) all in the same slideshow. And it is only $50.

I have heard a lot of buzz on Fotomagico. It has only a five-day trial period.

So, I have held off downloading until I know I have five days to devoting to testing it. Rather frustrating as the two competitors above have 30 days I believe. Just for that, I feel like boycotting it.

But, if I find it has what I need, what am I to do? The examples they show online don't seem that spectacular other than the person who put the slideshow together did a great job.

But no appearance of animation or any unusual transitions, etc(ie, iMovie could probably produce the same result). So, I am leary of even putting a lot of hope in that program.

It has a home version and a pro version. $29 or $140.

In regards to the programs I already own:. iMovie does an excellent job. And I could continue using this program and produce wonderful results, but I'd like to expand my options in regards to themes and capabilities to add a bit more artistic approach to it (without having to spend hours using multiple programs to make it happen). Keynote, I have not tinkered a lot on. But, some of the features in regards to animation and some other effects seem quite nice.

But not sure how I could make it turn into a glamorous slideshow. And, I'd have to figure out how to set the duration of each slide. And, not sure if I can set more than one song to it. Unless I export the slideshow sans music and add music in iMovie. But, then I'd need to monkey with length of time.

And I don't want to have to work back and forth in Keynote just to line up music and video. I really want a software that I can stay in for the duration and then send to where I need to for encoding, if possible (I already do enough of the multi-application workflows, I don't want my slideshows to be that way too.). iPhoto- haven't tried. But, assume it isn't going to be any more customizable than Aperture (which I will describe below). Aperture seems to be a decent option. But, it is canned slideshow software. There are ways to tweak things but it seems to be a workaround (ie, if you want less photos on a page, you can add text and it will split it up into two slides, etc.) but you can't seem to determine when it does switch animations (ie.

Finishing one set of photo stacks and beginning a new one in the scrapbook theme) So, I have, what I thin to be, a bunch of information above. But, I haven't been able to find anything that has knocked my socks off.

So, I thought I'd ask you guys if you have experienced the pleasure of using any of the above softwares or, perhaps, different ones that will meet my needs (and hopefully not cost too much) too much for me would mean over $150, although, I'd prefer something under $80-but, if I am going to be discontent at $80-$150, I’d prefer to spend the little extra on a $180-$200 program You may know more about a software that I have that I was unaware of or could point me to a better direction. Please provide any input you have.

Top 11 Free Slideshow Maker For Mac Mac

I have obviously spent some time looking for something! If you could identify the programs that do or do not 'blur' (I think that is the term- it is where when encoded, it does something to the files so that as the kens burns effect goes, it reduces the pixelation) I basically want a good balance between presets (that are still classy) and the ability to tailor/adjust the presets as I see fit. I admit that I have not had time to read your entire post, but this is how I suggest making slideshows: There are many ways to produce slide shows using iPhoto, iMovie or iDVD and some limit the number of photos you can use (iDVD has a 99 chapter (slide) limitation). If what you want is what I want, namely to be able to use high resolution photos (even 300 dpi tiff files), to pan and zoom individual photos, use a variety of transitions, to add and edit music or commentary, place text exactly where you want it, and to end up with a DVD that looks good on both your Mac and a TV - in other words end up with and end result that does not look like an old fashioned slide show from a projector - you may be interested in how I do it. You don't have to do it my way, but the following may be food for thought!

Firstly you need proper software to assemble the photos, decide on the duration of each, the transitions you want to use, and how to pan and zoom individual photos where required, and add proper titles. For this I use Photo to Movie. You can read about what it can do on their website: (Other users here use the alternative FotoMagico: which you may prefer - I have no experience with it.) Neither of these are freeware, but are worth the investment if you are going to do a lot of slide shows. Read about them in detail, then decide which one you feel is best suited to your needs. Once you have timed and arranged and manipulated the photos to your liking in Photo to Movie, it exports the file to iMovie as a DV stream.

You can add music in Photo to Movie, but I prefer doing this in iMovie where it is easier to edit. You can now further edit the slide show in iMovie just as you would a movie, including adding other video clips, then send it to iDVD 7, or Toast, for burning. You will be pleasantly surprised at how professional the results can be!

To simply create a slide show in iDVD 7 onwards from images in iPhoto or stored in other places on your hard disk or a connected server, look here. Wow - you've done some research and writing on this! You're interested in more special effects than I generally do, although I recently saw a presentation created with Prezi web software - - which was very impressive in it's zooming and panning capability.

I haven't tried it, but the presentation to a professional audience was very impressive. I imagine you'd need to have video/screen-capture software (like SnapZ Pro) to translate the presentation into a video file where you could add music. Keep us posted on your adventure! Kahlua, First off, I don't have THE answer - just the same question as you, and some problematic answers I've found in my search. I'm hoping someone will jump in and deliver slideshow salvation!

Some findings: -iMovie is much maligned, but I could live with it - except the photo quality is HORRIBLE, both after importing the photos initially and then exporting the finished product. If someone has a workaround, let me know.Photo to Magic, which Klaus recommends, doesn't handle video clips. I mostly want still photos, but I still want the capacity for video, so that's a deal-killer. I tried Klaus' work-around, but importing the finished product left me with degraded quality video.

I also need to do the original synched to the music, not add it afterwards; music dictates timing.I have the FotoMagico demo, and can't get it to cross-fade music, which actually is pretty important. Seems really basic. Maybe it can be done, but not easily. Need to play with some more.

Maybe someone here can help. Product support also seems very limited.Agree with you re PulpMotion: those themes are really annoying, and I can't believe there's no neutral, themeless format you can use.

Definitely a deal-killer! Also agree that Aperture, iPhoto and Keynote are too limited and inflexible.Prezi seems potentially quite powerful - but almost too powerful. Unnecessarily complicated and multi-media for my purposes.Final Cut is indeed very expensive. I'd still consider it, even if it's way overkill, if I could get it to do what I need and the learning curve doesn't seem too daunting. Might try the demo. Wish I had a friend who had it, but all the video people I know have old Pro version. Ugh, where does that leave us???

Best Slideshow Maker For Free

I was hoping to find something that I could ask Santa for! IMovie is much maligned, but I could live with it - except the photo quality is HORRIBLE, both after importing the photos initially and then exporting the finished product Probably depends on what version of iMovie. I have not had that experience but then I continue to use iMovie 6. Photo to Magic, which Klaus recommends, doesn't handle video clips. I mostly want still photos, but I still want the capacity for video, so that's a deal-killer. No I don't, I have never used it. I use PhotoToMovie which sends the slide show to iMovie, where you can of course mix in video clips as well.

Photo Slideshow Maker For Mac

As for cross-fading music, you can do this in both PhotoToMovie AND iMovie 6. In short, the way I make slide shows is: Import the photos (not from iPhoto) into PhotoToMovie, decide on individual slide duration, trimming, panning, zooming and all the rest, add music (or later in iMovie), subtitles or other text etc, export the PhotoToMovie project as a DV stream to iMovie 6, re-edit to your hearts content, adding further music or sound effects, then finalize the project in iDVD 7. I reviewed an earlier version of Photo to Movie on my website with a sample slideshow. Here is the webpage address: Here is another example of a later version 4th of July slideshow that also contains video. This sample was made entirely in Photo to Movie this summer.

Since that time I have purchased the newest version 5 of the program, and LQ Graphics has added a lot of new features, including multiple photos on one slide. I like the software because it gives you as much control over the slides, transitions, and music as you want to handle. Good luck in your quest. Apple Footer.

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Making HD Slideshow DVDs on Mac as easy as 1, 2, 3 Slideshow DVD Creator for Mac is a very easy to use photo DVD maker. Everyone could be a master without learning before using it. A wonderful slideshow is ready to present by just adding photos, music and videos. You can make various good-looking photo videos and photo DVDs by only three steps: 1.

Add photos 2. Personalize 3. Burn DVD or output as videos. Drag your photos into the program, customize it with kinds of effects and style, then a slideshow is ready to watch and share.

Its Wizard-style interface helps you from zero to hero in minutes. It is a nice tool to enjoy and share your photos. Convert your photos to a stunning slideshow, and copy memoriable photos to DVD or save as a video, then watch them on large-screen TV or publish to YouTube and Facebook. You can even send the slideshow to your iPad, iPhone and other devices for viewing whenever and wherever you like. Personalized slideshows for your styles With all of the personal details, you can of course customize a slideshow that reflects your personal style. Slideshow DVD Creator lets you choose 2D / 3D transitions, theme styles, add your own words and music, set time duration for slides, sync slideshow to music.

Select 2D / 3D transitions / motions for unlimited creativity. Add videos to make DVD slideshow. Add text to tell photo stories.

Multiple songs to play with a slideshow. Set time duration for slides and transitions. Sync slideshow to music to play in pace. Switch between 4:3 and 16:9 video aspect, NTSC and PAL for watching on TV. Set DVD title, subtitle, menu theme, background music for your DVDs.