 ProShow Producer 3.5
ProShow Producer is by far, the easiest to use slide show software we
have seen. Installation with Windows Vista is a bit different ... be sure to install as “administrator” and then open the software as “administrator” as well. When you run ProShow Producer as administrator, it runs seamlessly. The prior 3.2 version had to be run this way, and although we have run it in regular user mode and it worked fine, why mess with the karma of it. Also, ProShow
Producer 3.2 didn’t play well with Roxio CD/DVD recording software so we uninstalled it when we installed the prior version.
The main new feature is the ability to record on BluRay. Also new with 3.5 is enhanced Keyframe controls and the ability to specify exact keyframe transition times and the ability to insert multiple and evenly spaced keyframes at the same time. Preferences for all shows can be set for the default motion and smoothing settings.
We have tested Ulead’s Media Center as well as Media Now by Nova, but ProShow has many more features than you’ll find on the others and is far easier to use. One feature we wish it did have was the ability to print out a timeline sheet of all of the slides. This would make checking for duplicate slides much easier.
Working in the slide-list page, you simply have to drag the desired photo into the slide row. You can
move them around by click and dragging them, add motion and a huge array of transitions, vignettes and much more. Adding music, and syncing them to specific slides is just as simple. Hit tab and you enter the timeline mode, where you can drag your music selection below the photographs you have already placed. The audio tab also lets you change order of the music, adjust fades and volume. When you select a series of slides, it is as simple as clicking on the audio tab,
and hit the “sync slides to track” and it is automatically synced together. Really cool. The fades are not exact ... I recommend getting an audio editor to get your tracks exact, cut portions off and fade them precisely. One I use is Wave Pad Sound Editor, which is a free download.
ProShow also offers the ability to utilize different layers with different animation and transitions,
making it easy to have a very active and exciting slide show. It boils down to the fact that ProShow Producer is an awesome selection for producing slide shows to a professional level.
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