Suggestions for a simple Presentation app...

rubaiyat · #1 February 18th, 2007, 03:33 AM

I am trying to put together a simple presentation, basically a controllable free standing slideshow.

I have tried an enormous range of OSX software including the obvious QuickTime, but they all screw up in one way or another.

Can anyone out there recommend an app that would do the job?

**fryke** · #2 February 18th, 2007, 05:11 AM

Keynote is quite great for those. iWork, with Pages and Keynote, costs 79 USD IIRC.

rubaiyat · #3 February 18th, 2007, 05:24 AM

Both Keynote and Pages require I build the presentation one page at a time dragging, positioning and sizing each image from the desktop. I have hundreds of images and they are at an odd small size which is difficult or impossible to set up in iWorks

Going via iPhoto gets my images into the Inspector pallettes but otherwise only complicates the issue.

iPhoto itself only allows me 3 sizes in exported movies and is incredibly slow. I hate taking things into iPhoto anyway as it just chokes up my boot volume with dupes in odd places I have trouble tracking.

iMovie creates enormous (Gbs!!) files.

Preview doesn't let you save slideshows in either of the obvious formats ie QT movie or multi-page pdf file. Actually it simply doesn't let you save.

The whole iLife/iWorks is a fiasco at such a simple task.

The closest I have got so far is Graphic Converter, which is fast if not well laid out, but for some reason the Push from below transition fails.

All the 3rd party apps I have tried so far fail in one aspect or another. Can anyone suggest an app or technique they use for this?

macbri · #4 February 18th, 2007, 08:53 PM

If you're not adding annotations and it's just a slideshow try these slideshow apps: JpegDeux 1.8, Slides 1.0, SlideShow for Erik 1.0,

symphonix · #5 February 19th, 2007, 06:17 PM

Another good option is to put the slideshow together in Keynote and then export it as a QuickTime file. You can then use QuickTime Pro to turn that quicktime file into a kiosk-mode full-screen file that can be interacted with only in very limited ways.

Natobasso · #6 February 20th, 2007, 02:43 PM

Flash?

rubaiyat · #7 March 1st, 2007, 09:58 AM

Found PhotoPresenter, one sexy little Mama!!!!

PuckJunky · #8 March 10th, 2007, 08:34 PM

Not sure how soon you need it, or how much money you're willing to spend but a few ideas that came to mind:

OS X v10.5 (upcoming) will support built-in slide-shows for folders full of images, with some ability to move forward and backward.

Aperture has nice slide-show capabilities.

I think PhotoMechanic (which is easier to learn and cheaper than Aperture) is also capable of this.

Last but not least Photoshop LightRoom has slide-show capabilities I believe.

All of these should do a better job than iPhoto and other consumer grade products, or individual slide presentation products. If you're in a hurry, I would say Photoshop Lightroom is your best bet. It's not too expensive, will give you a lot of other great photography-related functions, and it's available now.

-PJ