Photodex ProShow Producer - Review
Bruce Ritchie - September 2009
ProShow Gold ($70 U.S.) and ProShow Producer ($250
U.S.) are premier presentation packages. Is the price
difference worth it?
Gold is used to produce many wonderful slide shows. Producer takes that program to new heights. I have attached
a comparison chart of the facilities available in both Gold and
Producer. Producer can handle input from almost any format
and output a result that can be shown professionally at trade
shows, paid presentations, and in both online and television
commercials. If you have taken a trip of a lifetime, you owe it to
yourself to package those memories properly.
Producer comes with an extensive inventory of templates
which make it easy to produce a top-quality product. You can
combine images, video, soundtrack and narrative seamlessly
with the most professional scene to scene transitions. The
package is exceptionally easy to learn to get started and has
extraordinary depth to keep the professional's creativity
challenged.
Producer allows you to use multiple layers where images,
video and text can be stacked one behind the other and
allowed to independently move, zoom in, zoom out, fade in and
fade out, and interact, in a single slide. Video takes up a lot of
memory space and is shot at a much lower resolution than still
images. With Producer and still image slides, you can get the
impression of a video pan and zoom but at higher resolution.
This can make a substantial difference in the size of your
finished product if you wish to upload to an online site.
In one project, for the funeral of the lead rider for the Great
FASD Horseback Ride across Canada, I was able to quickly
combine slides and video with soundtrack and upload the
finished package to the free Photodex online album. The
funeral was held in Golden, BC and the slide show was
available in time for the funeral as well as serving as an
ongoing online Memorial.
I have worked with many well-known presentation packages for
slides, as well as high end video editing programs. If you're just
looking to do a simple, quality slide show, ProShow Gold is an
excellent package at a very low price. In my personal
experience with both packages, ProShow Producer is well
worth the extra money. I highly recommend both packages.
Some Key Features
Easily Add Photos & Videos
Simply drag and drop your photos and videos onto the Slide
List to add them to your show. Each slide can have an
unlimited number of layers meaning you can create unique
photo montages, add borders to images and more. You can
even edit your video clips directly in ProShow Producer by
using the built-in video trimmer. Use a transition to fade into the
next slide for a seamless effect.
* Add an unlimited number of layers to any slide
* Drag and drop to easily add content to a show
* Supports 100+ file types including RAW
* Transparency support for PSD, PNG, TIFF and GIF files
* Built-in video trimmer crops video clips precisely
* Over 280 quality transition effects to choose from
Advanced Creative Effects
Flex your creative muscles with integrated features like
Keyframing, Masking and Adjustment Layers. Create unique
photo montages and special effects in an instant with Slide
Styles. Producer provides you with a palette of creative design
tools to create spectacular shows.
* Motion, Effects & Caption Keyframing
* Dedicated Keyframe editor
* Masking capabilities
* Adjustment Layers & Effects
* Slide Styles, 75 built-in Styles
Use Slide Styles for Instant Effects
Slide Styles are pre-made effects that you can apply to any
slide in your show. Just drop in your images, add a Slide Style
and the rest is done for you. Slick, professional-looking effects
in an instant. Producer comes with 75 must-have Slide Styles.
You can also create, save and re-use your own Styles. Build up
a library of styles or share styles with other ProShow users.
Used along with Keyframing and Masking, Slide Styles give
you the power to create hours worth of effects with one mouse
click.
* One-click special effects
* 75 built-in Slide Styles
* Create and save your own Styles
Promote & Protect Your Business
Producer's branding, watermarking and copy protection
features were designed specifically with the professional's
need in mind. Not only are you able to promote your business
better but you can rest assured that your slides shows and
original content are protected from unauthorized use, allowing
you to showcase your work completely on your terms.
* Watermark slides in your show
* Custom Branding options
* Copy protect discs
* ICC Color profiles for excellent quality output
HD Quality Output
Whether you're creating content to playback on TV, PC or the
Web, Producer delivers only the best quality output. Provide
your clients with true HD quality slide shows that will keep you
and your business competitive in an ever-changing market.
Don't waste your pixels on standard definition shows;
showcase your images in full HD resolution with Producer's
wide array of high-quality output options.
* Burn to DVD, CD & Blue-ray
* Built-in YouTube uploader
* Stream shows online with Flash, QuickTime or Presenter
* Output to portable devices* like the iPhone, Blackberry &
more
* Upload and share your shows online for FREE at
photodex.com
Note: For device output a plug-in may be required, see the
Device Plug-in page for more info.