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Cool Slide Shows for your iPod video

by Mikkel Aaland

Here I'll show you how to turn a few ordinary still images into a compelling slideshow sequence with Photoshop Element 4’s new pans and zoom feature. Then I’ll show you a way convert your slideshow into a format readable by Apple’s new iPod video with Adobe Premier Elements and Apple’s Quicktime Pro. We’ll finish up using Apple’s free iTune’s software and load our slideshow onto a iPod video.

 

This lesson is Window’s-only.  (Mac users can something similar-albeit without the controlled pan and zoom—with iPhoto and iMovie.)

 

Part One:  Creating the Slide show with Photoshop Elements 4

 

1. Open the Organizer.
2. Select the images you wish to include in your slideshow.
3. Select the Create button, and in the Creations Setup dialog select Slide Show and click OK.  The window shown here appears (Figure 2.1). Several options, including Apply Pan & Zoom to All Slides, are not critical since you can change your mind later while creating the slide show.

 

4. Arrange the slides in preferred order. You can change the duration and transitions at any time while in the slide show. You can also change all of the durations, backgrounds, or transitions at the same time. To change all of the durations, begin by changing the duration of one slide using the black arrow under the thumbnail version of the slide (Figure 2.2), and then click the black arrow again and select Set All Slides. To apply a transition to all slides, click the transition icon arrow, select a transition, and then select Apply to All from the popup menu. For changing all of the backgrounds, select all of the slides in the film strip and then click the Background Color icon.

5. Add a pan and zoom effect on the appropriate image (s).  To enable this feature, select a slide in the film strip and place a check in the box labeled Enable Pan & Zoom. (Figure 1.3). There are two icons in the Pan & Zoom properties. The one on the left, with a green rectangle, shows the starting position and zoom amount; the one on the right, with the red rectangle, shows the ending position and zoom amount. These controls are only available when you select an image in the film strip.

 

 

6. Test the effect by selecting the Play button in the VCR-like controls. If you change you mind and want to reverse the effect do this with a single click of the last of the three controls located between the Start and End icons.
7. Add a title and graphics and music if you want.
8. When you are finished select Ok and name your creation.

 

Now we are ready to start the export process.

 

1. Select Export and then select Save as a File.  Choose to save your creation in the Movie File (.wmv) format. Under File Settings chose the High (800 x 600). Even though the iPod video only plays 320 x 240, sometimes it helps to start at a higher setting and downsample later, but this also increases the rendering time.) Figure 1.4

2. After saving your exported file, back in the Organizer select the .wmv file. Now select Send to Premier Elements from the File menu.  (You’ll need to have the Premier Elements loaded on your computer.  Since Premier Elements and Photoshop Elements are often bundled the odds are pretty good you’ll have it. If you don’t, it’s downloadable and for sale on the adobe.com site.)

 

Now, in Premiere Elements:

1. Select Export.
2. Choose QuickTime
3. From the Export QuickTime dialog box, chose For Broadband> LAN.  This will produce a QuickTime 320 x 240 file.  You can also create a Custom setting by selecting Advanced.  Use the following settings:

 

Video Codec: H.264 Encoder (Or Apple MPEG4 Compressor)

Frame Width: 320 x 240

Frame Rate: 15 (or higher if you want)

Pixel Aspect Ration: Square Pixels

 

At this time Premier Elements doesn’t write the .m4v format read by the iPod. (I’m told version 3.0 will). So you’ll need to go one step further before you are ready to load the slideshow on your video iPod.

 

Open QuickTime Pro.  (It’s available for $29.99 US at apple.com). Open the QuickTime movie you saved in Premier Elements.  Now chose File > Export from the QuickTime menu.  Then select Movie to iPod (320 x 240) from the Export menu.  (By the way, don’t try and cut a corner by trying to open your .wmv file  created in Photoshop Elements directly into QuickTime Pro.  QuickTime Pro doesn’t support .wmv… Ah, incompatible video formats!  It’s enough to drive one crazy.)

 

As a final step, import your QuickTime file into iTunes. (It’s free from apple.com) From here you can manually or automatically (depending on how you set your preferences) load your creation on to your video iPod. 

 

Finally, you are ready for sharing your fantastic creation!

 

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