Why do you need to prepare images for use in Pictures to Exe ?

There are a number of things you can do to make your Pictures to Exe AV show run and look better.

It is advisable to re-size the images you are going to use in the show as this will reduce the final size of the completed show and enable it to run better on older and slower computers. You are also able to sharpen the images to a greater degree than you would normaly do before printing images. The secret to all this is to be organised in your workflow.

Here is my way of working

Create a folder which will contain all your files for the AV sequence you are working on

Create sub folders within your main folder for images, show images, music, titles etc

In order to preserve your original images copy the images you are going to use into the sub folder created above IMAGES

You are now ready to prepare your images using Photoshop or other image editing software

The easiest way to quickly prepare your images is to create an action and then run a batch convertion on all your images to get them ready for using in Pictures to Exe

How do you create an action ?

Open one of your images in Photoshop

Open Actions ( Alt + F9)

Press create new action button on Action Palette Box ( One next to rubbish bin )

Name your action ie Av show Then press record

Photoshop will now record all the commands you perform on that file until you stop the action recording

Note All prepatory work on Levels saturation etc should have been done before this stage

Step One: RE-SIZE IMAGE This should be done to suit your own needs ie your monitor size, or the size of the PC it will be shown on .Image----- Image Size ---- 1024 pixels by 784 pixels Resolution 72 pixels/inch ---- OK

Step Two SHARPEN IMAGE. I use the settings 200% and 1.4 pixels

Step Three SAVE AS ------ Choose Show Images Folder created beforehand --- Choose Level 6

Step Four Close

Stop recording Action ( Press Square box on extreme LHS of Action Palette Box )

The Action has been prepared and is ready to use to prepare all the other images using a batch process

Step One File ----- Automate ----- Batch

Step Two The batch process box is now open. Near the top of the box the action you have just created is the default. Any other actions created can be chosen here. The source folder needs to be selected. This will be the images folder from your main AV folder. The destination folder also needs to be selected as well. This will be the show images folder from your main AV folder previously created. This will keep your images in the images folder untouched by this action. This is important if you want to record another action using these images

Step Three Press OK in batch process box . Depending on how many images and your PC speed the batch precess will prepare all your images in one go ready for use in Pictures to Exe.

 

 

Now you are ready to make your AV sequence using Pictures to Exe or ProShow Gold or any other suitable program Good Luck !!