I am researching how to do two things:

1. Apply 3 images to one panel. If I put one external & the other internal, I get an error on the 3rd. I could
just merge two of the images together using another product but I should be able to do this using Easy
Media Creator

2. I'm not sure if Easy Media Creator is capable of doing this but I want to take several images that were
taken consecutively and animate them. When the the slide show is viewed, you would see all this done
in one panel, I guess. Someone else in here post one of their links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av3P7IRxb38 (Squirmy Puppy video) <== This is what I want
to do. Is this possible in Easy Media Creator 8.

Any help would be appreciated.

None of that is animated. Most of it is just one image after another with a fast dissolve. Some of it is pan and zoom. The rest of it may be chroma color. Look at the Tips and Tricks area of V9 and you'll see some of what can be done.
By the way, you can add images to several tracks; in VideoWave, switch to timeline view and then click on show/hide tracks and keep adding overlay tracks. You get up to 5 overlay tracks.When you click on add, you'll get an option where you want the track to add.

What Version of EMC 8 do you have; only the deluxe has all the options enabled.

I have EMC 8 Suite. I didn't know there were different types of version.

I'm new at this. Can you tell where the Tips and Tricks area is? Is it in this forum?

It is in the EMC 9 forums.

In reply to your SECOND question:


Here's how "Squirmy Puppy" came about; actually, it required but a series of simple steps -- not dependent upon any super-tricky software.

I set out to snap a simple portrait of a neighbor lady holding her new puppy. She (the pup) wasn't in a mood to hold still, so I set the camera to "sports mode" and held the shutter release down while the camera took six quick pix in about five seconds. I was hoping that one of them would turn out to be usable (not blurred, subjects smiling, etc.)

When I saw the pictures all together, I realized they deserved to stay together -- and ended up with a sort of dance set to Mark Knopflers funky "Coyote." ( I put it up on You Tube for fun -- it's gotten some 3,200 hits so far. )

Most of the work was done in PhotoSuite 7; StoryBoard 7 was used just to tie all the still photos together. (StoryBoard was -- I think -- a predecessor to VideoWave.) Here's the recipe:

1. Use PhotoSuite to make the background of each photo as "identical" as possible. This could involve zooming, rotating, cropping, adjusting exposure, tint and even sharpening for each photo. The idea is to have ONLY the subjects move while the background remains as motionless as possible as you flip through the images. (Before long, you will kick yourself for not using a tripod.)

2. Load the pix into VideoWave (or similar) like a normal slide show. You might find that you can use each picture several times to simulate forward/reverse motion, etc.

3. Add some music (if you wish), then begin the tedious process of "matching" the motion of your subjects with the beat of the song. I usually use a simple short dissolve between images -- in the range of 0.1 to 0.4 seconds.

4. Optionally, spice the production up with Pan&Zoom editing; add titles if needed and Voila! you're a movie maker!



In reply to your FIRST question:


As above, this task is more simply done in a still (not movie) editor such as PhotoSuite. Here's a recipe:

1. Create a "blank canvas" in the editor. Size it at least as large as your intended final screen size -- 640x480 pixels or whatever. (Adjust this if you are planning on using Pan&Zoom editing later. If you're intending to zoom in by a factor of 3, for example, make the canvas at least 1,920x1,440 pixels. Otherwise your production will look "grainy" during the zooms.)

2. Use "Insert Photos & Cutouts" to add pictures to your blank canvas.

3. Use the editor tools to move your images around, resize, crop -- whatever -- to come up with the collage you have in mind.

4. Add your result to the movie as ONE photo/panel -- already assembled!

If you want to get fancy, delete (or "cut") each of the photos one at a time and save the resultant "partial collages" as separate panels. Then, load them into your VideoWave movie in reverse order and watch the collage build itself before your eyes!

Good luck!

Tom

PS. When I get some more pieces of EMC10 up and working, maybe I can tell you how to do all of this on a CURRENT Roxio product . . .

Thank you so much for writing this for me. I will try this. You are a life saver as I have to have this done for work on Tuesday.


I just have one more question. The previous posting said that I would need the Deluxe version which I knew nothing about. Is there just Easy Media Creator 10 Suite as I am seeing out on their site or is there a Deluxe version for that also? If I upgrade, I want to get the product that has all the options available.

No, you do not need the deluxe suite; you just can not have the basic version or an OEM version. Try doing a short project before you spend more money you should be able to do it in V8.

Yes there is (was) a V10 Deluxe version but it is the same as V10. The only difference is that the Deluxe includes a video capture device. Roxio pretty much learned their less with coming out with 3 different versions of V8. For V9 and V10, the base programs are the same; there are add-ons. For instance V9 came with a Version of Sound Soap.