soundslides

Once you have imported your audio and photos into Soundslides, you can start editing your slide show.

Soundslides gives you the ability to:

• Adjusting the timing of each image
• Reordering your images
• Add or remove images from your slide show
• Adding captions to each of your images
• Customizing the interface of Soundslides
• Re-import your audio track
• Some advanced settings, including working with templates
• Adding movement to your slides (Plus version only)
• Adding lower thirds titles to your slide (Plus version only)

(The links above take you to the corresponding sections below on this page)

Adjusting the timing of images

To change the length of time an image appears, simply drag the ends in the timeline at the bottom. You can click the play button at the bottom of the screen to preview the slide show's audio track and adjust the timing.

Remember: Soundslides is built so that the length of your slide show is determined by the length of your audio track. You cannot readjust the length of your audio track in Soundslides. If you want to make changes to your audio track, you will have to make these changes in an external audio editing program and then re-import the audio back into Soundslides.

Reordering Images

Reordering images in Soundslides can be a little bit tricky to figure out on first glance. That's because you cannot reorder the images in the timeline itself, rather you must reorder them in the slide viewing space.

Simply drag a thumbnail with your mouse arrow to a new location. The images will automatically reorder in the timeline at the bottom of the program.

Adding/Removing images: This window also has options for adding additional images or removing images from your slide show. (Note: The "Add Image" option allows you to add single images, and you don't have to add an entire folder. Also, throwing images away doesn't delete the original image, only the copy Soundslides had made for the slide show)

Adding captions to each image

Captions can be added to certain points of your timeline, to supplement your photos with additional information. Captions are optional, and the viewer must click a link to see them. This means you should not expect the viewer will read the captions, unless they are compelled to get additional information from each image.

Click on the Slide Info tab and the Details sub-tab. You can type the caption in the field. If you want to add captions to every image, use the next and back buttons to cycle through each image.

Customizing the Interface

You can click the "Test" button at the bottom of the program window to see how your slide show will appear as a published product at any time. You may notice that there is a title at the top of your project that is customizable. There are also various color and other options that can be customized. Click the "Project Info" tab near the top right to see some of the option you can fill in:

You can also change the colors and look of your slide show:

Some of the key features to note:

• If you don't have captions or credits, you might want to un-check those boxes.
• You should consider whether you want your slide show to play automatically, or have the view click play.
• Decide if you want the "Headline" title bar at the top to appear.
• Scrubber preview toggles a feature that allows the viewer to see preview images throughout the slide show as they drag their mouse over the playhead (aka scrubber).

Re-import Audio Track

If you ever want to change your audio track, simply click on the "Audio" tab at the top right and select a new audio file. If you have previous installed the LAME mp3 encoder, then this option will allow you to upload your .WAV or .AIF files which Soundslides will convert to mp3. 

IMPORTANT! If your new audio track is longer or shorter than the existing track, it will change the length of your entire slide show and throw off all of the transitions. You will have to redo the timing of your entire slide show.

Advanced Template Settings 

Soundslides has some options for advanced template settings. Those include custom templates that will change the appearance of the slide show viewer. You also have options to change the fonts and transitions of how each image fades into another.

Adding movement to your slides (Plus version only)

To add movement to your slides, select the Slide Info tab and the Movement sub-tab. The left image shows you how the animation of zooming will begin, and the right image shows you how the animation will end. Move the sliders below each image to adjust the start and stop points of the animation. You can test the animation by pressing the play button at the bottom of the window.

Adding Lower Thirds Titles (Plus version only)

The SoundSlides Plus version allows you to add what are called "lower thirds" titles to the slides. It's important to know that the lower-thirds feature in SoundSlides is not attached to any specific image, rather it is based on the timeline. This means if you want to add some titles to your project, it should be one of the very last steps you do, because if you reorder the photos, the titles will not follow.

To add a lower third, first click on the Audio tab, and the Lower Thirds sub-tab. Here are the steps to perform when adding a lower third:

1. Move the orange playhead on your timeline to the desired location you want to add the lower third (typically at the beginning of a slide).
2. Click the Add button to add a new title.
3. Add the person's name and title.
4. The in point will specify the exact time the title will appear. It will automatically be filled in with the current location of the playhead. You can manually adjust this value as well.
5. The duration represents the amount of time the title will stay on the slide in seconds. You will have to manually adjust the duration, mostly by trial-and-error, to see how long you want the title to appear.

Click the play button at the bottom to see the lower third appear and how long it will last. You will have to manually adjust the duration based on the length of the slide.