MAGIX Photostory easy, ver. 1.0.5.18(UDC2). I've only used this a short while, but I have experience with the video editors. I find that PSE has several serious bugs. I'm wondering if they will be fixed, or if the full Photostory version will fix these:
1. I import about 300 photos into PSE. They are a mix of 3:2 and 4:3. I have PSE do a "create slideshow automatically". It does so, but all images have the same size ratio, in this case 4:3 (I could do 16:). I add a curtain intro and outro from the Decoration tab. They are automatically applied to the first and last photo, with some overlap. I can change the text of the intro/outro in the Text tab, but I can do nothing else. I can't select the intro I can't delete it. If I delete the photo it is associated with, that photo goes away but the intro is now attached to the new first photo. To get rid of the intro I have to redo the entire project.
2. I want all my photos to be onscreen for 5 sec. I change them all by selecting the time for the first photo and "change all". Then I want to change one photo to 9 sec. After I do, all subsequent photos in the timeline are now affected: 4 of the next photos have 4.29 sec. and the 5th is still 5 sec. Then, 4, 1, 4, 1 the pattern continues for the rest of the slideshow. I can't fix this. every time I try to adjust the time on one photo all subsequent ones are affected.
3. I do the "create slideshow automatically, and the View effects Section, Size & Position, and Animation are all applied randomly (sortof) to the slideshow. I can then go back and change Section and Size/Position on individual slides, but Animation is greyed out - I can't change it. The real problem with this is that once I change Section or Size/Position, the Animation goes bad. Instead of a smooth pan, for example, I get a jerky pan back and forth.
The end result of my fighting this one slideshow for a week is that I have a slideshow that is simply one static photo after another (with crossfade transition) that just starts and stops. I bought PSE so I could do something more "professional", and the software is supposed to do great stuff, but it fails miserably.
What is the fix? Is a patch or upgrade coming? Do I have to buy another product?
Thanks for wading through all this text. I hope you can help.