Thanks for the information. I have been reading the manuals and it hasn't helped much. I have just been playing with it and I found a way to make it work. I put in the credits and then I added a color swatch as a blank page, then added the outro and just added text to the outro before the curtain closed. It is working great. I have a friend who also has this program and she is also learning it as she goes along with trial and error. I guess that is what I will be doing before I have to create another slideshow next Fall for my daughter's soccer team. Thanks again so much for your help. 

Hi again,

Glad to help. Trial and error? You're doing what we all do - try everything, and learn! You will be amazed and so will those who watch the results. And you will be proud. Try to add in a photo overlaying the colour swatch. Change the size with the Size/position effect to make the image smaller, move it to the bottom of the screen, add a key frame (the +) or travel point, as they call it, move the timeline cursor further along, grab the  photo and move it up to the top of the screen, clip on the + to add another travel point. With trial and error, you can get a small image to scroll up the screen at the same time as your text.

I suggest that you get some video to go along with the photos, especially of the soccer. Action helps greatly, but use only short highlights. Add music. The program has great ways to add in music using soundmaker as well as outside music. Respect copywrite - don't distribute or post anything to YouTube for which you don't have ownership or a license.

Most of all, have fun!

Hello!!

Thanks for all the tips. I have made slideshows before, but this program offers so much more and that is why my friend suggested I try it. I wish I had video, maybe next year, but with all the transitions and effects it makes the project move in different ways. I always ask the girls what music they would like and so that way they can enjoy it  for years to come. It makes a great gift for the seniors too!! Thanks again for all your help!!!!

Hey, I have another question about intros and outros. I am trying to put music in and the intro and outro that use the photo album has sound with it. Is there any way to get that sound off of there, so it doesn't effect my music? 

Hi,

I almost missed your last message.

I can't find a way to mute the sound on the intro. As I mentioned, the intro is actually made up of objects that go onto 4 tracks in Movie Edit Pro, but only 1 track shows up in PhotoStory. I tried to mute or reduce the sound on the second track and the movie track by adding sound to track 4, selecting the sound object, right click, Decrease volume, and playing with the settings to decrease volume of other audio tracks. I could not find a way to mute or decrease the volume of the intro hidden sound track. I looked at several other options - no easy way. I guess that this is one of the limitations of PhotoStory. It would be quite simple in Movie Edit Pro.

That said, I did find a way. If you really need this, then you will have to replace the ogg sound file for the intro or outro with another one. You have to carefully document what you do and save the original ogg file that you replace somewhere else temporarily so that you can get it back later. The intro outro files can be found in:

C:\ProgramData\MAGIX\PhotoStory on DVD 2013 Deluxe\IntroOutro

There you will see how the object is composed. For the Curtains_intro, you will have to replace the curtains_intro.ogg file with another one that has no sound. One way to do this is to record in Photostory. Import a slide, click on it, click on the microphone button for audio capture, select Add sound to each photo individually, note the folder location where it will be created and change the name of the wav to match the name of the ogg file that you will create, for example, to curtains_intro, but leave the filetype as wav, and create a sound bite without any noise for about 4 or 5 seconds. When you accept the recording, it will be placed on track 3, probably. Right click on it and select Edit sound (external). This will open Music Editor and bring in your sound clip. Here you can make adjustments to your sound if needed. Then do File, Export Audio and select Ogg Vorbis. Note where it will save the file and either change it or keep it. Execute.

Then go to the IntroOutro folder indicated above, change the filename of the ogg file to curtains_intro_orig.ogg or something that you will remember. Go and get the ogg file that you created and copy to this folder. It should now be the new curtains_intro.ogg file.

Go back to your music editor and exit it without saving. It will take you back to PhotoStory. Delete the sound object that you created. Now create the curtains intro on the first slide. It will use your new sound file that has no sound (unless you made some). Et voila, done.

Don't forget that what you did because someday you may want the original ogg file.

There is a simpler way. You could just open Music Editor from Programs and create the sound file directly without using PhotoStory, export the sound (or non sound) to the ogg format with the appropriate filename. This saves a couple of steps. While you are there, note how Music Editor works; it is for audio, not just music. This would be a good place to also prepare your sound tracks as you have much more flexibility than in Photostory. You can also add effects, do cleaning and mastering. Click on Effects on the menu or Cleaning just below the red record button, then mastering, to see most of the possibilities. Once done, export your production to a wav file and import it into Photostory.

Great fun! Let me know how you make out.

Regards,