MaximumPC 2004 04

Reviews

84 MAXIMUMPC APRIL 2004

A

captive audience is one thing,

but why force your friends

and family to sit through two

hours of Ektachrome slides from

your summer vacation in Thailand,

when you can hand them a DVD

package they can view on their

own time? This month we look at

three digital slide-show apps that

promise to turn your megabytes of

digital memories into a compelling

documentary complete with

narration and soundtrack.

—GORDON MAH UNG

3D-Album

We have to admit that when we

first saw 3D-Album at the recent

Comdex show in Las Vegas, we

were mesmerized by the software’s

image-mapped balloons and

spinning, blinking, whirling

animations. But after playing with

the application in a non-Vegas

setting, we’re inclined to believe

that the jet lag or martinis impaired

our earlier judgment.

3D-Album is quite a departure

from the standard slide-show

maker. Indeed, the package’s

key selling point is the addition

of the third dimension. Images

can be mapped onto cubes,

clock faces, or into virtual

photo albums with pages that

actually turn. Approximately two

dozen 3D effects are included

with the software; dozens more

are available for free at Micro

Research’s web site.

Unfortunately, while the

concept is unique, the 3D effects

are cheesy and more suited to a 13-

year-old girl than a 30-something

hard-boiled magazine editor. We

felt embarrassed showing our

presentations to the Maximum PC

staff. And for good reason—derisive

hooting and hollering ensued when

our vacation photos appeared

mapped onto spinning balloons.

Making matters worse, once

you’ve collected your files and

chosen a particular 3D effect,

you’re forced to use it throughout

your entire presentation. While

you can stitch together multiple

presentations for variety, a

common-sense approach would

have allowed the use of multiple

transition types within a single

production. Incorporating audio

into a slide show is executed

in a similarly confining and

nonintuitive manner. Rather than

simply choosing the songs you

want, you have to create a new

folder of MP3 or WAV files outside

the program.

When your package is ready

to go, the program allows you to

create an executable, zip, native

“presentation” file, or screen saver.

In yet another confounding twist,

the self-extracting executable you

can distribute to friends requires

the download of a 1.5MB plug-

in. Why not embed everything

into the executable? If you want

your presentation on a DVD, you

must use a second application that

converts the 3D-Album file into a

video file. The app has no actual

burning capabilities.

We feel let down by 3D-Album.

With a new interface, more

sophisticated effects, and drastically

improved usability, this app could

be a diamond, but right now it’s a

lump of coal. A commercial version

of 3D-Album has far more features

and controls, but at $300 it’s not

for the casual user.

MemoriesOnTV 2.0

If you’ve ever seen a Ken Burns

documentary on PBS (The Civil

War, Baseball) , you know just

how emotionally evocative a

slow-motion pan or zoom on

a photograph can be when

synchronized with a soundtrack.

MemoriesOnTV 2.0 touts its pans,

zooms, and fades as the “Ken

Burns Effect,” and allows you to

use such devices when creating

your own photo album.

The interface for MemoriesOnTV

is fairly straightforward: Drag your

images into the import section;

select Zoom or Pan, along with a

transition effect; grab the audio

track from anywhere on your PC;

and boom, you’re ready to go. You

also have the option of customizing

the pans and zooms on each

individual image by selecting the

file and indicating where you want

the zoom/pan to start and where

you want it to end.

Unlike the cumbersome 3D-

Album, an abundance of features

makes life easier in MemoriesOnTV.

For instance, you’re given

the ability to automatically

synchronize your audio track

with your images. If your photos

take five minutes to display and

you have six minutes of audio,

MemoriesOnTV will automatically

slow down the transitions to make

the slide show end on the last note

of the audio track.

Also unlike 3D-Album,

MemoriesOnTV 2.0 includes a

burning engine. Should your

optical drive not be supported,

the app lets you switch to the Nero

drivers to write to your DVD drive

instead. If you’re unhappy with the

MPEG2 encoder (we weren’t), you

can switch to a TMpgEnc encoder if

you have one.

Photo Software Pileup

Toss out your slide projector and poor narrative skills—

these three apps take digital photo shows to creative new heights

In 3D-Album,

you can

map your

pictures onto

virtual towels

hanging in

the jungles of

Borneo. That

is, if you’re

into that sort

of thing.

See your digital images mapped onto a 3D object.

GOUDA

LIMBURGER

Tacky 3D effects, too few options, clumsy interface.

$60, http://www.3d-album.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 6

3-D Album