This is an overview of how to use PhotoStage to create a slideshow from your images and videos.

Adding and Removing Slides

Start your slideshow by adding files to it. Either click the "Insert slides" button, or select File -> Insert slides from the menu. In the browse window that opens select the image and video files you wish to convert.

Once your files have been added, if you wish to remove any of them, select the files and click the "Delete slides" button. To select multiple slides at once, select the first slide press the Shift key and left-click on the last slide you want to select. To highlight all the files press Ctrl + A. You can also remove slides from the right-click context menu of the slide on a timeline.

Playing Slideshow

You can play your slideshow at anytime by clicking the "Play" button. You can select the slide you want start your slideshow from and play from that point. The slideshow will be shown in a preview window. Remember, it's just a live preview. The quality of video will be different when you finally build your slideshow.

Setting up slides

You can setup slide length by either changing value in the "Length:" field or resizing slide's frame on the timeline.

You can select different transition effects for slides. Choose them from the "Effect:" list. Specify the required effect length in the field next to the effect type.

Sound narration can be added to a slide by pressing the "Narrate" button. To learn more about this operation please see Narrations.

If you want to select a section of a slide you want to appear in your slideshow you can use the "Crop" function (see more at Cropping Images).

To add a camera zoom effect to your slide press "Zoom" button (see more at Zoom Effect).

Color settings and color effects can be adjusted and applied from the "Manage Color" button (see more at Color Settings).

You can add a text caption to your slide by typing it into "Caption:" field. You can also add caption and adjust text color, font, alignment and other settings by pressing "More..." button next to the text caption field (see more at Text Caption).

Manipulating slides

There are some operations you can perform on slides:

• Change the position on the timeline by using dragging and dropping slides on the timeline and in file list.
• You can copy a slide by selecting the slide and either pressing "Copy slide" button or selecting "Create copy" from the slide's context menu on a timeline.
• Insert a blank black slide by either pressing "Blank slide" or selecting "Insert blank" from the timline's context menu.
• "Swap slide" command from the slide's context menu on a timeline can be used to change the file of the slide without changing the effects and narration applied to the slide.

Setting up sound track

You can add sound track to your slideshow by either pressing "Set sound track" button or selecting "Add sound track" from the context menu of the sound track field on the timeline.

Building the slideshow

Once you have completed your slideshow you need to build it. Press the "Build slideshow" button. A new dialog box will appear. Select the destination device and format you want your slideshow to be built for. There is a help page for every destination type (access them by pressing the "Help" button in the bottom of the "Build Slideshow" dialog).

Saving and loading your slideshow project

If you want to save your project select File -> Save Project As from the menu and select a destination file to save your project to.

To load the saved project select File -> Load Project... from the menu. Then select your saved project file.

Warning: when you save you project file you do not actually save your images and movies into it. Only filenames are saved. If you want all the data including slides, narrations and sound track to be put into one project file you can use the "Backup Project" function.

Backup and restore you project

This function allows you to backup your project and all the data it uses into one file. To backup select File -> Backup Project... To restore a project from backup select File -> Restore Project...