April 2010 Newsletter

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Welcome to the Photo to Movie Newsletter

April 2010

Welcome to the April 2010 Photo to Movie newsletter.

The major news this month is that Photo to Movie 4.5 has been released and is available for download on our website.

Download Photo to Movie 4.5

Last month we discussed the adaptive blur and motion blur settings in the new version of Photo to Movie; this month we'll cover another new feature: Track Layout Options.

Photo to Movie 4.5 Released

Photo to Movie 4.5 is a major upgrade for Windows users, and brings some great new functionality for Mac users too.

NOTE: If your current license key is from September 2009 or later, the upgrade is free; otherwise there is an upgrade charge.

Some of the major new features for Windows users:

  • Improved Rendering Motion blur option and photo-by-photo adaptive blur settings.

  • Cross Platform Compatibility Files are interchangeable between the two platforms; best used with Gather Media....

  • Transitions Includes new transitions such as flip, cube, gradient wipe, and more than 25 others.

  • Multiple Audio and Title Tracks Multiple audio and title tracks allow easier editing and organization of your slideshow.

  • Integrated Media Browser The media browser gives you instant and easy access to photos and music stored on your computer.

  • Automatic Updating The automatic updating system will alert you when a new version is available, download it, and install it for you.

  • Title Effects Title effects allow you to add animation to your titles such as fades, moves, scales, and typewriter effects.

  • Gather Media Automatically have Photo to Movie gather your photos and audio into a single folder for archiving.

  • Fit to Audio Stretch or shrink your photo track to match the duration of your audio track.

  • Document Recovery Automatically reconstruct your working document after a crash or a power loss.

Download Photo to Movie 4.5

For Mac users, this optional upgrade version brings an improved user interface, better stability (fewer crashes), and some other features such as adaptive blur, motion blur,and track layouts.

Photo to Movie 4.5 is localized to Danish, French, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish. We're hoping to add localization for Chinese, German, Italian, and Swedish in the near future, too.

Using Track Layout Options

Photo to Movie 4.5 produces video sized according to the settings in Document Info. Most of the time the video is either 4:3 (standard) or 16:9 (wide screen).

Usually, your photos fill the entire area of the video -- that is: the photos extend out to the edge of the video.

With Photo to Movie 4.5, you can control the portion of the output video that is used for the photos. This makes it easy to set the video back 5% or 10% for title safety. This was not possible in earlier versions of Photo to Movie.

To use the track layout, click on the rectangle to the far left of your photo track in the timeline. This will bring up the track inspector.

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The track inspector gives you buttons for 5%, 10%, and Full. These buttons will fill in the fields with values intended to easily handle title safety margins. You can also enter specific values in the margin fields.

The track inspector gives you the flexibility to setup a variety of interesting layouts.

For instance, you could set your right margin to a larger number so that the right side of the layout can be used for titles; the photos only appear within the square region on the left. The key frames on the photos are shaped like squares now.

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The margins for the 1920x1080 HD layout above are:

  • Top: 54
  • Left: 54
  • Bottom 54
  • Right: 920

As you can see, this simple layout option gives you a lot of flexibility for displaying your photos.

Special Deals Mailing List

Due to numerous requests, LQ Graphics now has a special mailing list for special deals, offers, and discounts on LQ Graphics products and 3rd party products.

This is a great way to SAVE MONEY on software. We're negotiating with several other companies to offer special DISCOUNTS to our customers on their products. We expect the first special offer to be available in early December -- SIGN UP NOW.

This special deals mailing list is opt-in only. You must click on the link below and check the appropriate box to be included.

Sign Up for Discounts

Newsletter Archive

All of our previous newsletters are available on our website. Check them out for tips, news, and information items.

Browse through the Photo to Movie newsletter archive

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LQ Graphics, Inc., 7172 Regional Street #297, Dublin, CA 94568

Copyright 2010. LQ Graphics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.