The Slideshow Wizard

The Slideshow Wizard (Ctrl/Alt/S) allows you to create a stand-alone slideshow that you can send on a CD to your family or friends. The procedure is as follows:

1. Open the desired folder in the PMIO browser.
2. Select the images you wish to include in the slideshow.
3. Choose the Slideshow Wizard command from the Image menu.
4. Follow the instructions in the Wizard. A temporary folder will be created containing all the files you need to put on the CD.
5. Use your CD-burning software to burn the resulting folder contents to a CD so that the contents of the folder are visible in the root of the CD.
6. You can now delete the temporary folder that was created by the Wizard.

Slideshow Wizard - Page 1

The first page introduces the Wizard and let you choose the kind of slideshow you want to create.

Slideshow Wizard Page 1

• A regular slideshow (simple). This option is usually the one to pick unless you want to do something more advanced.

• A scripted slideshow (advanced). This advanced feature lets you create a custom-scripted slideshow. It may appeal to programmers and other people who like to experiment with scripting. PMIO does not help you to create the script. To use this feature you must manually create a file called pmiv$script.txt after running the Wizard and place it in the temporary output folder along with all the other files that are to be burned to the CD. For more information see PMIV Technical Details.

Slideshow Wizard - Page 2

Slideshow Wizard Page 2

Base output folder specifies a temporary folder that the Wizard will copy all the files to. This folder will typically be burned to a CD and then deleted.

Optional subfolder for images allows you to specify a subfolder within the base output folder where the images will be placed. If you specify this subfolder then the end users of your slideshow will not see the image thumbnails in PMIV until they click the folder icon to go into the subfolder.

Slideshow Wizard - Page 3

Slideshow Wizard Page 3

This page shows a group of options that are all enabled by default. Typically you will leave them all enabled. Some users may need to disable one or more of these items.

• Copy the image files causes the Wizard to copy your source image files to the output folder.

• Copy the thumbnails causes the Wizard to copy thumbnail files to the output folder. This is recommended because the presence of these files speeds PMIV up greatly when it is displaying thumbnails. If you are planning to opt for an auto-slideshow (see Page 4 ), PMIV will not be displaying thumbnails so you can switch this option off and save some space on the final CD.

• Copy the viewer program and support files causes the Wizard to copy the viewer program PMIV.EXE and its support files to the output folder. This is required if you want the end user to be able to view the slideshow as it was designed to be viewed, i.e. in PMIV.

• Copy the image order requests that the Wizard create a file called pmiv$files.txt to the output folder. This file lists the images that are to be viewed in the same order as they are being displayed in the browser. Without this file, PMIV will display the thumbnails in an apparently random order.

• Copy the image memos causes the Wizard to create a text file for each image in the output folder if that image has a standard memo associated with it. These memos will then be displayed in PMIV as annotations for each image.

• Create an auto-run file causes the Wizard to create a file called Autorun.inf in the output folder. This file is used by Windows when a CD is inserted. If the end user's computer has this feature enabled in Windows, their computer will automatically run PMIV.EXE when the CD is inserted.

Slideshow Wizard - Page 4

Slideshow Wizard Page 4

This page shows a group of options and buttons that control the operation of PMIV.

Options

• Show memory - Show memory usage on PMIV screen.
• Show folder - Show folder name on PMIV screen.
• Show filename - Show image file name on PMIV screen.
• Auto slideshow - Asks PMIV to start the slideshow automatically. Thumbnails will not be displayed.
• Enlarge small images - Enlarges small images to fit the PMIV screen.
• Special effects - Draw special texture effects on thumbnails in PMIV.
• Allow popups - Enable right-click context menus in PMIV.
• Always on top - Makes the PMIV window always on top.
• Page buttons - Show the page navigation buttons in PMIV.
• Browse button - Show the Browse button in PMIV.
• Slideshow button - Show the Slideshow button in PMIV.
• Allow copy to hard drive - Asks PMIV to copy the files from the CD to the user's hard drive for more speed. The files are deleted again when PMIV exits.
• Thumbnail width - Sets the PMIV thumbnail width.
• Thumbnail height - Sets the PMIV thumbnail height.

Buttons

• Picture font - Allows you to choose a font and styles for picture annotations.
• Texture - Allows you to choose a background texture file for PMIV to display.
• Hint Colour - Allows you to choose the colour of the hint text.
• Label Colour - Allows you to choose the colour of labels for unvisited images.
• Clicked Label Colour - Allows you to choose the colour of labels for visited images.

Note: These settings are directly related to several of the items in the pmiv$info.txt file.

Slideshow Wizard - Page 5

Slideshow Wizard Page 5

This page allows you to have PMIO automatically resize your source images as they are copied to the temporary output folder. This is useful if you know the screen size (resolution) of the target computer. By resizing the images, you can save space on the CD and speed PMIV up because it won't have to do the resizing itself. You can check the box and select (or type) a screen size in the drop-down lists. You can also have PMIO automatically sharpen the resized images (recommended).

Slideshow Wizard - Page 6

Slideshow Wizard Page 6

This is the last page of the Wizard. When you click the Finish button, PMIO will create the temporary output folder and copy all the files into it. It will also do any resizing you may have specified on Page 5. Since this can take a long time, you will see a progress dialog box and you can cancel the resize operation if you wish.

Resizing Progress

What happens when the Wizard is completed depends on the option you choose on the last page:

• Run the viewer program to test the slideshow - Runs PMIV so that you can test the output folder before burning it to a CD.
• Open the folder in Windows Explorer - Opens the output folder in Windows Explorer.
• Open the folder in a new browser window - Opens the output folder in a new PMIO browser window.
• Do nothing - Quietly returns to the original PMIO browser with no further action.

See also:

Pink Mouse's Image Viewer

About Memos