This can be done very well in Vegas. When you render you can specify custom frame sizes. It is usually better to keep the frame at a 4:3 ratio, so you would specify 1280x960. This will result in narrow black bars across the top and bottom (like a widescreen movie), but that's what you get for having pictures that are wider than 4:3.

Vegas allows very nice crossfades and includes hundreds of transitions and effects you can apply as well. It's also very easy to line the pictures up with specific parts of the music (have the crossfades occur on the downbeat, for example).

If you'll only be showing this slideshow with MediaPlayer, you might want to consider WMV instead of MPEG. It seems to be a little more trouble-free. Keep in mind that any compressed video format is probably going to suffer some fuzzy edges and artifacts. The only way to preserve the original quality of the images is to use uncompressed AVI, but that would result in enormous files, potentially 4.5GB/minute if you use 30fps.

when i want to simply create a cd with slide show i use roxio ez cd creator plus
it is awesome
it takes me about 1 minute to create an entire slide show project--50 pix
automatic transitions are included
i have tried vegas for making video cd's and i am not satisfied with the quality
no knock on vegas because i wanted it for video editing etc. and it has exceeded my expectations tenfold
but when i make simple slide show for people i use roxio--fast and easy
just my 2 cents
sb

You may want to look at Corel's Presentations or MicroSoft's PowerPoint. Great controls over sound, transitions, and pictures. I believe both have players so the receiving party does not have to have the program to view the slideshow.

the best thing would be a program that shows the actual pictures at their full resolution instead of video. flash could do that, but that's not easy to use.

second best would be a nice high res video with transitions. Vegas would be perfect for that. if you want you can drop all your images on the timeline at once and Vegas will make an instant slideshow with transitions.

as an output format, as suggested, WMV v8 at 640x480 30fps would look great and would fit on a CD just fine.

MPEG-2 looks awesome too, but it can take a lot more work! plus the client PC must have DVD software, so stick with WMV for now if Windows is your target platform.

another option is to use a special mode of VCD to make a high res slide show, but you'll need software that can do that and Vegas won't help you there. I'm not even sure you have music with that... but it's worth looking into: www.vcdhelp.com

Yes, and that is when I realized mpeg would not work.

I have Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum, but when I attach a music file to the first picture, the entire music file has to play before the second picture comes up. Am I missing something? Does EZ Creator Plus get around this problem?

The wmv at40x480 sounds like a good solution, but how do I make it autorun?

Jerry,

Cheesehole and Chienworks gave you some excellent information for playing your slideshow on a PC with the help of Vegas Video. I learn a lot from their posts. But I am wondering if you might also want to make a CD that would play your slideshows in a set top DVD player. A lot of people have DVD players, and TV screens are usually bigger than computer monitors and better suited for group showings.

Another thing you might want to think about, since your slide show is becoming a video, you could also put it on a VHS tape. Nearly everyone has a VCR.

-- Burton --

Vegas is GREAT for making slide shows to music. I have done numerous. As Chienworks stated, not only can you get VERY detailed to music movement if you want, you can also pan and zoom on your pictures to add an extra element. To make a cd auto-run, look at any cd that has the autorun.inf (I think that is it) file on it, open with a text editor, and edit for your file

Kent

jerry you missed something!
there are a few ways to create a slide show cd
i am leaving for work in a few minutes
later tonight--or tomorrow- i will write down the exact steps i use to create a slide show cd
it is simple and YES you will have music for all your pictures just as if you made it in vv3
sb

how to make a movie autorun:

Working with AutoRun.inf files is usually very simple. The usual method looks like this:

[autorun]

You simply paste the preceding text into notepad and then save the file as autorun.inf

Place this file in the root folder of your CDROM. Whenever the Cd is inserted, the program listed in the 'OPEN' parameter will be launched.

Opening an HTML file (or any file such as a .WMV) is a bit trickier, since those files are not programs and are not executable. For this you need an 'in-between' program that will solve this problem.

I found a freeware 'in-between' program called Winopen and it's freeware: (http://www.duckware.com/winopen.html). You just need to include it in the root folder of your CDROM.

Your autorun.inf text file should look like this:

[autorun]

There are some extra parameters you can set using this technique. For example you can have your htm file open maximized. Take a look at the winopen website. I have tested this program and it works.

the winopen trick worked like a charm- thanks!

I am trying to learn how to create an autorun.inf that will do what I need with no other "in between programs" needed. Here is what I need to do:
Distribute a CD with multiple wmv and mpg files to my co-workers who are using Windows 2000 laptops, using Windows Media Player for viewing. I haved learned to save and export a windows PLAYLIST as a .asx file and want to auto launch this so that all the various video files show up and play in order, all by auto-run. It would be better still if I could have the Windows Media Player open in Full-Screen (Alt+Enter) mode. Is this too much to ask? Any ideas that will get me even close to what I'm after? Thanks in advance.
The_Producer

The_producer,
I suggest you take a look at multimedia builder by mediachance.
This program will do what you want and the scripts are included for what you are trying to do.
It costs around 50 dollars. Well worth the investment.
W

Watson, thanks for the lead on Mediachance. They have some interesting products.
I'm still looking for a "free" solution to my problem. I'm still holding out for a simple solution rather than an authoring program. It just seems to me that what I'm trying to do is a rather basic and straightforward autorun. Anybody else care to weigh in on this?

The_Producer