Best software for creating navigable DVD of photos?

[Phrasikleia]

I would like to create a DVD that has a menu of six slideshows, each of which would display about a hundred images, and each image would have its filename given simultaneously. I'll be giving the DVD to a person who needs to be able to navigate through the (600 or so) images manually (ideally by pressing the arrow key on his keyboard). I need the file name to appear alongside the image so he can make note of which images he wants to copy off of the DVD.

I've been able to get this all working fine in iDVD, except that the file names show up over top of the images, partially obscuring them. There doesn't seem to be any way to reposition the file names so that they stay off of the images. Also, as far as I can tell, the images will appear very small on his screen with iDVD.

Is there a better, simple software application for what I want to accomplish on the Mac?

 

[Cliff3]

Why not just create HTML galleries and let the user browse the disk with their web browser? Lightroom will automate the creation of those galleries. I imagine Aperture does too.

 

[Phrasikleia]

I guess I was looking for something a little spiffier than that, something that would have menus. If there is a way to separate out six different albums of images within a single HTML gallery via LR or Aperture, then I'm unaware of how to do it. I'd rather he didn't have to open six different galleries or view all six hundred images in a single, unorganized gallery.

 

[CarlsonCustoms]

I'm not sure but will Photomagico let you overlay the file name?

 

[Cliff3]

I'm not sure but will Photomagico let you overlay the file name?

FotoMagico looks very interesting

http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23778

 

[Phrasikleia]

Thanks, I tried out the trial version of Fotomagico earlier today and was unable to get it to display file names. It's not a very robust program. Pretty basic, really.

 

[Phrasikleia]

My solution

What I ended up doing, for what it's worth:

I output seven flash galleries from Lightroom and then created a front end in html that provided a menu for all seven galleries. I then embedded each flash gallery in its own html page that provided a link at the top to navigate back to the main menu. I put it all on a DVD, and it basically does what I wanted, although it's not quite as spiffy as I would like.

There must be an easier way.

 

[Keebler]

What I ended up doing, for what it's worth:

I output seven flash galleries from Lightroom and then created a front end in html that provided a menu for all seven galleries. I then embedded each flash gallery in its own html page that provided a link at the top to navigate back to the main menu. I put it all on a DVD, and it basically does what I wanted, although it's not quite as spiffy as I would like.

There must be an easier way.

sounds like you did the trick. the other suggestion of html pages on a disc or on the web is how i have clients review their photos.

in the end, no matter how you do, it's 600 images to review that it still takes time.

not sure if you scanned these photos for the client, but if you did, a way I've avoided a massive amount of photos is to have the client go through them 2 or 3 times to reduce the quantity.

thanks for sharing your solution as that might come out handy someday.

 

[Phrasikleia]

sounds like you did the trick. the other suggestion of html pages on a disc or on the web is how i have clients review their photos.

in the end, no matter how you do, it's 600 images to review that it still takes time.

not sure if you scanned these photos for the client, but if you did, a way I've avoided a massive amount of photos is to have the client go through them 2 or 3 times to reduce the quantity.

thanks for sharing your solution as that might come out handy someday.

No, these weren't scans. I had a commission that resulted in about 2,200 photos, of which about 600 were deliverable by my standards. I might have been able to eliminate another 50 or so myself, but decided I would let the client pare them down from there. He'll use about 100 of them at most. But yeah, he still has a lot of reviewing to do to get through those 600.

 

[PeteB]

From personal experience, avoid FlipAlbum. Our wedding photographer gave us some proofs using that software and it was ghastly slow on my MacBook.

 

[Keebler]

No, these weren't scans. I had a commission that resulted in about 2,200 photos, of which about 600 were deliverable by my standards. I might have been able to eliminate another 50 or so myself, but decided I would let the client pare them down from there. He'll use about 100 of them at most. But yeah, he still has a lot of reviewing to do to get through those 600.

Another thing I've done in the past, although it's not digital is to provide contact sheets. I know it sounds archaic, but I've had some clients who were overwhelmed by looking at a review DVD and they liked spreading the sheets on a table and crossing out the unwanted files.

Just thought of something - I'm not a web guru, but I wonder how hard it would be to create a flashbased website or just a regular photo website where a client could choose the wanted photos with a radio button selection and then you would receive a list of those photos. That would cut down on some time for you as you could easily colour label the original files, sort by that label and eliminate the rest (assuming you keep a back up just in case the client changes their mind).

Cheers,
Keebler

 

[Cliff3]

Just thought of something - I'm not a web guru, but I wonder how hard it would be to create a flashbased website or just a regular photo website where a client could choose the wanted photos with a radio button selection and then you would receive a list of those photos. That would cut down on some time for you as you could easily colour label the original files, sort by that label and eliminate the rest (assuming you keep a back up just in case the client changes their mind).

Cheers,
Keebler

That should be easy. For example Gallery 2, a PHP-based open source gallery package, has a rating module that can be activated in specific albums. Gallery also has login-based security, so you could restrict the client's view to a specific set of galleries.

I haven't looked into the photo hosting/e-commerce solutions but I would be surprised if this sort of functionality were absent from that space.