It is very rare that I comment on a poorly done program. I go about my business and hope that the program's author will learn how to do a better job in the future. Today's program is an exception. I doubt that without heavy-handed direction that today's program developer will never get a clue on how to grow in the shareware field.

One heck of a lot of things must've been left out of my download. What I ended up with is an empty program with no meaningful direction to it. Is very difficult to comment on program that at the best is a smoke and change slideshow. The "templates", which are left out of the GOTD edition of the program, are so amateurish that they would probably only be used by a child of elementary school age.

A price tag of $4.99 might be appropriate for this program. Even at that low price probably the only people not wanting a refund of their money would be those that never ran the program. The discounted prices available for 24 hours only to the GOTD crowd will never fly. Maybe something was left out of my download. A charitable idea would be to download the program again and see if anything better comes out-of-the-box.

Crusader  –  13 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+122)

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Win XP SP3

I was fortunate enough to have downloaded this program the other day when it was offered here for a few hours before being pulled and changed for another program.
Be aware that the extra templates offered on the vendors website do not work with this special GOTD version - I have that info from the vendor after trying endlessly to install them (They install but cannot be seen by the program). Thank you to Chen @ Thundersoft for his speedy response.
Having said that, there are enough templates (47) with a wide range of subjects and overall the program is a nice addition to anyone's arsenal for creating flash projects.
Thumbs up !

Nigel

Nigel  –  13 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+36)

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I am a great fan of GAOTD and look forward to seeing what's new each day, and I have never seen a program where I was so affected as to write comments until today. This photo to flash program is at best limited to images of children compiled by someone with no computer skills.


The range of templates is pathetic and those offered for purchase don't seem much better.

Secondly, this is the first time I have seen a "GAOTD Edition" of a program. You must pay for the 'regular" version. Is there a new concept of "teaseware?"

There are dozens of such programs which offer a full range of templates and effects. I pass on this.

Marty  –  13 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+29)

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I usually don't comment on the Giveaways, but there seems to be some misinformation above, and a lot folks that might benefit from this software will likely be put off.

1. Downloaded and registered fine.

2. Spartan opening screen (really meant for playing back slideshows already created), but there's easily accessible "Help" button that steps you through creating a slideshow, and a fairly large "New" button that the curious will click on without bothering with the help.

3. Having clicked the "New" button you'll be greeted by a filemanager and a helpful "Collect photos" caption. So I found some photos in the filemanager and selected "Add". It's not brain surgery so far. (This tab also serves as a usable photo brower; you can also apply effects to each photo individually -- haven't tried that yet)

4. Next you'll notice there are 4 tabs on the bottom: "Photo" (currently selected), "Template", "Decorate" & "Publish"

5. I went to "Template" -- there are 70+ templates to choose from, as advertised. I'm not saying they're all fantastic, but they are there.
You can also select background music while on this tab. I selected a template and chose some background music -- done and done.

6. On the decorate tab you can add animated graphical effects and sound effects as well as provide your own clipart or text to decorate the slideshow (not tested)

7. On the publish tab you can select the output format. I've only tested 'Make executable' so far -- it worked fine with my selected template and background music.

I certainly wouldn't pay $50 for this software, but I am just as certainly tempted to pay $10 (for the full version today) to support the publisher.

--

On a completely unrelated note -- if you missed the recently given away Process Lasso, that is another giveaway that I felt compelled to support given the quality and functionality of the software, and supportiveness (is that a word? not enough coffee) of the author.

Tony  –  13 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+26)

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ThunderSoft Flash Slideshow Factory is a cute app that IMHO you might enjoy, particularly with friends or family members, creating fairly simple, short slideshows. I don't imagine it being used too much for serious work, though a small biz might use it to give a very personal [non-big business] touch to communicating with customers every once in a while. The slideshows you create are all Flash Shockwave based, with most everything other than your photos already stored in that format, ready for you to use. That means that while you can pick & choose things like clipart, frames, & sprites, you can't create new ones on your own. Thankfully the included bits & pieces are for the most part entertaining [think cartoonish], & I can think of more than a few family members who would get silly & have a ball with it.

When you start Flash Slideshow Factory you're shown a window with the 3 included sample projects -- unless you have a project already saved you'll click "New" & get started importing the pics you want to use. The window that opens to import your images by default shows thumbnails in the folder you selected, & when you're done you can select any individual photo & do some very minor editing [crop, brightness, contrast, rotate etc.]. Next step, click the "Template" button on the lower left -- it comes with 47 templates, & as has already been mentioned, downloading the free template pack won't do you much good. At any rate, once you select a template you can make a few minor settings, import an audio track if you want, & it's on to the next step, clicking the "Decorate" button. Here you can choose the photo frame used, *if* your selected template gives you more than one choice, & set the individual transitions between one photo & the next -- or just be lazy & click random. With your selected image front & center (as it'll appear in the finished project), you can drag animated sprites onto the page -- you can also add text, hyperlinks, imported clipart, & short audio clips/sound FX [it comes with a few, like birds, frogs, & tigers to give you an idea]. You also have short intro & end credits added automatically that you can add your own text to, or turn off. For the last step you click the "Publish" button where you can preview your work, & export your project as a Shockwave file [.swf] with or with out an html page with the needed code; as a self-running executable file [.exe], which is basically the .swf file bundled with the stand-a-lone Flash projector; as a screensaver; Send by Email; Share Online [upload to the company's server]; or convert to a video file [there aren't that many formats available, but I think it should have enough to get you by].

Because of all the small files with sprites & clipart & such, the program's folder has 1,421 files in 131 folders taking up ~44 MB -- in XP the registry got ~75 new entries. Because so much is Flash-based, it can eat up a fair amount of CPU resources when you add & have animated sprites running -- without them you should barely notice today's GOTD is running. And while it doesn't install Flash for you, it does use & need it.

All in all the best way I can describe my impressions of ThunderSoft Flash Slideshow Factory is that it's a little bit silly but in an intentionally fun way. You can certainly try to do more serious stuff with it, but to me where it shines is in being fun, & where it's more practical, not so much.

mike  –  13 years ago  –  Βρήκατε αυτό το σχόλιο χρήσιμο? ναι | όχι (+23)

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