FotoMagico 3.8.1 for Mac User Reviews
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"Impressive way of sharing pictures in a movie mode."
Version: FotoMagico 3.6.2
Pros
In the past I used iMovie and Final Cut Express to do slide presentations of my pictures, unfortunately very labour intensive. FotoMagico greatly simplified the whole process offering very professional results.
Cons
There may be a work around but I haven't found it as yet. The zoom in and zoom out features are great but need a default setting when doing large projects. Sound management to control fade in and fade out could be improved.
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"Excellent for the Control Freak; Great for a Beginner"
Version: FotoMagico 3.1
Pros
*The App provides control over slide timing, positioning, transitions, music, etc. to the nth degree
*The App provides export functions for just about every commercial applicationCons
*For Aperture users, Pro is required, along with another $120
*Extra steps are required if you want full quality TIFFs to be used for HD output
*Extra steps are required if you want non-linear panning
*Slide media do not auto-update from their sourceSummary
FotoMagico provides the user with control you can't get from iMovie or Keynote, or with the automatically generated in-application slideshows of iPhoto and Aperture. Keynote doesn't let you stack transition builds in its more current releases. This was a major sticking point with me when I wanted to do custom slideshows for clients in a variety of end-user applications (web, disk, previewing, etc.).
Boinx got it right when they provided us with with controls for each photo's transitions, panning, rotation, zooming, all with some very simple controls.
If you go through a trial, you'll see that much of the slide action is setup by a start and end version of the current slide, letting you pan, rotate or zoom it differently between the two, and the application takes care of the steps in between. I would have liked the option to be able to add in additional "steps" in the same slide to do things like and arced pan or to follow the outline of some element in photos, but that can be achieved with multiple slides and carefully setting up the switch between slides.
The control that FotoMagico gives you allows you to use motion, luminosity, color, and the theories of composition to continually redirect how someone views a photo. It's a lot more than just "next slide please," but it's almost as simple to use. Your exports can even have "transition-on-click" capability so you could use it like a manually operated slideshow or presentation.
I should also note features like your being able to include your own audio tracks, video clips (to which you can apply the same animations), text, shapes, etc. Short of a full-on pro video editing suite, this piece of software gives you almost all the controls you need to make a rich presentation.
For photographers, especially those with built-in video capture capabilities, this Application affords you some excellent final product to lend some validity to you work in a video-centric age. All minor complaints aside, this is a quality tool with excellent support. If you can swing the price, it's definitely worth a look. -
"Just like magic, all is not as it seems"
Version: FotoMagico 3.0.5
Pros
Interesting transitions, almost user friendly. limited capability, memory hog, not comparable to Pro Show Gold in Windows.
Cons
VERY EXPENSIVE! Only the professional version has any worthwhile features. The HOME version is very limited yet costly. Their upgrade policy is extremely limited. It's obvious this is a money grab. I DO NOT RECOMMEND!
Summary
I've been trying to use this software as it is purported to perform since November of 2008 and after nearly 8 month I'm totally dissatisfied. The program may be pretty, but the HOME version is so limited as to be nearly unusable and the PROFESSIONAL version is way overpriced. Their upgrade policy is very limited. The price per value is not favorable. I don't have another program to suggest as a replacement unless you're also a PC user and then I highly recommend Pro Show Gold, but if you're a Mac user, I recommend you hold onto your money until something better comes around. I do not recommend this software unless you have money to throw down a software hole.
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"Unbelievably easy to use. Perfect"
Version: FotoMagico 2.6.2
Pros
Had to produce a slide show with music on a tight deadline. Picasa and iMovie would't work. Ordered this w/ high hopes and got a beautiful result first try. Fast too. Very large work area. Completely intuitive.
Cons
No complaints
Summary
Time saved and zero stress for great results made it worth the cost to me. If you need a slide show, get this product.
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"Nice software but very slow to export"
Version: FotoMagico 2.2b9
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Its nice and easy to use but exporting is extremely slow.
For example: a 9 seconds animation from 3 photos with simple zoom and transitions can take up to ten minutos to render to a quicktime movie. (in mac pro 2x2core intel and plenty of ram)
Not usuable. -
"Oh yeah, just like that baby. Now a little lower."
Version: FotoMagico 2.1.3
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Excellent Software. I'll pay for it soon as I hit the lottery. Fifty bucks in these hard times is a lot of money. That could feed me for almost two weeks.
Seven stars for the App., and minus one star for the price.
The more you charge the less you make. -
"Be cautious about upgrading to 2.1.1"
Version: FotoMagico 2.1.1
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
If you've been using a version prior to 2.1.1, such as 2.0.1, it may be worthwhile for you not to upgrade. 2.1.1 (as well as 2.1) have a bug where some packaged slideshows will present only blank white slides instead of images. The developers are aware of the bug but so far haven't released a fix -- so until then, if you have a packaged slideshow, stay with 2.0.1!
Otherwise it's a great app that I don't hesitate to recommend! -
"Great application!"
Version: FotoMagico 2.1.1
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Very intuitive and easy to learn! -
"Extremely Pleased with FOTOMAGICO 2.1"
Version: FotoMagico 2.0.1
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
After reading some of the recent 'complaints' regarding this program, I proceeded to review alternative programs that would allow me to put together an extensive SLIDE SHOW program that had approximately 500 images with accompanying music. While I have have used MACS for more than 15 years and have had considerable experience using PhotoShop with images (both 35 MM and digital photography), my only previous attempts in making a slide show was with iPhoto and iDVD. Unfortunately, if the show had more than about 75 images, rearranging photos using iDVD slowed to molasses on my Dual 2.3 GHz G5. Much to my amazement, with MINIMUM reading of FOTOMAGICO 2.1's "HELP," I was able to QUICKLY and EASILY put together a very professional-looking 500 image SLIDE SHOW DVD (with musical accompanyment) that has gotten me many compliments. -
"Ripped OFF!"
Version: FotoMagico 2.0
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Ripped off by Boinx and Kagi. I bought the Fotomagico upgrade for $30 which was a rip off anyway but then I was billed by KAGI, their outsource provider for billing, and I have never received the serial for Fotomagico. After repeated calls and emails NOONE has bothered to contact me. Im sick of being ripped off like this. This is some kind of scam, no one ever answers the phone at KAGI and I dont know how to contact Boinx directly as their website makes it impossible to do so, only FAQ's Im thoughourly disgusted with this company, I have an unfinished project that is now overdue because my old version is gone now and only the new demo remains.
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