Learn Photopia Creator and Director

The Home Page is where you’ll start each time you launch Photopia. This is where you will find a list of all your Projects, the latest News from Photopia, options to import projects and shows, manage your effects, and check for Photopia updates.
This lesson will give you a basic tour of the Home Page.

Project Groups help keep all your projects organized.  In this lesson you'll learn:

1. Default Project Groups

2. The Trash Project Group (temporary hold)

   1. Remove/Restore projects out of the Trash

   2. Delete Permanently

   3. Empty Trash (all projects in the Trash group)

3. Creating New Project Groups

4. Adding Projects into Project Groups

The center of the home page shows a list of your current projects.  In this lesson you'll learn:

1. How projects are displayed when they include multiple shows

2. Viewing your projects in Thumbnail or Details views

3. Sort and filter your projects

4. Delete a project

5. Copy a project

6. Combine shows

7. Revert projects

8. The Project Information window

Tags allow you to assign a visual color code to your projects. Keywords gives you the ability to search for projects based on custom terms that you add to your projects.  In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Add a Tag to a project

2. Create your own tags

3. Using your keyboard numbers to add a tag

4. Delete tags

5. Adding Keywords to a project

6. Search using Keywords

The Latest News Section of your Home page is where you’ll find links to Blog Posts, Video Tutorials, and new Effects Packs that are released by Photopia.  In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Clear a news post

2. Install effects from a news post

3. Options under the hamburger menu, including

   1. Preferences

   2. Import from ProShow

   3. About Photopia

   4. Enter Registration

   5. Check for Updates (Automatic update message)

The process of moving Photopia files from one computer to another can be cumbersome. The Export/Import Library feature streamlines that workflow, making it easier to be sure all your files are moved over properly.  In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Select all, or individual, items to export

2. Choose to include Backups in your export

3. Choose to split large exports into smaller files

4. Export your archive folder

5. Import your archive folder into another computer

The Manage Effects window is where you can import and organize all of your effects.  In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Import your effect files

2. Search for your effects

3. Delete an effect

4. Hide an effect

5. Categorizing effects

6. Creating a new category

Starting a new slideshow project is done from the Home Page.  In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Start a show using the Wizard

2. Start a show using Blank Show

3. Start a show using a Template

4. Name your show and add Tags and Keywords

There are four User Interface Layouts to choose from.  In this lesson you'll learn the differences between:

1. The Light Layout

2. The Basic Layout

3. The Advanced Layout

4. Compact Layout

Before starting a project, you may want to set some Preferences, including the interface appearance.  In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Change the size of the User Interface

2. Change the Color Scheme of the User Interface, including

   1. Using a preset color scheme

   2. Create your own color scheme

3. Show or hide Tool Tips

4. Enable/Disable the Mouse wheel Zoom

5. Show/Hide the Home Screen Welcome dialog

6. Show/Hide Project Groups in the center section of the home page

7. Enable and set a delay for the long key press option to see special characters

In this lesson for the Preferences window, you'll learn how to:

1. Enable/disable Direct X (Windows only)

2. Enable/disable a message when switching to full screen playback

3. Choosing a monitor for full screen playback

4. Choosing a save location for your projects

5. Auto Save vs Back up files

6. Assigning an external editor for images, video, and audio files

7. Editing a file changes a duplicate, not the original.

In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Set Default Slide and Transition Durations

2. Set Default Fitting Modes (and learn what they mean)

   1. Fit to Frame

   2. Fill Frame

   3. Stretch to Frame

3. Set Default Motion Settings (learn more about Motion Easing in a future lesson)

4. Set Caption Defaults, including Font, Size, Color, and Alignment

5. Determine update and communication settings

6. Determine which prompts you would like to see:

   1. Overwriting Slide Styles

   2. Deleting Projects

   3. Warn when a specific font is missing (keep this one!)

In this lesson we'll start with a basic tour of the four main panels:

1. The Navigation Panel

2. The Browser/Preview Panel

3. The Options Panel

4. The Slide List Panel

Next, we'll jump right into the first tab in the Navigation Panel: The Project Tab

1. Project Settings

   1. Rename your project

   2. Add notes

   3. See details

   4. Manage Tags, Keywords, Project Groups

2. Shows List

   1. Add a New Show to your Project

   2. Delete a Show from your project

   3. Copy a show in your project

   4. Rearrange shows in your Shows list.

   5. Show Settings for a selected show

   6. Add an existing show into your project

3. Publishing multiple shows into a single file

The Show Tab in the Navigation Panel is where you'll find:

1. Show Settings

   1. Rename your show

   2. Add notes

   3. Change the Show Thumbnail (which is different from the Project thumbnail)

   4. Set Slide and Transition defaults

   5. Set a default fitting mode

2. Watermark

   1. Add a watermark from an image file

   2. Adjust the size, position and image adjustments

   3. Using a Caption as a Watermark

3. Show Background

   1. Adding a Custom Background

   2. Making adjustments to a Background image

   3. Using Video Files as a Show Background

   4. Adding a background to a single slide, instead of the entire show

4. Soundtrack

   1. Adding a song to your show using the Music Library or importing your own file

   2. Duplicate songs

   3. Delete songs

   4. Rearrange songs

   5. Edit songs in an external editor

   6. Selecting a song in the Soundtrack list will bring up two tabs in the options panel:

      1. Audio Settings - Global Settings for your whole show

      2. Soundtrack - Individual settings for the selected song

In this lesson you'll learn about the:

1. Slide Settings Tab

   1. Naming your slide

   2. Slide Timing (Manual, Automatic, Locked)

   3. Changing Transitions and Times

   4. Flagging Slides

   5. Resetting your Slide

2. Slide Styles Window

   1. Slide Style Information

   2. Variants (how they work, how to tell when a Style uses them)

   3. Adding a Style to your Favorites Category

   4. Searching for a specific Style

   5. Style Categories (including switching between a drop-down menu or keeping the categories visible)

   6. Filtering your Slide Style List

   7. Style Sort Options

   8. Preview and Applying a Slide Style

3. Slide Sounds

   1. The three tabs in the Slide Sounds Options Panel (Audio Settings and Soundtrack were covered in the previous lesson)

   2. The Slide Sound Tab is where you can add a sound file to a specific slide or record your own voice narration.

In this lesson you'll learn the key differences between the Layers and Content Tabs:

1. Layers Tab

   1. Lists your content in a stacking order

   2. Moving layers up and down changes their position, visually, in your preview

   3. Includes all content, including construction layers

2. Content Tab

   1. Only includes layers you may need to work with (when using Slide Styles)

   2. Provides basic editing that you might need for Caption and Image Layers

   3. This layer order determines how your layers will be applied into Slide Styles

1. Layer Settings Tab

   1. Source options

   2. Shape

   3. Scaling

   4. Rotation

   5. Visibility (also the eye icon)

   6. Local/Global setting

   7. Replaceable Layer (Director Only)

   8. Reset Layer

   9. Naming your layer

2. Icons at the top of the Layers List

   1. Adding Layers

      1. New Layer Types

      2. New Layer Types AS Effects

      3. New Effects to selected Layers

   2. Adding Images or Videos

   3. Adding a Caption Layer

   4. Adding a Group Layer

   5. Adding Effects to your Layers (Fly Ins, Fly Outs, Layer Behaviors, Image Effects)

   6. Adding Slices (Director Only)

   7. Adding a Masking Layer

   8. Adding an Adjustment Layer

   9. Split Color Channels

   10. Channel Mixer

   11. The Follow Filter

In this lesson for the Computer File List in the Browser, you'll learn how to:

1. Use the file tree

2. Add folders into your Favorites

3. Search for files

4. Sort the file list

5. Toggle between a thumbnail and list view

6. Adding images from the browser, one at a time

7. Adding multiple images into multiple slides

8. Adding multiple images into a single slide

9. Number indicator in the Browser

10. Using the Go To Slide option under the right click

The Music Library is a collection of Royalty Free songs.  In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Search, sort and view in the Music Library

2. Add songs into your Favorites

3. Download songs to preview and use

4. Adding songs in four different ways

5. Adding multiple songs

6. Adding your own songs, not in the Music Library

In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Add a Solid Layer to a new slide or an existing slide

2. Choosing a color

   1. Preset color list

   2. Hue and Saturation Wheel

   3. Eye Dropper Tool

   4. RGBA number

      1. Alpha number - what is it and why would you use it?

   5. Recent Colors

3. Resolution - creating a square or thin line

In this lesson you'll learn how to create and customize preset Gradient Layers using:

1. Preset Colors

   1. Several Categories

   2. Create and Save your own preset

2. Gradient Types

   1. Linear

      1. Customize the Angle

   2. Radial

      1. Customize the Position of the Center Point

   3. Angular

      1. Customize both Position and Angle

   4. Rectangular

      1. Customize the Position of Center Point

   5. Diamond

      1. Customize the Position of Center Point

   6. Plasma

      1. Customize Seed

3. Resolution

Color Keyframes are your color pallet to create a Gradient Layer.  In this lesson you'll learn:

1. The difference between HSV and RGB Color spaces

2. Changing the color of a color keyframe

3. Opacity of a Color Keyframe

4. Position of a Color Keyframe

5. Adding a new Color Keyframe

6. Removing a Color Keyframe

7. Reversing the order of your Color Keyframes

In this lesson you'll learn how to:

1. Add folders to your Favorites

2. Remove folders from your Favorites

3. Log into your Social Media sites to access images

There are three different views for Slides in Photopia. Each view has unique features and tools that allow you to control different aspects of your slides and content. This short tutorial goes over the fundamental differences between these views.

At first glance, the Adjustments and Animations tabs might look similar, but they serve different purposes. The Adjustments tab applies global changes, while the Animations tab applies changes over time using Keyframes.

Having more than one preview window can make working with keyframes easier. The dual preview mode, for example, can provide a "Start" and "End" view of your keyframe animations. Photopia offers these options as Preview Modes when working in the Animations tab.

In this tutorial you'll learn how to:

1. Preview tracks in the Music Library

2. Search for songs using keywords

3. Add them to your timeline in three different ways

4. Add Multiple songs at once

In this tutorial you'll learn about:

1 Adding a Soundtrack

2. The Audio Trim Window (and why I never use it)

3. The Timeline Tab

4. Audio Tools vs Timeline Tools

5. Trimming a sound file

6.  Adding Fades to a sound file

7. Changing the volume of a single sound file

8. Adding and removing Volume Points

9. Adding a Video file that has Sound Attached

10. Importing a Sound File into a Slide

11. Recording a Voice Narration

12. Offsetting two Sound Files to play in succession during a single slide

13. Locking your soundtrack to a specific slide

14. Adjusting your Transition Time only

15. Adjusting your Slide time only

16. Adjusting your Slide and Transition times together

In this tutorial you WON'T learn....

All about Keyframes.

What you WILL learn is where the concept of keyframes originated from, where to find them in Photopia, and what the heck they are.

What are these three terms and how are the related?

Please excuse my botched pronunciation of "Bézier" !

In this Lesson you'll learn all about Slide Styles, including:

• Importing

• Searching

• Categorizing

• Applying

• Adding Images to Place Holders

• Swapping out existing images in Layers

• Orientation Variants

• Removing an Applied Style

In this lesson you'll learn how to import your ProShow transitions into Photopia as well as several new features that have been added, including:

1. A Searchable Transition List

2. NOT including your show background in the transition

3. Using the default transition time automatically

In this tutorial you'll learn about:

1. The new Rich Text Format

2. The Caption Settings Tab in Director side by side with the Text Settings tab in Producer

3. Caption Effects can be accessed in either the Effects Tab or by usin g the Wand Icon in the Layer List.

4. Searching for Effects

5. New options for Caption Effects, including order and overlap

6. Caption Effects as Subsets in the Layer List

Adding effects to your caption layers is a great way to add interest to your slides. With Photopia, you can choose how and when your captions are animated.

In this tutorial you'll learn:

1. How to access Word and Character Slices

- Opening the Slices in the Layers List

- Using the Drop Down Menu in the Options Panel

- Using the Keyframe Timeline

2. Re-ordering Slices in the Keyframe Timeline

In this tutorial you'll learn:

1. How to create an empty group and add layers into it.

2. How to create a group from existing layers.

3. How to remove layers from your group

4. Things you CAN do with a group, and things you CAN'T.

5. How to delete the group layer, but not the layers inside.

6. Hands on practice animating layers individually AND the Group that they are in.

In this Tutorial you'll learn:

1. How to apply a shape to a layer

2. The difference between using a Shape and a Mask

3. How to Edit the Shape (Edit)

4. How to scale and position that Shape ON your layer (Content Tab)

5. You'll create a multi-Layered Effect using your own image

6. You'll create a Title slide using a Banner Shape

7. You'll create an Animated Title Slide using the Christmas Tree Shape

In this tutorial you'll learn:

1. How to apply Slices

2. How to customize those Slices

3. How to create animations using those slices as a single unit

4. How to customize those animations using the Order, Overlap, and Start and End Offset Settings.

5. Where to find the individual Slices, instead of the Slice Effect as a single unit.

In this Tutorial you'll build a Mixed Up Puzzle Slide Style using:

1. The Keyframe Timeline

2. Working Backward

3. Adding New Keyframes

4. Applying Motion Easing

5. Adding More Effects

6. How to Save it as a Slide Style

In this Tutorial you'll learn:

1. Two different ways to launch the Slide Style Creation Window

2. Hands on lesson for updating an old ProShow Slide Style

3. Navigating these sections of the Style Creation Window

A. Setting your layer as a Replacable Layer

(or not)

B. Adding a Description to your Replaceable

Layer in the Content Tab

C. What is a Variant and how is it used?

D. How to set your Variant Settings

E. Setting your Style Thumbnail

F. Adding your Style to a Category

G. Exporting your Style

In this tutorial you'll learn all about building transitions....by building one!

You'll learn:

1. What makes a transition a transition

2. The difference between Source and Destination Slides

3. Applying Slices to a Transition Layer

4. Using the Animation Timing on Slices

5. Creating Keyframes on Slices

6. Applying Motion Easing on Slices

7. Animating an outline on Slices

In this tutorial you'll learn about:

1. Transparency vs Greyscale Masks

2. Using Gradient Layers as Greyscale Masks

3. Adjusting the Color-Stay Keyframes in a Gradient Layer

4. Using Shapes as a Masking Layer

5. Using Slices as a Masking Layer

6. You'll create two Masking Slides:

   - A Tilted Reflections Slide

   - An image inside a Snowglobe, with snow falling!

In this Tutorial you'll learn:

1. What an Adjustment Layer does; how it differs from Masking Layers

2. How to add an Adjustment Layer to an image

3. Types of Channels for an Adjustment Layer

4. Types of Effects used in Adjustment Layers

5. Three different ways you can use them

6. Using Adjustment Layers with Groups

NOTE:  This tutorial was recorded in Creator.  There is no difference between the timelines in either program.

In this lesson, you'll build a multi-layered slide with varying keyframe placements using the Keyframe Timeline.

You'll learn about:

1. Copy Settings from one layer to another

2. Organizing your Layer List

3. Aligning Keyframes

4. Selecting Multiple Keyframes

5. Compressing the timeline (using a cheat)

6. Adding Time to the timeline

7. Setting Fly Ins and Fly Outs on the Timeline

8. Adjusting the timing of the Fly Outs on the Timeline.

In this tutorial I'll go over the Theme Creation Window, including:

1. How to access that window

2. An over view of the User Interface

3. Static Slides

4. Dynamic Sections

5. Giving your Theme a Thumbnail

In this tutorial you'll learn how to:

1. Add a Menu Title

2. Edit and re-position your Menu Title

3. Edit and re-position your Show Title

4. Set your Show Thumbnail

5. Re-position your Show Thumbnail

6. Change your Menu Background

7. Adding and Intro Show

8. Setting DVD Options, including System (NTSC or PAL), Aspect Ratio, Loop Option, Number of Copies burned, and Burn Speed

9. Include Files on DVD is not included in Photopia

In this lesson you'll build three different slides, using keyframes only once, then change the Layer Order to create the other two versions to really learn all about the power of Layer Order.

This Create It tutorial isn't about creating anything visually amazing, this is all about getting hands on practice using the Keyframe Timeline in Photopia.

You'll use the Vignette Feature, using different settings, and the Follow Filter in ProShow and Groups in Photopia.

Creating this Text Layer Effect in Photopia is a little easier using the editing tool with the Keyframe Timeline and extra animation choices with Order and Overlap setting with their Fly In/Out effects.

You'll create this animated leaf slide using Shapes, Rotation Center, and Keyframes.

In this lesson you'll learn how to create this reflected title, but you'll also learn when you should, and shouldn't, use it.

You'll use:

• Text Layers

• Gradient Masking Layers

• Flip, Skew, Blur, and Opacity Settings

• Groups - Keyframes

In this tutorial we'll create a two line animated Lower 3rd. We'll be using Shapes and Groups.

While this tutorial is for Photopia Director users only, it will give both ProShow and Creator users a sneak peak at the intricate world of Slices!

This effect looks complicated to create, but it only uses Vignettes and Zoom.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to create the illusion that your image is slightly curved by creating a special shadow. We'll be using the Shape and Group features in Photopia as well as changing the overall User Interface Layout so we can see two specific windows at once.

In this tutorial we'll use two Photopia-Only features: Shapes and Groups to create a light and dark version of this Title Slide. We'll also be adjusting Black Point, using Keyframes, and I'll go over why Layer Order can be a useful tool in your animations!

In this tutorial you'll learn how to turn a Text Layer into a mask over an image. You'll also learn how to animate those images AND the Text Layer itself!