Kagi's Pick: FotoMagico by Boinx Software
Go Beyond iMovie's Ken Burns Effect
As a broad generalization, all software seems to fall into one of two major categories: software designed to do a massive variety of tasks and software designed to accomplish a few tasks in an intuitive, elegant fashion. FotoMagico from Boinx Software falls into the latter category, providing an excellent interface for breathing life into digital photos.
While specialized software like FotoMagico may not satisfy every user's needs, this slideshow builder hits the mark in most of its areas of expertise. As a Mac developer, Boinx Software built an application that leverages familiar (and beautiful) interface elements from Mac OS X. Within a few minutes, I had built an impressive slideshow with effects surpassing the less versitile Ken Burns Effect found in Apple's iMovie. My creativity got a fast start as FotoMagico instantly loaded my iPhoto and iTunes libraries (the Pro Version will also connect to an Aperture library). With a few quick drag-and-drops, I had the beginnings of my slideshow masterpiece.
More than simple pan and zoom effects, I quickly discovered options for animated rotations, titling, synchronized audio, color adjustments, and eye-catching transitions. The animated rotation feature was particularly exhilirating when I applied it to a swirling fractal I found on the Internet. FotoMagico also provided dynamic alignment guides for precision photo placement and the ability to copy and paste the position, rotation, scale, or animation from one slide to another for efficient reuse of previously created styles.
Once I created my slideshow, my export options were many. Selecting "Export" from the File menu presented me with a list of desirable destinations for my project, including the iPhone, Apple TV, my iPod, GarageBand, iDVD, and Quicktime. With the Pro version, I could also build a standalone slideshow player or Mac OS X compatible screensaver, each capable of playing on Macs without FotoMagico. Additionally, I could place a limit on how many times these standalone slideshows could be viewed, an awesome feature for professional photographers wanting to protect their work.
Ultimately, FotoMagico enabled me to produce stunning slideshows quickly and easily without the need to read a manual or sift through help files. Any tool that can bring instant productivity is worth a look. FotoMagico aims to inspire your imagination. In my opinion, it succeeds.
