Wondershare Flash Gallery Factory
Reviewed: Geetesh Bajaj
Date Created: November 3rd 2008
Last Updated: February 23rd 2009
Introduction
About Flash Gallery Factory
Download and Installation
Using Flash Gallery Factory
Pricing and Support
Conclusion
Introduction
Flash Gallery Factory creates quick Flash based photo galleries and slide shows from your pictures -- and it's easy enough to use even if you haven't used a similar program before. The program also makes it easy for you to share your output on web sites, blogs, MySpace, etc.
About Flash Gallery Factory
Flash Gallery Factory is from Wondershare, a company based in Guangdong, China that creates custom programs for the enterprise market. Ourpix is their foray into the photos and movies market. Learn more about their products and download a free trial version of Flash Gallery Factory from their site...
My contact at Wondershare for this review was Jane - thank you, Jane.
Download and Installation
Download the installer, run the setup routine and follow the instructions. You'll end up with a Wondershare program group in your Windows Start menu (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Wondershare Start menu Group
Using Flash Gallery Factory
When the application is launched, it presents the splash screen shown in Figure 2 -- here you need to choose one of two modes to work in: the Gallery Mode and the Slideshow Mode.
Figure 2: Splash screen
- Gallery Mode provides you with in-built templates that get you started with just a few clicks and choices. For more control and tweaking, you'll want to choose the Slideshow mode.
- Slideshow Mode enables you to create slide shows with more customization options. You can still access the built-in templates like in Gallery mode, but here you can also customize these templates, and save any changes to a new template. Different transitions and motion effects can be applied to individual pictures. You can also add animated text, still and animated clip arts, animations, and sounds.
For this tutorial I'll explore the Slideshow mode. Follow these steps to get started:
- Launch the application and choose Sliedshow Mode from the splash screen (refer to Figure 2 above)
- This opens the Flash Gallery Factory -- the Slideshow Mode interface is shown in Figure 3 . Notice the five tabs on the top:
Browse, Template, Effect, Decorate, Publish
With the Browse tab active, browse to a folder on your system, as shown in Figure 3 below
Figure 3: Slideshow Mode interface
- Choose the pictures you want to be added, and click on the Add Photo button (refer to Figure 3 above). Add pictures from more folders if required, and similarly add music.
- Now switch to the Template tab as shown in Figure 4 -- here you can choose any of the available templates in the Simple, Theme and Custom sub-tabs.
Figure 4: Template tab
- Thereafter, select the Effect tab (see Figure 5). Here you can choose transitions and motion effects.
Figure 5: Effect tab
- The next tab is Decorate, as shown in Figure 6 -- this tab allows you to add decorative elements such as text, animated and still clip art, and animations to your slide show.
Figure 6: Decorate tab
- When done, go to the Publish tab (see Figure 7) -- preview the slideshow one last time, and then go ahead, and publish it using the any of the publish settings available.
Figure 7: Publish tab
Publish options are explained below:SWF: Creates an Adobe Flash SWF
Web/HTML: Creates an Adobe Flash SWF with the HTML container
EXE: Creates an executable file that will work on Microsoft Windows systems
E-mail: Sends converted Flash output as an email attachment
Screen Saver: Creates a screen saver.
Pricing and Support
Flash Gallery Factory costs $49.95 for a single user license, and is available as a multiple user license product as well..
Support is through email, online FAQ , phone, and user forum.
Conclusion
If you want to create quick Flash slide shows that you can share and distribute, then Flash Gallery Factory is a great way to get started.
