Photo Story
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Photo Story is a free application
that allows users to create a visual story (show and tell
presentation) from their digital photos. The software uses the Ken Burns Effect
on digital photos and allows adding narration, effects, transitions and background music to create a Windows Media Video
movie file with pan and zoom effects. Once a photo story has been made it can be played on a PC using Windows Media Player
. Since the .wmv format is used, Windows Media Video Image (a sub-set of Windows Media Video
) is incompatible with domestic DVD players, users wishing to create a DVD
or CD will need to use third-party tools to convert into DVD compatible (e.g. MPEG 2) format first. Version 2 was included in Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition and Microsoft Digital Image Suite
versions 9 and 10. It supported exporting the photo story as a Video CD
. Version 3.0, although still a free download from Microsoft, removed direct Video CD burning, but supported a paid-for add-on from Sonic Solutions
for exporting and burning the photo story to DVD
.
The final free download version (3.0) includes the ability to randomly generate background music which is composed on the fly from a combination of themes and also includes basic photo editing and touchup features.
The last version of Photo Story (3.1) was included with the discontinued Microsoft Digital Image
2006. It restored the ability to burn a Video CD
using the Sonic Burning engine.
To burn CDs or DVDs from files generated by version 3.0, users may purchase Sonic MyDVD DVD burning software or the Sonic DVD for Photo Story 3 for Windows plug in (which burns one DVD per Story). Third party tools, such as Media Coder, often do a very poor (low quality) job of converting Photo Story wmv files - Microsoft Movie Maker does a far better job of converting into an intermediate .avi format (although this will be some 30 times larger than the original wmv) which many DVD Authoring packages will accept as input. The final DVD compatible MPEG2 file size will typically be 5 to 6 times larger than the original .wmv file (or about 6 times smaller than the avi).
project in photo sharing
. The chief finding of that research was that people narrated better stories when they moved their hands, made gestures and pointed at their images. Early Photo Story prototype versions encouraged people to point at their images using the mouse, as the pointing would affect the algorithm that generated the pans and zooms.
The same research showed that users did not like the sound of their voice and tended to record their narration over and over again. This made the narration less spontaneous and the resulting stories less interesting if people were unable to express themselves clearly. Therefore, the early prototype had only one button, called the "Oops!" button. The research showed that if there was an OOPS! button available to undo their actions, people would be assured by its presence but would not use it unless they truly made a mistake during narration.
Photo Story was not included with Windows XP itself, however was (and is) made available as a free download to authenticated users.
Vista and Windows 7 both include Photo Story type applications (Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker), however some users still prefer the flexibility offered by the original.
). The single supported audio output format is AAC (Advanced Audio Coding
).
The 'crop' and 'zoom' tool is fixed at 4:3 aspect ratio. To support 16:9 wide screen output (which is possible to obtain at output time using a third-party profile), it is necessary to 'pre-distort' all your imported images by adjusting the image height to 133.33%.
The chargeable 'Roxio' plug-in (now owned by Sony) allows users to 'burn' their completed 'story' direct to a DVD or CD. Sonic MyDVD (v5.5 or higher) is required if you want to edit the disc and add more stories or movies.
Users should avoid any 'crop' or 'zoom' size below their intended output resolution - ideally, stop at twice the output size. If a smaller crop or zoom is required, significantly better results will be achieved by resizing the original in some third-party application (e.g. PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop) first.
Photo Story is not officially supported on the Vista or Windows 7 platform, although it downloads and installs fine on both Vista and Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit.
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
that allows users to create a visual story (show and tell
Show and tell (education)
Show and tell is the process of showing an audience something and telling them about it, predominantly in North America and also popular in Australia. It is usually done in a classroom as an early elementary school technique for teaching young children the skills of public speaking...
presentation) from their digital photos. The software uses the Ken Burns Effect
Ken Burns Effect
The Ken Burns effect is a popular name for a type of panning and zooming effect used in video production from still imagery.The name derives from extensive use of the technique by American documentarian Ken Burns...
on digital photos and allows adding narration, effects, transitions and background music to create a Windows Media Video
Windows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
movie file with pan and zoom effects. Once a photo story has been made it can be played on a PC using Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
. Since the .wmv format is used, Windows Media Video Image (a sub-set of Windows Media Video
Windows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
) is incompatible with domestic DVD players, users wishing to create a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
or CD will need to use third-party tools to convert into DVD compatible (e.g. MPEG 2) format first. Version 2 was included in Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition and Microsoft Digital Image Suite
Microsoft Digital Image
Microsoft Digital Image was a digital image editing program created by Microsoft. It is a successor to Microsoft Picture It!.Microsoft Digital Image came in three different editions: Digital Image Standard, which offered tools for editing images, Digital Image Suite, which added Digital Image...
versions 9 and 10. It supported exporting the photo story as a Video CD
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
. Version 3.0, although still a free download from Microsoft, removed direct Video CD burning, but supported a paid-for add-on from Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions, acquired by Rovi Corporation in 2010, was a computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia.-History:...
for exporting and burning the photo story to DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
The final free download version (3.0) includes the ability to randomly generate background music which is composed on the fly from a combination of themes and also includes basic photo editing and touchup features.
The last version of Photo Story (3.1) was included with the discontinued Microsoft Digital Image
Microsoft Digital Image
Microsoft Digital Image was a digital image editing program created by Microsoft. It is a successor to Microsoft Picture It!.Microsoft Digital Image came in three different editions: Digital Image Standard, which offered tools for editing images, Digital Image Suite, which added Digital Image...
2006. It restored the ability to burn a Video CD
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
using the Sonic Burning engine.
To burn CDs or DVDs from files generated by version 3.0, users may purchase Sonic MyDVD DVD burning software or the Sonic DVD for Photo Story 3 for Windows plug in (which burns one DVD per Story). Third party tools, such as Media Coder, often do a very poor (low quality) job of converting Photo Story wmv files - Microsoft Movie Maker does a far better job of converting into an intermediate .avi format (although this will be some 30 times larger than the original wmv) which many DVD Authoring packages will accept as input. The final DVD compatible MPEG2 file size will typically be 5 to 6 times larger than the original .wmv file (or about 6 times smaller than the avi).
History
Photo Story originally was based on a Microsoft ResearchMicrosoft Research
Microsoft Research is the research division of Microsoft created in 1991 for developing various computer science ideas and integrating them into Microsoft products. It currently employs Turing Award winners C.A.R. Hoare, Butler Lampson, and Charles P...
project in photo sharing
Photo sharing
Photo sharing is the publishing or transfer of a user's digital photos online, thus enabling the user to share them with others . This function is provided through both websites and applications that facilitate the upload and display of images...
. The chief finding of that research was that people narrated better stories when they moved their hands, made gestures and pointed at their images. Early Photo Story prototype versions encouraged people to point at their images using the mouse, as the pointing would affect the algorithm that generated the pans and zooms.
The same research showed that users did not like the sound of their voice and tended to record their narration over and over again. This made the narration less spontaneous and the resulting stories less interesting if people were unable to express themselves clearly. Therefore, the early prototype had only one button, called the "Oops!" button. The research showed that if there was an OOPS! button available to undo their actions, people would be assured by its presence but would not use it unless they truly made a mistake during narration.
Photo Story was not included with Windows XP itself, however was (and is) made available as a free download to authenticated users.
Vista and Windows 7 both include Photo Story type applications (Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker), however some users still prefer the flexibility offered by the original.
Limitations
The maximum number of images that may be imported in a single batch is 200. The maximum image size is 7,2300 (width) x 7,200 (height) pixels. The maximum output resolution offered by Microsoft is 1024 x 1280, however 3rd parties (most notably 'papajohn') have developed new output .prx 'profiles' that, if placed in your \Photo Story 3 for Windows\Profiles\1033 sub-folder, can be selected at output time. The single supported video output format is .wmv (Windows Media Video Image, a subset of Windows Media VideoWindows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
). The single supported audio output format is AAC (Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
).
The 'crop' and 'zoom' tool is fixed at 4:3 aspect ratio. To support 16:9 wide screen output (which is possible to obtain at output time using a third-party profile), it is necessary to 'pre-distort' all your imported images by adjusting the image height to 133.33%.
The chargeable 'Roxio' plug-in (now owned by Sony) allows users to 'burn' their completed 'story' direct to a DVD or CD. Sonic MyDVD (v5.5 or higher) is required if you want to edit the disc and add more stories or movies.
Users should avoid any 'crop' or 'zoom' size below their intended output resolution - ideally, stop at twice the output size. If a smaller crop or zoom is required, significantly better results will be achieved by resizing the original in some third-party application (e.g. PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop) first.
Photo Story is not officially supported on the Vista or Windows 7 platform, although it downloads and installs fine on both Vista and Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit.
Photo Story in pop culture
- Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 has a photo spot path feature with "Microsoft Photo Story 3" inscribed on it.