Tutorial - Photo Story 3 for Windows

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Google Photo Story 3 OR Download Photo Story 3 for Windows from

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx

Open Photo Story 3. From the welcome page you

must click in one of the three circles (called radio
buttons) to begin, edit, or play a story. For the
purpose of this tutorial, click in the radio button beside
Begin a new story and click Next >.

Click on the import pictures bar to get your pictures.

From the File Browser dialog box locate the pictures you
want to import and click OK.

Notice all the pictures will be imported in the film strip at the bottom of the page. If you add
more pictures they will be added to the end of the strip.
From this page you can select the order of the pictures
by clicking on the picture you want and dragging it into
place or:

Using the forward and backward arrows to

move the selected picture in the project.
The “X” button will delete the photo
altogether.

The Black Borders button can be used remove the black borders from your
pictures. Photo Story will automatically crop the pictures that do not have a 4:3 aspect
ratio which is the relation of the width to the height of
the picture. Each picture is displayed for you to accept
the automatic crop or you can crop the picture
differently in the Before box by dragging the handle to
the area you want and then click yes. You can click on
Yes to All if you want to accept all the automatically
cropped pictures shown in the After box in your story.

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This page will also allow you to enhance each picture by using the buttons at the bottom of
the picture preview:
Edit
picture
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ect
Rotate
red
and
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crop,
auto fix
and add

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Move
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The Edit button offers many effects from which you can choose for the pictures.
The effect can be previewed by clicking on each option.

Once you have edited the pictures and placed them in the order and
with the effects you want, click Next > which allows you to add titles to your pictures.

Adding titles to your pictures

You can add a title page at the beginning of your
story, to every picture in your story or to selected
pictures only.

By default, when you add a title to a picture, the

picture is static. No motion, or panning and
zooming effects are applied to pictures with
titles. To add panning and zooming effects to
pictures with titles, you must customize the
motion for the picture.

You can also apply effects to pictures that

change the appearance of the picture. By clicking on the down arrow under the preview
pane you have several options to choose from. Using an effect can also make a title on a
picture stand out more.

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 Tutorial - Photo Story 3 for Windows
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To add a title to a picture

1. On the Add a title to your pictures page, click a picture, and then type the title.
2. If you want to change the appearance or location of the title, do the following:
• To change the font, click the Select Font button, and then select the font
type, style, size, effects, color, and script you want to use.
• To change the horizontal alignment of the text, click the Align Left button,
Center Horizontally button, or Align Right button.
• To move the title up or down on the page, click the Align Top button, Center
Vertically button, or Align Bottom button. By default, the title appears in the
center of the picture.
Alig
Alig
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ont Rig er of
Left
ht pix

r of pix pix
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As you make changes, you can view them in the preview area on the left side of the
page.

3. Click Next > to add narration or custom motion. If you want to return to the previous
page, click < Back.

Tips:

 You do not have to have titles to any of your pictures

 The title can have a maximum of 1,024 characters and the text wraps in the
picture preview area
 You can manually control which text appears on each line by pressing the
ENTER key to separate lines.
 You must save a project in order to work on it or view it later. A project can be
saved at any time while working on the story. Click on the Save Project
button. In the Save As dialog box, type a name for the project. These will be
saved as .wp3 extensions and projects are saved in your My Videos folder.

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Add narration to your story

You can narrate your story by clicking on the
Red Record Button and speaking into your
microphone. Each picture can have up to five
minutes of narration. Click on the Next Picture
button to move to the next picture for narration.
Click the Stop Recording button to stop
narration for the pictures.

You can type notes to prompt you when adding

narration for that picture in the notes section.

By hitting the Preview… button you can preview

a story at any time. Pictures that do not have a narration or custom motion will be shown
using the default timing and transition effects. You can rerecord narration that is not the
way you’d like it by selecting the picture in the film strip, and then click the Delete
narration button. The narration can then be rerecorded.

Customizing motion and selecting transitions

If you do not want Photo Story to determine the
panning and zooming effects automatically for pictures
in your story, you can choose to control these effects
manually in the Customize Motion dialog box. By
setting the motion manually, you can select the general
areas of a picture that will appear at the beginning and
end of the picture's video clip.

By clicking on the Customize Motion… dialog box you

get two tabs:

One tab is to change the Motion and Duration of each slide and the other tab is to change
the Transition.

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Motion and Duration tab

Select the Specify start and end position of motion

A rectangle with handles appears on the picture in the

Start position and End position.

From here you can resize the rectangle by dragging the

double-headed arrow or move the whole rectangle by
pointing to the center of the rectangle to get a four-headed
arrow. This allows you to move the rectangle to the area of
the picture that you want to receive focus when the picture
first appears in your story.

There are two options for the motion:

1. Set start position to be the same as end position of the previous picture.
2. Set the end position to be the same as the start position.

In the Duration box you can select the radio button to allow you to change the amount of
time each picture is displayed (Number of seconds to display the picture) or you can
leave it on the Set duration automatically which is defaulted.

Be sure to click Save to save the motion and duration changes you made.

You should preview the panning and zooming effects for the picture to ensure that you
achieved the desired effects. If you do not achieve the desired effect, you may want to try
different start and end positions. To preview the panning and zooming effects, click
Preview.

Transitions tab

Select the picture for transition. Click on the Custom Motion… bar under the preview then
select the Transitions tab to choose your options.

Make sure the box is checked for Start current picture

using a transition
Use scroll down bar to see
all options then click on the
transition of your choice.

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Click on the radio button for Set transition automatically OR change the amount of time
the transition is displayed by clicking in Number of seconds to display the transition
and setting the time. Preview your transitions and when you are done customizing the
transitions and motions for the picture(s) in your story, click Close.

Note: Clicking the Reset button in the Customize Motion dialog box discards all changes
made to the selected picture on the Motion and Duration tab and on the Transition tab.
Click on the Next > button to add background music.

Adding Background Music

You can add background music which will play during your story. A different piece of music
can play for each picture or for a group of pictures. The Select Music… button lets you
choose a piece of music from your computer, a network folder or the Internet. (Copy
protected music SHOULD NOT be added to a photo story but you can download free
music to use from www.freeplaymusic.com .) The Create Music… options lets you
customize prerecorded pieces and styles of music.

Begin by selecting a picture in the film strip then choosing where you want to get the music
from

If you have
music saved
to a file
choose it
from here.

Several genres, bands, and

moods are prerecorded and
available for creating your
own music.

The picture you select is the anchor image and is indicated by a

musical note displayed beneath it in the film strip.

A color coded music strip is displayed above the film strip displaying the name of each piece of
music that is added to your video story. You can loop the piece of music if it is not long enough to
last through a group of pictures.
The music selected will play until:
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 The music ends.

 Another anchor image is encountered specifying a new piece of music.
 The story ends.

Remember: Copy protected music SHOULD NOT be added to a photo story. Try
www.freeplaymusic.com
Save Your Story

There is a difference in ”save your project” and

“save your story for playback on your
computer”. In order to work on the project later
you must click the Save Project… button on
the bottom toolbar. Remember the project can
be saved on any page.
You have to click on Save your story for
playback on your computer in the activities Click on the hyperlinks
box to build your movie so it can be shown. for more information

There are other activity options available to

share your story which are also located in the
Activities box. Click on the Activity to receive
further instructions. If you chose Send the story in an e-mail message, you cannot save
the story or specify a file name or location until the Completing Photo Story 3 for
Windows page is displayed. This page will then display two additional options for you to
choose: Save a copy of your story to your computer, and Continue to mail your story.

In the File Name box specify the name of your story. The default location for saving on
your computer is My videos with a .wmv extension. You can browse to the location of your
choice by clicking on the Browse… button.

The Settings… dialog box allows you to select the quality settings for the video and audio
by choosing a profile for your story. This enables you to choose from a range of video
resolutions.

Tip: The hyperlinked options in the center of the page provide opportunity to learn more
about the selected activity or to check for more story activities on the Microsoft Web site.

Click on Next > and your photo story will be built in just a matter of minutes.

This page shows the File name, Location and Size of your story. It also allows you to
choose a radio button to View your story or Create another story.

REMEMBER:
 It is important to view your final story to ensure
you are satisfied with the results.
 You will not be able to change this story
Click here to view story unless you also save the project file of your
story.
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Viewing Your Story

After creating your video story there are several ways to view
it by using Photo Story which requires Windows XP or by
using any program that will play Windows Media Video (wmv)
files, such as Windows Media Player version 7 or later. This,
too, is a free download from Windows. Just google Windows
Media Player and choose the Express Settings.

To view the story you created you can do one of the following:
 Click View your story on the Completing Photo Story 3 for Windows page.
 Start Photo Story, click Play a story, click the story you want to play, and click Play.
 Go to the folder where you saved the story, double-click the story.
 Open Windows Media Player, click Library, expand Auto Playlists, click Photo
Story 3 Playlist, click the story you want to play.
 Open Windows Media Player, click Library, expand All Video, expand Genre¸ click
Photo Story¸ then double-click the story you want to play.

Editing Your Story

On the Welcome to Photo Story 3 for Windows page, click Edit a project.
In the Open dialog box, click the project file of the story you want to edit then click Open.
Many changes can be made to your story such as:
 Adding and removing pictures
 Recording or deleting narration
 Rearranging pictures
 Changing the panning and zooming effects by customizing motion
 Changing or adding titles
 Changing the background music

You can also customize motion and select transitions on the Narrate your pictures and
customize motion and Add background music pages by right-clicking a picture, pointing
to Customize Motion, and then clicking Motion, Duration, or Transition.

When finished making changes, on the Save your story page, select an activity for your
story and type a different file name for the story unless you want to replace the existing
story.
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Correct Color
Levels

Tutorial - Photo Story 3 for Windows

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To save the new project file as well, click the Save Project button. Type a different file
name for the new project. By default the project file has a .wp3 file name extension.
Click Next. You will be prompted to click Yes to replace existing file or to click No to
specify a different file name.

Karen Dailey Cabell County Schools December 2007