Rewritable CD as Portfolio

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I have created a GIF file by uploading my paintings through Adobe Image Ready. I then placed the entire GIF File on a Rewritable CD, thinking that it would show the frames in Gif format, just like a slide show. Was I wrong?

Does anyone know how you can make it play one image after the other?

[Cynthia Daniel]

I don't know the answer to your question. However, portrait images and any image with gradations of color should be jpg files, not gif. Gif is only 256 colors, whereas jpg is 16 million. Use gif for spot color things such as a 2-color logo.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

All my artwork is filed as JPG

[Cynthia Daniel]

Ahhh, okay. Yes, animation requires gif files.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Thank you anyways. I will ask my husband once he gets over his jet lag and post what I was able to find out.

[Cynthia Daniel]

I don't know what software you're using, but animated gifs doesn't seem like the ticket from what little I can dredge from my memory. I think there is other software that's more appropriate and uses jpgs. Perhaps do a search on the web for "create CD slide show."

[Michael Georges]

Enzie:

I have done something like this using two tools - Flash, and PowerPoint.

With Flash, you import the images into the tool and create your screenshow like a little movie. It saves out as an HTML file with a SWF file. You burn these to a CD with an autorun script which tells the CD what to do when it is placed in a drive. If you don't have Flash, you can download a fully functional demo for 30 days.

With Powerpoint, it is just like creating a presentation. Each slide is an imported painting. You can include a PowerPoint viewer on the CD so the user does not need PPT to see the slide show.

Hope that helps.

[Jeremiah White]

As far as a portfolio goes, using animated GIF files are not the way to go. In fact most places that you would give it to would probably ask for another format. If you were to put an entire portfolio into one animated GIF it would be huge. The other thing would be that you could not start and stop the animation on your own.

Flash would be a good alternative but would require a plugin to be installed on their part which may be a turn off. Powerpoint is also an option but requires the user to have Powerpoint.

The best way to go is creating an HTML based portfolio. HTML portfolios are cross platform so-to-speak and require no special software for them to run and it would also load faster. You would have more options. The viewer could take their time or choose to look at a higher resolution image. You could enter info about the image, etc.

One thing I would mention is to include high res (at least over 1,024 pixels) images of your art on the cd. It's a cd so you won't have to worry about download times or anything on their part if it's too large.

If you use Photoshop, there is a utility that allows you to create a web gallery by simply choosing the directory of your artwork. It will automatically create the thumbnails for you and link them.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Michael G. and Jeremiah thank you for the information. I will try both and see which works best.

[Heidi Maiers]

I am opening up another old topic that I am just reading for the first time. The suggestions offered here are good, but I have another suggestion that folks may want to try. By using this software program "Demoshield Designer" that can be purchased through:

http://www.installshield.com/ds/

It is not cheap though at $700 and it takes a while to learn how to use it.
You can create annimated slide shows similar to Power Point but with much greater capabilities. You can add annimated text, launch URL's, launch external documents, create CD browsers, add video and audio, to name just a few features. The user doesn't need any software on his system to view your show as it is all self contained.
I actually offer this service if anyone is interested. I have two simple low resolution demos that can be downloaded at:

http://members.cox.net/anthonyjw/com...DPortfolio.htm