[Closed] Just Some Thoughts

Wise words, Robert.

I have seen these human reactions many times before when people move from one application to a new one.
Some of the reactions are:

1. Why does the new application not work the same as the old one?  Answer: If it did work the same - why bother to change?
2. My old projects do not transfer well to the new application!  Answer: Finish all older projects in the older application. Keep the older application so you can open older projects in the future. Only start new projects in the newer application.
3. The newer application has lots of bugs etc.  Answer: This is normal and to be expected. Either wait until the new application has been through a number of updates, or rush in and find bugs - then report them in a civilised manner so that the developers can fix the bugs that you have found.
😀

Regards

Douglas

One can agree on all this points, Duglas, they are not critical, and each of us knows what he wants. I have created hundreds of styles, transitions, templates and just presentations in the Producer. In each of my works, I raised the technical bar until it reached its limits. This limit is the main factor that makes me pay attention to the Photopia Director. First of all, in the new program I am interested in new horizons and possibilities of a technical plan. Stability and performance. To work in the program was a pleasure, not a waste of nerves. There are great opportunities in Photopia and for this reason it still interests me. But so many errors in the program bother me. And this is the main thing when I say that the Producer was more stable and reliable in this regard. The second point, which upsets me greatly, is the absence of any encouraging reaction to serious criticisms. Of course, the team is working on a program, and this is evident from the first update. But in this update, I did not see any progress in my comments. For me, this program is still in a deep beta version, I am ready to study it in detail and help the team improve functionality and stability. Apparently, for one or two months, I can still agree to pay for it. But no more than that, if I do not see real changes in what interests me mainly in this program. Otherwise, you will have to return to the issue of subscription no earlier than the program is worth it. 🤔 

Regards

Paul

Agree totally with you Paul!

They do not even offer a written manual!

peter

@douglas

1. On that I agree, to a point. The why change is because Photodex are not developing further so to (hopefully) get improvements one must change programmes,

2. Old projects. Nope. don't agree. A quote from Photopia "Yes, the vast majority of your existing slideshows, slide styles, and transitions from ProShow Gold / Producer will work in Photopia products."Why should one have to finish projects in an old programme when the new/different/improved one can import those projects? Thus being able to produce/finish a show with all the new bells and whistles.? I have about 10 projects on the go at the moment and literally hundreds of existing shows many of which I use as templates. I need to be able to use them.

They do say there are "some limitation" which is fair enough and to be expected. However in my experience thus far, those limitations have been many rather than some. In fact not a single one of the shows I have tried has worked properly and not just the vignettes, the issues have ranged from fonts not working, timings changing, video files not playing, audio not working to layers being changed. Trying to recover from a hangover yesterday I decided to check  some slide styles. In one Photodex collection I found over 20 which did not work properly. I would hazard a guess that over 50% of my existing styles etc will not work properly.

That is hardly "the vast majority will work".

3. Bugs. No absolutely do not agree that this is "normal and to be expected". Yes sure any new programme has bugs and no beta testing will find absolutely everything. However when a programme is released to the public (at a pretty high price) then the programme should work for the vast majority of users. Yes there will be the odd bug which can be fixed in an update, but the progamme should be (relatively) stable and a user should be confident that it will do as it says on the box (or in the faqs). They should also be able to find some written documentation and not have to rely on a couple of basic videos or 3rd party instructions.

I am afraid with Photopia, they have released a beta version. There are some very basic errors in the programming, some of the functionality just does not work and as to compatibility, they are nowhere near. That was pretty well illustrated in their update. Some of the issues there should have been picked up and fixed in testing prior to the initial release.

Sorry Photopia but your programme is not fit for purpose in its present form and certainly does not match your description of "Photopia is the next evolution in slideshow software, designed from the ground up to be more responsive, robust, and feature rich than its predecessors."

I will continue to check it out for the next couple of days while it is in trial period. But I will certainly not be purchasing it in its present form.

AndyW, I totally agree with every word!

Thank you for the excellent contribution!

peter

@andyw

I agree Andy.. I have five days left to decide on my subscription. I've had numerous problems including tossing me out of the program. I'm sure some of it's on me because I'm searching to learn the program without any comprehensive documentation. I think at this point I'll stay on the sideline until I hear through the forum that most of the problems are solved and clear concise documentation is available. 

Ron

I agree with all that has been said and to add insult to injury no one from Photopia has been on this board for a week. We are all stating our problems and guessing at the answers. I have purchased a year subscription but in a few days I will suspend and try again in a couple of months. 

Robert I also had an subscription for director.
I quit yesterday and thank god became my money back.
I think they know how buggy there software is.
The problem is that they do not pay attention to us.
We would like to communicate with them and help with our experiences.
The product is technically in bad shape and the marketing is even worse.
How can they survive if they behave is so badly and ask for more money than Adobe ???
What a pity for the good idea!

@peter-lang

Hi Peter,

I have been communicating  the problems I have been having to Photopia via their support/help pages and via e-mail.

 I have sent them a number of files and even complete shows. I know that they have been checking at least some of them out and a couple were

addressed in the update they have done.

Here is hoping they can solve some of the other issues.

The latest of which I have discovered is with the wizard. I never really used it in anger in Proshow but thought I would look anyway. Hmmmmm interesting is all I will say. On one of them it just added a load of images from a completely different folder along with the ones I had chosen?? Just looking at it a bit closer now before I send anything to support.

I don't know if anyone else has had issues with the wizard or not?

Obviously there is going to be a learning curve and some of the stuff looks pretty good but it is some of the more basic bugs which are annoying and making me hold off on any subscription as yet.