Doodly Intermediate Tutorial

Creating a Smooth Slideshow

Intermediate Tutorial #17

Creating a Smooth Slideshow

This article will explain the variety of slide shows that can be created inside and outside of Doodly. It will also provide the settings and definitions for each of the settings necessary to create these slideshows.

Note: At the intermediate skill level, we all know that Doodly is one big slide show. In this article we will briefly review the basic slides with some suggestions. We will focus on the intermediate level slide shows.

Single Scene Slideshow vs. Multi-Scene Slideshow

This depends on how many images are in the slideshow. If we are working with only 5 images, a single scene slideshow is much easier to work with and maintain but if we are working with 40 images, a single scene slideshow becomes cumbersome.

A single scene slideshow is a bit easier to work with because all images are on the same scene but given the bug of layer jumping that happens in a scene within Doodly and if we are viewing this on a 2k screen with 125% zoom, like most of the world at the time of writing this article, we can only see 3 1/4 layers, a multi-scene slideshow becomes easier to maintain.

A multi-scene slideshow will allow for more control. Doodly also suffers from Scene Jumping as well so be careful of having too many scenes.

A multi-scene slideshow will do best with no more than 4 transitional images per scene. A transitional image is defined as transitioning from one image to the next without using another scene for the transition. Watch my Scene Transitions video tutorial for ideas on how to create in scene transitions.


Scene Transitions

If we are creating a multi-image slideshow like the thumbnail showed in my Bernie Sanders Memes videos where I have 9 images on a single canvas display then we can erase those with a mask and recreate this suggested as a maximum of 4 times creating a total of 40 layers including the transition layer between each image collage. Just be careful of layer jumping if you choose to have this many layers on a single scene.

What is Layer Jumping?


Bugs and Frustrations

Watch my Doodly Bugs and Frustrations video. There is a chapter on it in that video.

What is Scene Jumping?


Pan and Zoom

Watch my Pan and Zoom video for an example of Scene Jumping. It happens with the pan and zoom but the same thing happens with layers. It happened to me as I am recording the video and I decided not to edit it out.

Basic Slides

Swipe Left, Up, Right and Down. For a slideshow, swipe left and right make the most sense. Swiping up and down don’t typically do well in a slideshow. Keep about 2 to 5 seconds of time at the end of the scene and place 1 full screen image per scene when using this method.

Categories of Slide Shows (In alphabetical order)

  1. Animated
  2. Fading
  3. Multi-image
  4. Simple

There are more complex slideshows that can be created but those go into advanced skills so we are going to focus on these 4 types of slide shows.

What is an animated slideshow?

An animated slideshow include the use of GIF animation. These animation can be easily created using PowerPoint. We can import the image into PowerPoint, create our desired animated effect, export the animated GIF into Doodly and create our reveal paths and set the settings.
Depending on the image size and complexity, the typical duration is in between 1.5 seconds to 10 seconds. Most reveal paths look good with a maximum of 5 seconds but some exceptions have been made to 10 seconds. If we are using only 1 image per scene then we can keep the delay time to 0 and set the additional time at the end of the scene to desired length such as 5 seconds.

Sources for more information on this subject are TIPS Articles:

  1. Intermediate Skill Level Doodly Tutorial #1: None Transition
  2. Advanced Skill Level Doodly Tutorial #7: Key Framing Animation in Doodly
  3. Beginner Skill Level Doodly Tutorial #15: GIF Animations
  4. Beginner Skill Level Doodly Tutorial #18: Animation in Doodly.

There are 3 bonus videos inside the scene transitions video tutorial. Bonus video 2 and 3 provides how to create transition effects which can be used for a smooth slideshow.

Fading Slideshow


Fade to Color

For this to work, the imported images should be the same width and height when imported. Easily enough using 1 scene, we can disable Erase Mode, copy and paste the images and then drag the new image on top of newly pasted image. The fade to color video tutorial will teach you how to create this effect. The same principal applies as what is shown in this video. Set the reveal mode to Fade for each image. The reveal mode does not get copied when you replace the image with another image.

To fade out a scene watch the Smooth Fading tutorial


Smooth Fading

Multi-Image Slideshow

This uses multiple images. The duration time highly depends on how we want to reveal those images.
Read Beginner Skill Level Doodly Tutorial #17: Imported Image Reveal Options

Note: If using more than 1 scene is desired then read Intermediate Skill Level Doodly Tutorial #1: None Transition and watch the Beginner Skill Level Smooth Fading Video Tutorial: Smooth Fading Made Easy

Simple Slideshow

This is as easy as it gets. This type of slideshow will make the images just appear and disappear.

Settings

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most common questions regarding this topic.

A single scene slideshow is best for a small amount of images like five because it is easy to manage. However, when working with a large number of images like forty, a multi scene slideshow is much better since it provides more control and helps you avoid layer jumping issues. You should try to keep no more than four transitional images in each scene to prevent scene jumping bugs.

To make a simple slideshow, you need to turn off the erase mode and place up to nine images on your canvas. You will want to set the delay between each image to two seconds and the duration of each image to zero. Finally, set the scene transition to none and leave five seconds at the end of the scene time.

For a fading effect, you must make sure all your imported images are the exact same width and height. You will disable the erase mode, stack the images directly on top of one another, and change the reveal mode to fade for every single picture. The best settings for this effect are a duration of three to five seconds and a delay of two to five seconds.

You can create custom animations in programs like PowerPoint and export them as GIF files to bring into your project. Once imported, you set your reveal paths with a duration usually between one and a half to ten seconds. If you only have one image per scene, you can leave the delay at zero and just add extra time at the end of the scene.

Having too many layers on one canvas can cause a frustrating bug known as layer jumping. This problem is especially common if you are viewing your project on a high resolution screen with a zoomed in display, which limits how many layers you can clearly see and manage at once. Using multiple scenes is a great way to avoid this issue and keep your project organized.

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Wayne Leiser
Wayne Leiser
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