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June 09, 2005
LiFE with PhotoCinema
Oh... my... god... I've seen some incredible examples of multimedia authoring using Macromedia tools over the years, but today I was absolutely floored by something I saw called LiFE with PhotoCinema. The folks at DigitalStage came to visit us here at Macromedia today and they are responsible for a number of incredible applications all developed in Director as the primary tool with heaping amounts of Flash used to bolster functionality and visual appeal. LiFE with PhotoCinema is an awesome example of how developers can use Macromedia tools, Director in particular :) , to create applications that offer end users incredible experiences that they will not only enjoy but actively seek out and then share with friends, family, whoever will listen. This is more than a photo slideshow tool, much more, the phrase they use (and quite appropriately) is "photo cinema" as this is a one stop tool for composing photos, text and videos into cinematic slide shows in ways I haven't seen in other tools. The ease of use and flexibility while authoring combined with the output options (Shockwave, stand-alone executables, to QuickTime video or straight to DVD) are incredible. I can't even describe it all, hopefully your Japanese skills serve you well enough as the product is currently Japanese only, but for some it's still worth a look:
They also have other tools, like Motion Dive (for those needing info in English: Motion Dive - English), which is the world's leading VJ software in use by the club scene for audio/visual presentations, yet another application authored primarily in Director. All in all I was very impressed by their presentation and their applications and I personally cannot wait for my copy of LiFE with PhotoCinema to arrive, even though it's a Japanese products the UI is intuitive enough to be easy to use by me, someone who can't read a single character of Japanese.
I hope others find their work as inspirational as we do.
To Hirano-san and Kantetsu-san (and everyone working at or with DigitalStage): domo arigato, we are impressed!