• Welcome to the Lightroom Queen Forums! We're a friendly bunch, so please feel free to register and join in the conversation. If you're not familiar with forums, you'll find step by step instructions on how to post your first thread under Help at the bottom of the page. You're also welcome to download our free Lightroom Quick Start eBooks and explore our other FAQ resources.
  • Stop struggling with Lightroom! There's no need to spend hours hunting for the answers to your Lightroom Classic questions. All the information you need is in Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ!

    To help you get started, there's a series of easy tutorials to guide you through a simple workflow. As you grow in confidence, the book switches to a conversational FAQ format, so you can quickly find answers to advanced questions. And better still, the eBooks are updated for every release, so it's always up to date.
  • 12 February 2025 It's Lightroom update time again! See What’s New in Lightroom Classic 14.2, Mobile & Desktop (February 2025)? for Feature updates, new cameras and lenses, and bug fixes.

Slideshow module Are there any scripts that provide a simple interface to play existing LrC slideshows?

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

david.anderson

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2020
Messages
68
Lightroom Version Number
13.4
Operating System
  1. Windows 11
I would like to make my Lightroom slideshows more accessible to other family members who would never cope with the complexity of the LrC interface. Is it possible to create a script that would display a simple selection menu for existing slideshows? If so, are any such scripts already available?

I'm trying to avoid exporting slideshows to video as Adobe currently limits this to HD resolution, so I want to play my slideshows direct from the Slideshow module..
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Gnits said:
Back in Affinity Publisher, select the Data Merge Manager. You use this to select the metadata file generated above and because it will be the first time to use this layout template and metadata file, you need to link the metadata fields to the text boxes. This is easily and cleverly done using your mouse.
Click to expand...
I have created an A4 document in Affinity Publisher. It contains a Picture Frame and 4 text boxes. Those text boxes are named as Filename, CameraInfo, Keywords, and Date. My MetadataSummary.csv file is attached (temporarily renamed with a .txt extension as this forum doesn't allow the uploading of .csv files). Does that metadata file look OK?

However I am stuck on the linking metadata fields to the text boxes stage in the process. How exactly is this done?
 

Attachments

  • MetadataSummary.txt
    828 bytes · Views: 96
Upvote 0 Downvote
It is difficult to tell as certain codes may not be visible.

The good news and a major advantage is that Affinity understands Excel files.

This might allow you get past a temporary hiccup with syntax.

Open the Csv file in Excel, save as an excel document and then try to open the Excel from the Data Merge Window in Affinity. Later, you can get your Csv file working, which saves a step in the process.

The first time thru Affinity will be a new experience. However, if you have created the template you are well on the way. There are lots of tutorials on using data merge using Affinity. Google Affinity Data Merge on You Tube to find a few.

If you get it to work with an Excel file then you can fine tune your Affinity template. An obvious trick to save you a lot of effort is initially use images that have the same crop ratio as the picture frame. That means all the metadata will line up as required.

If the image crop ratio is different to the picture frame, then the left, right or vertical alignment of the text may be off. This is a pest if dealing with volume, but easily manageable for modest numbers or vip prints. I have been looking for a good solution to this for years. I have written to Affinity to auto align the metadata with the cardinal points of a picture frame, Affinity have acknowledged the usefulness of such a feature… but have not seen any indication it may arrive anytime soon.


I use the same Csv file for all my Affinity data merges. This saves me making any changes to my default settings in Transporter. I just do a fresh export from Lr with Transporter and then run the Affinity Data Merge to produce the Merged Affinity file.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Tip.

I generate scripts from lots of different apps at different times (eg MatLab, Visual Basic, etc), From experience, I avoid using names such as Date and Filename, because they can be interpreted as reserved key words. By putting something like My_ before the name will make it unique, as underscores are not used in reserved keywords, and by using My… or your initials or some other code, you will recognise in weeks and months or years time that you created those names,
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I take your point about reserved names, though I'm not quite sure it would affect my choice of textbox names in Affinity Publisher. It tends to be more of an issue when writing code. However, just in case, I've changed those names.

I'm still struggling to get a CSV working, but have had more success with an Excel file (which contains metadata for 5 images). After loading that data source in Data Merge, I get the message "4 fields, 5 records loaded", which looks OK. The Fields dialogue box in AP now shows the following, which also looks OK:

MyFilename: <MyFilename>
CameraInfo: <CameraInfo>
Keywords: <Keywords>
MyDate: <MyDate>

However, when I click the Generate button in Data Merge the resulting 5 page document is not populated with any data. What might I be doing wrong?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
There is probably a step missing in your process. After you have linked to the excel / Csv file there is a step where you double click on an entry at the relevant text box layer, so it connect the specific text box to the metadata field in the Csv file. I am not near my pc for a few hours, typing this on an iPad.

I will send a screen grab as soon as I can.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I'd seen that video before and that had helped me to create a suitable Excel file, but when I tried and failed to link the textboxes to the data fields I forgot to go back and watch a bit more of the video! My aging brain is no stranger to forgetfulness...

The linking process is not exactly intuitive, but all is now working, though not quite as expected. I know you recommended editing the photos to match the aspect ratio of the picture frame, so that the text boxes align to the image in the same manner on every page. I'm happy for the text to always be located in the same places close to the page borders, but I want the original aspect ratio of my images to be preserved. Affinity Publisher does not appear to have a way to do that.

If I live within its limitations, your solution may prove useful at some point, so I thank you for that and for your patience in dispelling my implementation confusions, but it doesn't provide what I am really seeking, which is an equivalent to the LrC Slideshow facility on Windows that can create 4K videos and include the required metadata.

I can see an obvious difference in quality on my 65" OLED television between LrC's native slideshow using the High quality setting and a LrC export of that slideshow at its best available HD quality. It's very frustrating that the Any Video Preset plugin can enable the exporting of an LrC slideshow in 4K on a Mac but not on Windows "due to a trivial limitation of the app", as previously discussed in this thread :(
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You can set the picture placeholder in the template so that any picture which does NOT match the place holder ratio will fill the picture in the frame to maximise the size of the image, but with no cropping or distortion. They probably have a name for that picture fill mode.

That is what I use and it works. What is annoying is that I then need to manually fine tune the position of the metadata text. My volumes are such that I can cope (begrudgingly) with this.

I have been looking for years for a solution to place metadata automatically relative to the image, but have not found an optimum solution. For now, imho, Affinity Publisher has the best data merge tool (ie merge pictures and well placed metadata), and hoping at some stage they apply the finer touches.

It is a massive disappointment that Adobe Lr, with all the tools at its disposal does not provide features already in the print module or a better video / slideshow options.

I have developed the features myself using the java scripting tool within the InDesign / Photoshop family, and once the basic page is laid out to contain the picture and metadata objects, it only takes a few lines of code to optimise the placement, relative to the cardinal points.

I have discussed this with the author of Qimage, who can see the benefit of optimum placement, but is not making any promises (but has not shut down) of a future enhancement.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I've now found that picture frame setting, It's Frame Properties > Scale to Min Fit. However, a new problem has emerged. Textboxes set to right alignment in my template are left-aligned in the data merged document.

In a previous life, I helped to run an international photographic competition and created an award-winners slideshow every year for our website. That slideshow was created using Juicebox Pro, which allowed positioning of metadata relative to the image location. This software is no longer being actively developed but is still available and still has competent technical support via a user forum.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You can pre configure the text boxes in the Affinity template, so those on the left are left aligned and on the right, right aligned and centre aligned in the middle, as per my sample web based album.

I have vague recollection of using JuiceBox for a WordPress website, but gave up as it was too difficult to keep WordPress and all the plugins required up to date.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
If you can maintain your own web site then there are massive number of slideshow plugins possible, but I have lost contact with that world.

I have not checked recently if sites like SquareSpace, Smugmug, etc provide good slideshow options.

There are also tools used by serious pro’s who produce very sophisticated slideshows for tv networks, etc. I used a tool called PhotoDex Proshow Gold, probably have a licence, but my understanding is that they are no longer in business.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Gnits said:
You can pre configure the text boxes in the Affinity template, so those on the left are left aligned and on the right, right aligned and centre aligned in the middle, as per my sample web based album.

I have vague recollection of using JuiceBox for a WordPress website, but gave up as it was too difficult to keep WordPress and all the plugins required up to date.
Click to expand...
Two of the textboxes in my Affinity template are already right-aligned, and clearly appear as such, but those settings are being ignored by the Data Merge Generate process. Did you use some special alignment sauce for your sample web album?

I've never had to deal with the restrictions of a Wordpress site. My JuiceBox slideshow was displayed on an ASP.NET site I created from scratch.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have a busy weekend of travel starting in the next few mins. I will revisit my Affinity workflow as early as I can next week.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I did a quick test..... with 2 new test images, with new metadata, creating a new version of the csv file... Here is the sample datamerge.

1721468324260.png

I can see the metadata placement needs a few tweaks (I might have used an older ver of my template), but the image is centred in the picture box and all the text boxes are aligned as expected on left, right and middle.

I can vaguely remember having an issue with this, but cannot remember the details. If you post your Affinity template file here (or send me a private email with it), I will try it out with my data and see if I can spot anything.

I am offline now, limited access for a while until I get back on Sunday night.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
BTW... All of these approaches are unsatisfactory / sub optimal. It is a case of finding the least worst solution that works for you until someone addresses this properly..... I am not pushing any specific product or solution set... just explaining the options I have tried.

Developers seem to forget that computers are intended to remove tedious repetition, but most time is spent exploring new horizons.....

I do not mind if correctly aligning metadata solution is called AI Metadata Alignment, as long as it works efficiently.

I have not gone thru all the release notes of various packages....I normally deal with this stuff in the dark winter months.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Gnits said:
I can vaguely remember having an issue with this, but cannot remember the details. If you post your Affinity template file here (or send me a private email with it), I will try it out with my data and see if I can spot anything.
Click to expand...
I've sent you my template file via a private message. Thanks again for all your help.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Your template. My csv file. I had to remap your template to my csv data.

Can you send me the csv/ excel file you are using.

1721508159100.png
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Why would you not want to create the slideshow entirely within LR, and then export as a PDF?

All they would need to do is open the file in Acrobat, and then View > Full Screen Mode (or Ctrl L) autoplays the slideshow or they can use the arrow keys.

You can hack the template to get the text boxes the same size. For each of the adornment type = "text" items, change the scale parameter as here.
 

Attachments

  • Info around edges.lrtemplate
    7 KB · Views: 84
  • 1721557578002.png
    1721557578002.png
    1.1 MB · Views: 84
  • 1721558209545.png
    1721558209545.png
    3.9 KB · Views: 89
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
johnbeardy said:
Why would you not want to create the slideshow entirely within LR, and then export as a PDF?
Click to expand...
I had assumed that exporting as a PDF would limit me to typical print sizes, when what I really want is to save a high quality version for display on my 65" television, which is connected as Display 3 in Windows 11 .

After checking out the PDF export process for the first time, I saw that it offered the option to specify any resolution. I set that to 3840 x 2160 (to match my TV) but I'm struggling to get the resulting PDF to play on the TV. It always defaults to Display 2.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have now succeeded in playing the PDF slideshow on my TV.

I did this by regenerating the PDF with the 'Automatically show full screen option' turned off, opening the PDF in Acrobat Reader and dragging it to Display 3 (the TV), and then using Ctrl+L ( I couldn't see any View > Full Screen Mode option). Is there a slicker way to target PDF playback on the TV?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
One option is to export Lr slideshow as individual jpgs. Put the jpgs on a small usb fob and use default slideshow option within the tv to do the slideshow. Also, tv can default to this so it shows a screensaver style slideshow if tv not in active use. The advantage here is that you have the metadata placed within the image as you wish.

Another option is to use apple tv (or similar) and have access to more apps to display the slides.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Gnits said:
One option is to export Lr slideshow as individual jpgs. Put the jpgs on a small usb fob and use default slideshow option within the tv to do the slideshow. Also, tv can default to this so it shows a screensaver style slideshow if tv not in active use. The advantage here is that you have the metadata placed within the image as you wish.

Another option is to use apple tv (or similar) and have access to more apps to display the slides.
Click to expand...
This was my suggestion early in the conversation. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/comm...ay-existing-lrc-slideshows.50622/post-1336658
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Gnits said:
One option is to export Lr slideshow as individual jpgs. Put the jpgs on a small usb fob and use default slideshow option within the tv to do the slideshow. Also, tv can default to this so it shows a screensaver style slideshow if tv not in active use. The advantage here is that you have the metadata placed within the image as you wish.

Another option is to use apple tv (or similar) and have access to more apps to display the slides.
Click to expand...
Thanks for making me aware of that export option. I hadn't seen that before as it doesn't appear to have a dedicated button, unlike PDF and Video exports. The inclusion of my metadata makes a TV-driven slideshow much more appealing. I will give it a try.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top