Linux is a great operating system, but it lacks the number of applications available under Windows or Mac OS. When Neapolitan developer Giuseppe Torelli couldn’t find a simple, powerful DVD slideshow creator under Linux, he stepped up to write Imagination. Version 2.0, released this week, is simple, lightweight, easy to use, and fast.
Torelli says, “I love Linux, and I love the open source philosophy behind it. I chose Linux because I want to be free, and installing GNOME or KDE libraries (I currently use Xubuntu) just to use DVD slideshow software doesn’t fit my personality, so I started developing Imagination. Thanks to the invaluable help of Tadej BorovÅ¡ak, the other developer, I was able to release the first release in just three months.” Torelli codes the application primarily with the GTK text editor Geany, and Devhelp for the GTK library calls.
To use Imagination, you import a series of pictures and some audio files to accompany them. You choose transition effects to go from image to image, as well as slow zooming and panning on each photo (“Ken Burns effects”). You can also specify text on the slides. Imagination then produces a slideshow and plays the specified music in the background. At the end of the slideshow the music fades out.
Release 2.0 includes some useful new features. Overview mode lets you organize your slides in a matrix. You can cut, copy, and paste the slides, and drag and drop audio files into the background music. Torelli says future versions will see “more transitions, ability to add a video to the slideshow, more powerful Ken Burns effects, more text transitions, and more export formats. We strive to make new releases every three or four months.”
Imagination is a Linux application, but Torelli doesn’t provide binary installation packages for Debian- or Red Hat-based distros. “I prefer to leave this task to more skilled people,” he says. Looking to get involved with a project? Here’s a good opportunity. The project could also use help with translating both the documentation and Imagination into more languages, and of course from users who report bugs and submit feature requests on the SourceForge.net tracker. And if you find the software useful, Torelli will gratefully accept donations.