Apologies in advance for the size of this post. There seems to be an absence of both information on and examples of using Photomatic so thought there might be some interest in feedback on what it’s like to try and use it in its current build.
Spent some time over Christmas trying to get to grips with Photomatic. Overall it was a mixed bag but probably at least in part because I’m not using it as intended at this stage.
I’ve attached a link to an early version of the little project I was working on in Instagram to help make more sense of the comments below. (Note this is an early version. In later versions I had worked more on syncing the sound and images. I find it easier to see what Photomatic is doing to the graphics with the sound off!)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsDJTOfhBsY/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1eux7cffw73h2
Let’s do the good bits first. The idea is very powerful and provides a fun and intuitive way to sync graphics and audio. With a little outside the box thinking I suspect that it could do a load more than appears on fist sight and with some video post processing probably a lot more! I tried using some very simple images quickly flung together in Adobe Draw on the iPad and once I started actually using Photomatic it became clear the a few simple ideas could go a long way. (Note to self stay focused on a few strong ideas avoid too much disjointed clutter!)
There were however a number of downsides that made creating something a little frustrating…
I’m a little unsure who Photomatic is aimed at in its current form. The lack of detail on formats and how it handles images makes bringing in and aligning external content tricky and frustrating for those into iOS image editing. To get good results using the camera as advertised however needs decent lighting, background, and camera/phone mount. This may put people off experimenting and may explain the lack of examples of use outside of TE?
Strange results on importing make accurate placement of images difficult. Resolution doesn’t appear to affect the size of the image just the quality and the portion shown doesn’t align with an edge or corner. I may be missing something really simple but In the end I had to mock up cartesian graph and import the image to gauge where the corners and the centre were so that I could align the other images.
Like all these things once you get a workflow sorted out you begin to get things done and it’s a lot of fun seeing your images begin to move and take on a life of their own. Playing in the images and effects is great bu I suspect learning to sync animations to sound well is a new skill that will take time to learn. (See crap timing above if proof required ?)
My final challenge was trying to record the output and get it in a form that would work as a square frame on Instagram. That turned out to be a nightmare, still not really sure why, but don’t think it’s got anything to do with Photomatic? I did a series of live play throughs with screen capture but once I tried to upload to Instagram the sound disappeared. (This isn’t to do with ringers setting on Instagram or microphone permissions on iOS.) in the end I got one of the early versions to upload and have called it a day at that.
Lots of lessons learned. Next time just a few strong images and spend some time on the timing and the music…?