Frequently Asked Questions

Top Issues

• How do I get the FotoMagico 2 Express Update?
• I updated my FotoMagico 1 license to FotoMagico 2 Express. How can I take advantage of the reduced update from FotoMagico 1 to FotoMagico 2 Pro?
• What to do if FotoMagico doesn't start after the update to FotoMagico 2?
• Export to QuickTime/DVD fails with an error message. Why?
• Slideshows larger than 3.2GB can not be opened or exported.
• Exported slide shows contain only black video
• What settings do I have to use to create a DVD at the highest quality possible?

Installation and Setup

• My license key does not work.
• Can I use FotoMagico on a computer with just 32MB Video RAM?
• Can I use FotoMagico on a computer with more than one graphics card?

Authoring

• How can I use images from my Aperture library?
• How can I use songs purchased on the iTunes Music Store?
• Why do my songs in iTunes that were ripped from my own CDs not play after saving my slideshow?
• How am I supposed to find photos and songs in those endlessly long lists?
• How can I use a sound track I created in GarageBand?
• How can I use photos that I prepared in Photoshop?
• I have burnt a DVD. The music is no longer in sync with the images. Why?
• I cannot select a specific Audio Marker? What to do?

Top Issues

How do I get the FotoMagico 2 Express Update?
The successor to FotoMagico 1.8 is FotoMagico 2 Pro. This update is available at US$50(*). If you do not need custom export settings and do not use Aperture for keeping your images but want the new features of FotoMagico 2 Express, you can take advantage of a US$10(*) update to FotoMagico 2 Express. Please follow the steps below to get this update:

1. If you haven't done so, download FotoMagico 2 from the Download page. Install FotoMagico into the Applications folder.
2. Start FotoMagico (version 2). If you already have a version 2 demo license installed, please continue at step 3b. Otherwise read step 3a.
3. a. The setup assistant will come up. Continue at step 4.
   b. If you did already run FotoMagico 2 and now have a demo license installed, please select the menu entry "Buy Now..." from the "FotoMagico" menu. The purchase assistant will come up (containing the choice for the free update later on).
4. Press the button "Existing License" in the middle of the window. A sheet will open asking you to put in your old license.
5. Enter your full FotoMagico 1.x license. Please make sure that you fill in name and organisation as stated in the original purchase information. If there was no "Organisation" info in your license, please leave organisation empty! Once complete, click "Install".
6. Press the "Continue" button in the bottom right.
7. In the pane "Choose a product" select "FotoMagico 2 Express Single User"
8. Press "Continue" button in the bottom right.
9. In case not present, enter your personal data.
10. Click the "Finish" button in the bottom right. A sheet should inform you that the license is being requested and a few seconds later you should be informed that the new FotoMagico 2 Express license is installed. You are good to go. In addition, you will receive you new license info via email for future reference.

I updated my FotoMagico 1 license to FotoMagico 2 Express. How can I take advantage of the reduced update from FotoMagico 1 to FotoMagico 2 Pro?
If you updated your FotoMagico 1 license to a FotoMagico 2 Express license, the update assistant will not let you update to FotoMagico 2 Pro at the update rate of US$50(*) but will ask the difference between FotoMagico 2 Express and FotoMagico 2 Pro. You can still order the reduced price update via the Kagi store. Go to the Kagi store, order the update and enter your FotoMagico 1 license in the "Current License" text field.

What to do if FotoMagico doesn't start after the update to FotoMagico 2?

1. Be sure, you are running Mac OS X 10.4.x Tiger. FotoMagico 2.0 doesn't work with earlier version of Mac OS X. If your run Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther you have to revert to FotoMagico 1.8.
2. Delete the FotoMagico Preference file. You'll find it here: /Users/Your-home-folder/Library/Preferences. Delete the file named com.boinx.fotomagico.plist
3. Delete also all cache files. Cache files are located here: /Users/Your-home-folder/Library/Application Support/Boinx/FotoMagico. Delete the whole folder.

Export to QuickTime/DVD fails with an error message. Why?
We have identified an issue with regard to the export process in versions 1.8 and 1.8.1. Read more about this issue.

Slideshows larger than 3.2GB can not be opened or exported
Slideshow packages that are larger than approximately 3.2GB may fail to load or export. There are a couple of workarounds for this issue:

• Reduce the size of the pictures used in the slideshow by turning them into jpgs.
• If you have not yet created a Slideshow Package (which contains all photos and music files) and only want to present the slideshow on your Mac, retain the Slideshow Document format which only references the files at their original place.
• If you wish to export the slideshow, saving as Slideshow Document does not help. In that case either reduce the photo size as outlined above or cut the slideshow into several pieces that you can export independently.

Exported slide shows contain only black video
There is an issue with certain graphic cards which cause FotoMagico to export black video. Read more about this issue.

What settings do I have to use to create a DVD at the highest quality possible?
Read the tutorial about Exporting.

Installation and Setup

My license key does not work.
Please read the tutorial on installing your license key.

Can I use FotoMagico on a computer with just 32MB Video RAM?
Please read the information on low VRAM.

Can I use FotoMagico on a computer with more than one graphics card?
Please read the information on using multiple graphics cards.

Authoring

How can I use images from my Aperture library?
Starting with FotoMagico 1.8, you can use your Aperture library (Aperture 1.5 or later). Go to the Preferences, click on the "Images" tab and select "Use Albums from Aperture" in the Source Library section. You need to restart FotoMagico to bring this into effect. After the restart, you can select your photos from your Aperture library in the Images tab in FotoMagico's main window. You will also have to enable JPEG previews in your Aperture library. See Apple Knowledge Base Article "Integrating Previews into your Aperture 1.5 Workflow" for details.

How can I use songs purchased on the iTunes Music Store?
FotoMagico cannot include audio from songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store in an export movie, as Apple prohibits third party applications to access the sound data. We do sincerely hope that Apple eventually changes its DRM policies. You can use the songs when presenting the slideshow live in FotoMagico.

Why do my songs in iTunes that were ripped from my own CDs not play after saving my slideshow?
If you haven't saved your songs with the appropriate extension or if you have chosen to hide the extension, FotoMagico can't sometimes identify these as audio files. Also, if your audio file name contains a period after the title number, this may lead to the same behaviour. Rename your audio files and/or attach the appropriate extension, i.e. ".mp3" or ".m4a".

How am I supposed to find photos and songs in those endlessly long lists?
You can search for Audio Files in the Audio Panel. The suggested workflow is to prepare your media in iPhoto and iTunes by creating albums / playlists in those applications and then choosing those from FotoMagico's source popup menus.

How can I use a sound track I created in GarageBand?
Please read the article on Using GarageBand to create sound tracks for FotoMagico.

How can I use photos that I prepared in Photoshop?
The popup menu in the Images panel has an entry "Other Folder". Please select this item and choose the folder where you prepared your media. FotoMagico should be able to read all the common image formats. Please note that the list in FotoMagico is not yet automatically updated as new media files become available. Please quit and relaunch the application for now.

I have burnt a DVD. The music is no longer in sync with the images. Why?
A live presentation has to make sure of prerequisites which aren't necessary when exporting to DVD. In brief and without getting too technical, in a live scenario we'll have to make sure the image has been loaded entirely and is ready for display on screen or beamer. So we may have to "wait" until that is done. Consequently, there may be tiny delays, which you didn't even recognize. Those tiny delays, however, come into play when exporting to DVD. As we don't have to "wait" for the image to be entirely loaded, because it will be "canned" into a movie stream, the tiny delays you intuitively created by matching audio to image according to visual judgement, now add up and ultimatively become apparent. As a result, certain visual and audio events no longer match. In order to make up for this, you'd be best off by creating two separate slideshow: One for live presentation, another one for burning.

I cannot select a specific Audio Marker? What to do?
Well, the concept is a little different. The coupling between images and audio is a rather loose one.

You can set a slide to continue at the "next audio marker", not at a specific audio marker. At first this may sound as a limitation but on the other hand it enables presenting your slideshow interactively. With static coupling, when skipping to the next slide, the slideshow would either get stuck or jump to a new position, thereby dropping audio and restarting it.