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Software to make image collages, film strips, and other multi-image compositions

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jojo99:
Thanks for teh suggestion jojo! Fotowall is fairly promising - I like that it's a portable app - but it doesn't seem to have any (functional) alignment options, which is kind of a must for really good results. Judging by the examples on the website, alignment should be possible (or someone was very careful aligning things for the examples), but I couldn't figure out how to do it at any rate. I did see one or two grayed out options that might have done it, but couldn't get them to activate. Judging by the very-much-in-progress nature of the program and its pre-1.0 status, maybe these are features that are just yet to be added/enabled. I'll keep an eye on it.-JavaJones (December 25, 2011, 09:10 PM)
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Not sure what you mean by alignment.  You can drag photos all over the canvas, bring them to the front or push them to the back, rotate, them, increase or decrease their size, etc.  However, there does not seem to be any alignment like take 2 or more photos and make centers line up or something like that (like you can do in Powerpoint).

Try opening a few photos at once and they will appear on the canvas.  Then when you put your mouse in the photo, look at the corners.  You can grab there and do all kinds of tricks.  Right-click in the photo and you will get more options.

If you click on one of those icons next to setup in the top right part of the screen, you can send the author your suggestions.

JavaJones:
However, there does not seem to be any alignment like take 2 or more photos and make centers line up or something like that (like you can do in Powerpoint).
-jojo99 (December 26, 2011, 01:52 AM)
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This is exactly what I meant and, as you also note, it doesn't support it currently. Without that functionality it's tedious to arrange more than a few photos as 90% of the time I want mine to be well-aligned with each other either horizontally, vertically, or both. I did see the rest of the rotate, move, etc. functionality, I spent a bit of time playing with it, but as you confirm it can't do auto-alignment (something like the "snap guides" in Photoshop would be brilliant), it's not yet suitable for my needs. But as I said it's a very promising app so I'll keep an eye on it.

- Oshyan

CWuestefeld:
Every year my wife and I make calendars for friends and family, featuring monthly images that are a collage of the previous year's events in our life. To produce these I use Microsoft AutoCollage.

Photo collages celebrate important events and themes in our lives. Pick a folder, press a button, and in a few minutes AutoCollage presents you with a unique memento to print or email to your family and friends.
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Here's a sample, the cover of the newest calendar:
Software to make image collages, film strips, and other multi-image compositions

Note that it doesn't put borders between the images. It tries to blend them together, and sometimes it does a pretty uncanny job. For example, in this image, notice how the two pictures at the top (left and center) blend together. I don't know if there's something in the code that looks for opportunities for this, or it's just happenstance combined with the human mind's desperate search for patters, but I think it's pretty cool.

The amount of control you have is somewhat limited. You decide which pictures, and how much they'll overlap. You can nominate one or two as the most important, and those can be given a boost in relative size. And that's about all the control you get. When I use this, I'll run about ten trials with slightly different settings, and choose the best of the bunch.

Note that the product is a 30-day trial, and then $20.

UPDATE: I should also mention that this doesn't allow for captioning. But that's trivial to do in a separate step, as I'm sure you're aware.

JavaJones:
Thanks for another recommendation. I like the effect Microsoft Autocollage produces, though I think I would want to use that less than ones with borders. Unfortunately I don't think it's worth paying $20 just for that one effect and limited options, but hopefully something similar is available in one of the other suggested apps or will be implemented at some point.

- Oshyan

CWuestefeld:
hopefully something similar is available in one of the other suggested apps
-JavaJones (December 28, 2011, 04:42 PM)
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If you do find that feature elsewhere, please do report back, I'm interested.

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