Premium Photo Albums with PulpMotion Advanced

This year’s holiday season will bestow upon us many great captured memories that are yearning to be transformed into something interesting, like a photo album. I recently reviewed Photo Album 2 from Flippingbook and found that it could use a few more features. So now we are reviewing PulpMotion Advanced, the other end of the price spectrum.

PulpMotion Advanced rings in at a pretty $129 for a single license. So does the increase in price bring unbelievable features to create the perfect photo album? Read on to find out as we review PulpMotion Advanced from Aquafadas.

Creating your Masterpiece

I think creating slideshows in PulpMotion is probably the most fun I have ever had with static photos. PulpMotion makes it easy while still offering cool customization options. To begin, PulpMotion offers you the obligatory start screen to familiarize you with the interface.

Before you add your photos to the slideshow you first must choose your theme. PulpMotion Advanced comes with 154 themes to choose from. These themes are very cool and they range from an Egyptian themed museum to a winter themed wonderland. With this many theme options available, you really, in all probability, will not have to use the same theme more than once for many years to come.

To create your slideshow, you can simply drag your desired photos from the photo browser straight onto the timeline. The timeline is a interesting addition to a photo album app. If you were thinking that the timeline implies that the result might be more or less similar to a video, then you would be correct. The resulting photo album is very similar to a video you might create in iMovie, but its not. The timeline simply makes it a very straightforward process to add your photos in the order in which you would like them to appear.

Now that you have your photos in the timeline and your theme applied, you can now add audio and customize your title card. Audio can be imported from the usual bevy of Mac audio apps, such as iTunes or Garageband. You can also simply drag in audio files from Finder and add that into your slideshow.

Customization & Exporting

PulpMotion offers some extra customization to the themes that come preloaded with the app. You can choose what is displayed in the slideshow such as media title and date. If you import movie files, you can choose the audio sound settings and other settings. Quality settings are also up for adjustments.

Unlike other photo album apps I have reviewed recently, PulpMotion has a bevy of exporting options to allow you to truly export in your favorite format. Easy formatting and exporting for iOS devices and Apple TV are just a click away. The option to export into iLife applications for further development is also available. Facebook and YouTube export is possible directly from the app. PulpMotion really excels in giving the user the choice to export in your favorite format.

Look & Feel

PulpMotion’s design follows the convention that Apple established with its iMovie and Final Cut X apps. It uses the timeline and dark gray UI to seamlessly fit into your existing Mac apps.

Most of the functions are easily distinguished via the buttons on the main panel.

PulpMotion also is compatible with the full screen feature that many Mac apps are taking advantage of lately. However the full screen option only makes the media manager full screen, not the whole interface. So it is not possible to actually create the whole slideshow in full screen.

One other quirk, that I don’t so much care for, is how menus and options are displayed. For example when you click the “size” button, the actual options appear at the very top of the window. How much trouble would it have been to create a drop down menu on that button so the options are with the button? At any rate, the interface is familiar and well designed with the exception of a few small quirks.

Final Thoughts

PulpMotion Advanced is a premium solution to your entire photo album needs. PulpMotion Advanced comes loaded with themes that allow customization and integration with iLife apps to allow for easy importing of your media. The interface of PulpMotion is consistent with current Apple conventions and has a minimal learning curve. There are a few minor quirks in the interface as it pertains to the location of drop down menus and full screen implementation. The app offers a wide variety of exporting options to the user, including iOS devices and YouTube.

I would also like to take a moment and mention that during the testing of the app, it force quit several times. There are several older comments left on its Mac App Store page that shows this is a continuing problem. So keep that I mind, as I have with the scoring.

Overall, the premium that PulpMotion Advanced charges definitely is justified when using the app. What may not be justified is the price difference between Standard and Advanced, $49 and $129. Even the Standard at $49 is well worth the price and pretty much just as useful. That call will come down to you; is the extra $80 worth it?

Out of 10 stars, PulpMotion Advanced gets an 8. It really is a premium product that I enjoyed using. Although I would caution that those who are interested should perhaps try the Standard version first before spending the money for the top dollar Advanced version. Also keep in mind the possible reliability problems, such as force quitting. Free trials of both versions are available at the Aquafadas website, so give it a try and let us know if you like it.