Motif: Print photo memories for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By Sobie1951

  Change is not always easy!

  I have made many photo books previously in Photo. I was not too happy when they announced that it would go away and be replaced with Motif. I am never excited about learning a new program. I played around with Motif early on and was not too thrilled with what I saw. After a trip to New Orleans recently, I decided to try again. I am very please to report that Motif is easy to learn and I made a great book. There are a few things that are different and maybe a little clunky, but it could be me. First, I would love to see a option where a large image or panorama could be spread over two pages. Second, I was using my PC and it crashed a few times. When I quit a few programs in the background it worked flawlessly. Third, it seems that most of my old books are not converting correctly. I am hoping that is a glitch that will be fixed. I also would like an option to place text right on the photo. For the most part, it was easy, fun and painfree. I look forward to making my next project and seeing what improvements are added. I have not received my book yet and will write another review on the quality of the product.

  
  
• By Willo SF

  Still not a workable program yet

  This app was a failure at launch but I’ve been noting months of frequent updates so thought I would try it for the annual. When Microsoft canceled photobooks without a functioning replacement, I had to postpone designing the book of photos from the past year until I could reasonably rely on a photo book program. My annuals are always at the maximum 100 pages and feature more than 1,000 photos. It takes me weeks to design. It again took me weeks to deisgn in Motif, but they make captioning nearly impossible, and what text boxes they do allow snap to their own grid, and then they do not let you print the book becuase the text boxes are aligned to their own grid which is too close to the margins. I have spent more than 40 hours on a single book this and still can’t just click “order.” The lack of captioning ability is a major flaw (and no option for a background so white letters are lost on bright spots and black letters are lost on dark spots), as are the lack of features such as allowing a photo to be the original ratio and not forcibly cropped. The snap-to-grid is especially frustrating. It woyuld also be nice to be able to go-to photo from the dock, or at least see the metadata, so you don't have to close out and go back and forth to get the names of people in the photos.

  
  
• By andisnow

  Pretty good but REALLY miss the PDF of my book

  At first I was very disappointed in Motif but as I used it more I discovered that it was more powerful and flexible than I thought. I didn't experience any of the issues of lost work others have mentioned. I did have one day where it just stopped letting me add photos to the project. But that started working again. I like that I can move the text anywhere on the page and change the page layout dynamically without having to choose a different fixed layout. Being able to edit the photos after placing them in the book is an absolute must have that most browser based tools don't have. I don't want to waste my time editing photos I'm never going to use. Big plus for Motif. Being able to set the font and page color for a whole book would be a nice feature. And it should be easier to move the text on the page. It's cumbersome to manipulate the photos and get the text where you want it. The thing I miss the most from Photos is the ability to create a PDF of your book. I always did this in Photos so that I could have a digital copy of my books on my iPad, stored in the Cloud, etc. I understand that Motif doesn't want people just using their free software and not paying for a printed book. But I for one would be happy to pay for the software if it had that feature. I can't comment on print quality as I haven't yet received my book.

  
  
• By vandorscull

  Fabulous output, but company is suspect

  Created one book and working on a second. The product is quite easy to use (however cropping and zooming pictures is needlessly difficult) and the end product as delivered (my photos in a book) is very impressive. Quality of papers and color registration is excellent, and at the very competitive prices, almost unbelievable. I would recommend that everyone try this out for a small project (as little as $10) to see what you get. However, the company is ragged, maybe overstretched. There is no way to contact the company (“Contact Us” on the website results in an error 100% of the time, the “support” button in the app and on this AppStore page leads to a dead page [404 error], and there is no support in the app, not even an FAQ). So something is clearly amiss. Mabe they are printing experts but need to hire an IT gal or a markeing/PR person. Company claims to be related to the historic publisher RR Donnelly, which has been going through various forms of reorganization in recent years. So maybe won’t last long. The app would get 5 stars from me if the company didn’t seem so fly-by-night.

  
  
• By MCats2

  Excellent for photo books

  I used Motif for two photo books with my PC. These were the first photo books I have ever prepared. I looked at several applications and programs and selected Motif because it appeared to be easier to use. I also liked it because I did not need to upload photos until I had completed the project. Although I had a learning curve at the beginning of the first photo book, I also found it relatively easy to make adjustments. I really liked the features - the many different page layouts and text options, the ways to move sets of two pages, the different kinds of photos books (hard cover or soft cover and different sizes), the ability to edit photos as I was working on the photo book. I have received each of these photo books from Motif. They were processed within 2-3 days, and both are beautiful. I had to call customer support twice, and both of those contacts were positive. The only thing I wish could be changed, although it may be difficult, is if one page could be changed at a time, rather than two pages. Otherwise, I highly recommend Motif. I will use Motif the next time I want to make a photo book - and actually can't wait to use Motif again. I am so pleased with Motif's application and product. Thank you!

  
  

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