Windows 10 Gems: Build moving collages with PicPlayPost

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With these Windows 10 Gem apps

With support from Microsoft

PicPlayPost

Photography on mobile devices and even photo editing on PCs might seem like it should be a rather banal and uninteresting task in 2016. Sure, there are still those ubiquitous filters everyone is using, but for the most part not much has changed in recent years. There's Photoshop, there's Instagram, and there hasn't been much in between. PicPlayPost, however, is a way to get a little extra creative with your photos and their new app for Windows 10 and Mobile is a fantastic upgrade from last year's version.

PicPlayPost is a powerful photo collage builder for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. It includes a number of stand-out features for the modern social photographer, like GIF support and quick sharing to your favorite networks.

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What is PicPlayPost?

PicPlayPost lets you do a bunch with your grand photo editing and sharing plans:

Collage – The app lets you mix and match many types of media together with different collage layouts, perfect for sharing mini-collections.
GIFS – Love them or hate them, but animated GIFs are still all the rage, and often really are perfect for capturing your current emotion. Feel free to use GIPHY to find and embed them in your PicPlayPost collage.
Audio – Imagine going to see your favorite band in concert. You snap a few photos, so you put them together in a collage using this app. Why not add a snippet of their music to your college to bring it to life?
Editing – Your final art piece can be either a static JPG, animated GIF, or even a mini-movie with audio.
Share – Once done, just share to your creation to Vine, WhatsApp or Facebook directly.
Discover – Looking or ideas? Just browse the Discover section to see what others are creating using PicPlayPost. Once you see some examples, you will get those creative juices flowing.

All of this can be done with PicPlayPost via a few simple screens. Even better, the app is free with an optional in-app purchase ($1.99 USD) to remove their watermark (you can then even create and add your own too to help protect your creation)

Why it's cool

The app for PicPlayPost works on Windows 10 for PCs and tablets as well as Windows 10 Mobile. The latter usage is rather obvious as you will want to use photos taken with your Lumia or other Windows Phone and put them directly into the app.

The ability to also use the same app on your laptop or PC, however, is a bonus. Figure it this way: if you auto-save your photos to OneDrive, you can then just easily download them using your Photos app. Toss a few of them into PicPlayPost on a large screen in a more relaxing atmosphere.

How to use it

To use, just launch the app and pick the type of collage you want. Options include everything from just double frames up to four, five or six panel designs. Once you chose your collage layout, just start adding photos from your library. Options include zooming in, rotation, and more for optimal placement.

Within each pane instead of just one still photo, you can also choose to make it a moving slideshow for some extra pizzazz.

Each pane in PicPlayPost's collages supports still photos, moving slideshows, and even GIFs!

You can also add in some animated GIFs using GIPHY to search out what is available on the internet. You can also control the timing with each pane playing sequentially or all at one.

If you wish, you can add some music from your phone, PC, or even do a search. The app has a simple music editor that lets you choose the portion you want to include and whether it should loop or not when playing.

After you are happy with the final design, you can then preview how others will view your PicPlayPost. Assuming you added some music or an animated GIF the collage plays like a mini-movie. In fact, when you choose to output the final version you can save it either as a GIF or movie to your device. It is during this stage that PicPlayPost will also let you post directly to Vine, WhatsApp, or Facebook.

The Windows 10 app experience

Last year when we looked at PicPlayPost for Windows 10 it wasn't yet quite up to our standards regarding quality. This new Windows 10 version, however, is much cleaner, easier to use, and everything just works as you would expect.

The interface is minimalist and straightforward to use, and the GIPHY integration worked well with no issues. Even adding music (your own from your device or you can buy through the app) worked with no complications.

There were one or two navigation hiccups e.g. the back arrow tends to exit out of the app instead of return to the previous menu, but this is a rather simple bug that will likely be fixed soon.

Collage it up

Tweet at us your PicPlayPost collage and include the hashtag #Windows10DoesMore!

Tweet your #Windows10DoesMore collage from PicPlayPost!

The final take

So, why do I like PicPlayPost? Well besides their app now using the superior Universal Windows Platform, I just like the idea of creating interesting and creative collages from my photos.

I also like the little things like being able to customize the thickness of the collage bars (too thick just looks corny).

Grouping photos together, however, is not that special or unique anymore. Luckily, PicPlayPost is about much more than grouping. Adding music to play along with your photos or even embedding animated GIFs brings your art to life in a whole new way. It is also unique enough that you will certainly surprise your friends and family when your new form of expression pops up in their timeline.

Overall, PicPlayPost is just something neat to have around. You may not always use it, but for those night outs, day trips, vacations, concerts or maybe just showing off your pet, it can be a new tool on your phone – or your PC – that can let you take expression to a whole new level. I'm sure it'll bring a smile to your face and others when they see what you made!

Day 3 Sweepstakes:Win a Lumia 950 XL!

How to Enter: Log into Windows Central and leave a comment on this post letting us know what photo collage you'll build first with PicPlayPost. At the end of your comment you must also indicate you are posting as an entry into the sweepstakes, or use #sweepstakes.

Full rules and regulations can be found here, but please note that due to sponsor restrictions, the sweepstakes is only open to Windows Central readers in the US and Canada.

The sweepstakes is open until March 31st, and winners will be announced on the blog shortly after the close date.

The Prize: One super lucky Windows Central reader will take home a Lumia 950 XL (service is not included)!