A Look Back to Thanksgiving 2017 – And an Amazing Stop Motion Animation Created Using PowerPoint!
Back in 2017, Amber from the TLC Creative design team took on a challenge: to build a full vector illustration inside PowerPoint. No Illustrator, no shortcuts. And make it animated!
The result? A stunning Thanksgiving cornucopia brought to life… over 478 meticulously crafted slides!
Everything — yes, everything (except the wood table and light rays) — was created entirely in PowerPoint. And to top it off, the piece was exported as a stop motion-style video with no transitions and a timing of about .01 seconds per slide. The outcome was super eye-catching!
It was great revisiting this project eight years down the line. The stuff Amber did is still relevant now for presentation designers!
The original November 23, 2017 post is here. And here is the 478 slide/step animation!
Happy Thanksgiving from the TLC Creative Design Team!
Stop Motion Animated GIFs for the win on a process diagram slide!
Yes, you can create a stop motion-style animation in PowerPoint – without using any transitions or animations at all! Sounds wild, right? This method is all about clever slide sequencing, all to create a looping visual effect that’s perfect for showcasing a fun process diagram because this is obviously what everyone thinks of when they use PowerPoint (a little slide sarcasm there for you)!
Let’s walk through how to build a seamless stop motion loop in PowerPoint using nothing but static slides and timed auto-advances.
What is Stop Motion in PowerPoint?
In this case, it’s simple: a series of slightly different slides that play in quick succession, creating the illusion of motion, just like classic frame-by-frame stop motion films or page-by-page flipbooks.
Let’s use a process diagram built it across several slides to create a stop motion effect when played. And this is the best part – there are no animations and no transitions — just the slides doing all the work!
First, set your slide transition (and each slide transition in the animation sequence) to auto advance by clicking the AFTER checkbox and set the timing at 00:00 (e.g., no pause between slides advancing).
Building Each Shape Element Per Slide (The Frame-by-Frame Method)
To create a stop motion effect, think of each slide as a frame, or page, in a flipbook. Instead of using PowerPoint animation to make a shape appear, we duplicate the entire slide and then add a new element or piece of an element, or adjust existing elements by slightly repositioning, resizing, or changing the angle. For example, in our process diagram, we duplicate our slide and add a lightbulb icon, which will pop up inside the circle shape when played in slide show mode.
Keep repeating the process, adding elements, moving them, resizing…just remember to check your progress often in slide show mode.
Create a Perfect Loop – Start and End with Blank Slides
If you’re exporting your stop motion animation as a GIF (which plays in a continuous loop), there’s a simple but essential trick to avoid a jumpy or stuttered loop.
- Add a blank slide — e.g., no text, diagram, or shapes, just a solid background (ideally matching your design’s background color).
- Insert that blank slide as the first and last slides in the sequence.
Why Blank Slides Work
When you export to GIF, PowerPoint will loop from the last slide directly back to the first. Without a blank slide in between (or an identical/matching first and last slide), viewers will see the last slide content and then the sudden jump back to the first slide content, which breaks the illusion of a smooth, continuous loop.
By sandwiching your animation with blank frames, the eyes get a quick pause before the loop starts again. This creates a break in the motion that tricks the viewer into perceiving the animation as seamless.
Export as a GIF
Tip: to effectively preview in slide show, go to the Slide Show tab > Set Up Slide Show > click Loop continuously until ‘Esc’. Be sure to watch your animation through to the end and wait for it to loop back to the beginning.
Once your review shows a great animation effect with a seamless loop, it is time to create the animated GIF.
Go to File > Export > Create an Animated GIF > Large 720p
TIP: GIF is a large file size format. PowerPoint has four resolution/quality GIF output options. We generally use 720p for social media for a balance of file size and quality. For using an animated GIF in a presentation where file size may not be the same concern, we will often export to the full 1080p if the GIF will be a full slide element.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need complex animations and other software tools to bring your slides, social media content, or blog posts to life. With just static slides and thoughtful design, you can create engaging, looping stop motion effects that can make the content stand out! Here is our process diagram as an exported GIF:
Animated GIFs can be perfect for:
- Process diagrams
- Visual storytelling
- Looped booth displays
- Instructional graphics
- And practically anything that needs to loop
So next time you want motion, don’t animate, just duplicate smartly!
-Christie on the TLC Creative Presentation Design Team
What is a Stop Motion Animation – and How Can PowerPoint Create One?
Stop motion is one of those animation styles that’s super simple but really fun! Basically, it’s just a bunch of still images strung together in a specific order, and then shown quickly one after the next to make the subject look like it’s moving. Think claymation, paper cutouts, flipbooks.
For example, we can make this mouse look like it’s running with just six 6 images:
The final GIF:
What’s cool is that you don’t need specialty software to create this. Stop motion animations can be created right in PowerPoint. Yep – the same PowerPoint we use for presentations can double as a mini animation studio!
All that is needed is to build out each frame of the animation as a separate slide. Then export the slides as a video or animated GIF. It’s perfect for fun little projects, social media posts, or even adding some personality to a presentation.
Here’s what the PowerPoint presentation of our stop motion running mouse looks like, which is only 6 slides. The same background is used on all slides, and the biggest design consideration is positioning the character art in the same location on each slide.
An important note is that there are no PowerPoint animations, and no slide transition effects. The slides are set with the NONE transition effect and automatically advance to the next slide. Go to Export > Animated GIF > Done! Download and experiment with this slide deck here.
Throughout this month, we are going to explore PowerPoint stop-motion creations in more detail, including how-to’s and examples in the weeks ahead.
-The TLC Creative Design Team
A Look Back to Halloween 2016 with a 122 stop-motion sequence
Halloween 2025 was last week, and for this week’s Look Back post, we’re jumping to Halloween 2016! We’ll be revisiting a super fun stop-motion animation the TLC Creative design team created for the blog: a 122 frame stop-motion animation!
This Halloween themed stop-motion animated GIF was designed by a member of the TLC design team and everything about it – art and animation – was created entirely in PowerPoint, spread across 122 slides!
It was time-consuming, but the final result is just amazing!
Want to see it for yourself? Download the final designed slide with all the elements here.
– Troy @ TLC
Transforming Presentation Workflows with BrandIn – and we like it!
In episode 233 of The Presentation Podcast, the hosts talk about how deploying PowerPoint templates across an organization can be a nightmare. They are joined by guests Jamie Garroch and Hannah Harper of BrightCarbon to discuss “BrandIn” – a PowerPoint add-in that centralizes templates, assets, and brand resources for easy access and management in a seamless interface all within PowerPoint.
Jamie and Hannah explain how BrandIn streamlines template distribution, enhances brand consistency, and empowers agencies, designers and corporate users to access PowerPoint templates and assets to create on-brand presentations efficiently.
Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here!
BrandIn is a PowerPoint Asset Management Tool that Works!
This is a continuation of the previous post, which introduced BrandIn along with our pro and con list. BrandIn is a new asset management solution for PowerPoint and Word, making templates, image assets, pre-designed slides, and text chunks – all accessible directly in PowerPoint without the need to go to a separate website or app to find and add assets to a presentation!
Let’s Try It!
Because BrandIn has a fully functional free version, try it! This post is from the perspective of our design team and our studio workflow of adding BrandIn. A special note that our workflow does diverge from some of the official BrandIn support info.
Install
Getting started with BrandIn is easy:
1. Requirements – a business Microsoft 365 plan which includes SharePoint Online (eg., Personal M365 plans will not work at the time of our review).
2. Download – BrandIn is a PowerPoint web add-in (eg., no separate .exe installer needed). This makes the installation easy and available to all but the most stringent IT-controlled companies. In PowerPoint, go to the HOME tab > ADD-INS > search for BRANDIN. Click ADD to install.
3. Setup – The BrandIn support info notes that the assigned M365 administrator must link BrandIn to their SharePoint library, then invite users to the BrandIn account, and do the shared asset organization within the SharePoint folders. Don’t let the “SharePoint” references scare you. Our experience at TLC Creative was that very little direct SharePoint activity was needed.
- From the HOME tab, click the BrandIn button to launch. Then click the settings (gear) icon at the bottom.
- Click “Users and licenses”
4. Invite Users – at the pop-up dialog, click “invite users” and follow the steps to invite users.
- The account must be set up by someone who is an M365 Admin.
- After this, anyone assigned as a BrandIn Admin (M365 Admin role is automatically a BrandIn Admin) can invite other users and create new workspaces.
BrandIn Workspaces
Workspaces are BrandIn’s way of creating separate areas to silo content for different brands, teams, or departments. The Free version is limited to 2 Workspaces, while the Business and Enterprise plans enable creation of as many Workspaces as needed. Each workspace connects to its own SharePoint site and can include its own asset library, templates, and custom settings, keeping everything organized and tailored to that group’s needs.
This is another area where the “SharePoint” reference does not need to scare anyone away. Below, we detail our workflow of using Teams to set up and organize the SharePoint folders and content – without needing to venture into “SharePoint”.
Add a Workspace to a BrandIn account:
- In the BrandIn pane, click NEW WORKSPACE (1).
- Select LINK EXISTING SITE (2).
- For the SHAREPOINT LINK (3), here is the TLC Creative simplified process (eg., we don’t really use SharePoint):
- Set up a Team (name the MS Team what you want to show in BrandIn as the Workspace name) > go to the Channel > go to the FILES tab > click the 3-dot drop-down menu > select OPEN IN SHAREPOINT
- Copy the web SharePoint browser URL
- Back in the BrandIn setup, paste this URL into the SharePoint Link field (3)
- Name the BrandIn Workspace, which will be seen in BrandIn (does not need to be the same as the Teams name, but we found it simpler for both the Teams name and the BrandIn Workspace name to be the same). Click CREATE (4).
- Note: the number of Workspaces that can be added is based on the account type (for example, the Free version is limited to 2 Workspaces).
User Access, SharePoint vs. Teams
BrandIn users have access to the BrandIn pane and each Workspace.
- Note: BrandIn users and access to Workspaces are separate, at least from our experience in using MS Teams for the BrandIn available assets. For example, everyone who has access to BrandIn does see all Workspaces, but they may not have access to go into the workspace folders based on the Team and who is set within Teams (more details below).
- Summary from the previous post on inviting BrandIn Users:
- In PowerPoint, open the BrandIn pane (e.g. click the BrandIn button on the HOME tab)
- Click the settings GEAR icon
- Click USERS AND LICENSES
- Click INVITE USERS (and follow the process)
- MS Teams Users
- Once the Team is setup
- Go to MANAGE TEAM
- Add users and assign as Owners, Members or Guests (eg. someone external to the organization)
Using BrandIn
After the BrandIn account is set up, users are added, and the BrandIn add-in is installed in PowerPoint (and Word), things are pretty easy for users.
- In the PowerPoint HOME tab > click BRANDIN > the BrandIn pane opens
- From the BrandIn pane, select a Workspace > select an asset folder > click any asset to open or be added to the current slide.
- Done!
BrandIn Libraries and Assets
Organization and access to assets are the core of what BrandIn is. Understanding the combination of Library types and a plan for organizing the files/assets is going to make implementation smooth… or complex.
Each Workspace automatically has a “Template” library. Templates, both PowerPoint and Word, are available when clicking the NEW PRESENTATION (or New Document) link in BrandIn. Not only does this create a single folder for templates to be uploaded to, but it also means there is now a single location for templates, making the current template version easy to manage.
Libraries are basically folders in SharePoint with specific properties applied. The Library properties are added directly in the BrandIn interface (e.g. BrandIn applies the settings to the SharePoint folders for you).
Libraries (aka folders) can be any name and contain any files. Common libraries are Slides, Images, Icons, Slides (for predesigned, ready-to-use, individual slides), and Content (for things like preset text chunks – which is a really great BrandIn feature!).
As we quickly learned, having a central organization plan that everyone uses, is critical to a smooth setup of BrandIn. It is recommended someone on the planning side spend a few minutes reading about Libraries in the BrandIn Help Center.
BrandIn details setting up folders and assets within SharePoint; however, TLC Creative is happy to avoid SharePoint, and we’ve found that virtually everything can be done within the Microsoft Teams workflow. Once the folders are set up and connected to BrandIn, the SharePoint Library settings can be applied directly in BrandIn. The one exception is that the PowerPoint templates folder is specific to SharePoint, but BrandIn has a link to open SharePoint in a browser to the folder where template files need to be copied to.
Tips for MS Teams:
- When creating a Team, it is easier to manage if it is the same name as the BrandIn Workspace.
- Add users for access to each Team. We found this to be a great option for managing who can access assets in BrandIn (again, this can also be accomplished within SharePoint, but the MS Teams workflow was less “IT” and easier to implement for us). For example, everyone on our team sees all of the BrandIn Workspaces. But, if someone has not been given access to the MS Team, they can see the BrandIn Workspace, but do not see nor can access its assets from BrandIn.
- For assets to be available in BrandIn, it is as easy as copying the files into the Team, which can be set up in sub-folders, and the sub-folder structure also is in Teams. Go to the FILES tab > add folders and asset files.
- Everything added to the Team will be available in BrandIn (with the note that BrandIn needs to support the file types).
With the above steps complete, we can go to our demo BrandIn Workspace > Client Assets > and see a sub-folder, Together Toward Tomorrow.
- The CLIENT ASSETS Workspace is an MS Team
- We then added several clients and projects within CLIENT ASSETS
- The Together Toward Tomorrow folder in CLIENT ASSETS is a separate MS Team with its own assets folder structure, assets, and user access (based on who has been given access to this Team)
To see the logos for the Together Toward Tomorrow brand; open BrandIn > Client Assets > Together Toward Tomorrow > Assets > Logos > PNG > SM 600px > select the logo to add to the slide.
The best part is, everyone is accessing the same folders and assets. So if one of the logos needs to be updated, update it this central folder and everyone now accesses the newest version (YAY!!). Or if a new logo is added to the brand, add it to the logo folder(s) and everyone has access to it (double YAY!!).
Conclusion
Overall, this is one of the most intuitive DAM (digital asset management) systems for finding and inserting PowerPoint templates, image assets, pre-designed slides, and text assets (a new feature that is really helpful!), and overall is a powerful slide content tool.
The BrandIn install is available from within PowerPoint and more info is available on the BrandIn website. Additionally, BrightCarbon routinely offers BrandIn intro workshops.
TLC Creative receives no paid endorsement, but with our successful implementation of BrandIn, we have become a BrandIn Partner (eg., we have created documentation, processes, and training to assist companies with their BrandIn setup and adoption). Contact us at info@tlccreative.com any time. Whether you’re a small company or a large enterprise, if you are looking at BrandIn as an asset management option, we are happy to help.
-Troy @ TLC Creative
A Look Back to 2018 a Slide Makeover and a 2025 Slide Makeover
Earlier this month, the TLC Creative team looked back at slide makeovers the team has done over the years. And now, we’re looking at some makeovers the team recently made – of clients slides we pulled from back in 2018!
Here is the original slide from seven years ago:
We had five different team members give this slide a facelift. Here were the results!
This was Amber’s:
Christie’s:
Jake’s:
Mike’s:
And Troy’s:
Each slide conveys the information clearly, but makes use of different themes, color palettes, and graphics. Which slide design is YOUR favorite?