What You Do Not Know – Advanced Image Cropping
PowerPoint’s Image Crop tool is fantastic. Combine it with Crop to Aspect! Get the full tip at The Presentation Podcast, episode 192.
The Noun Project SVGs
The Noun Project has a direct integration with PowerPoint and as a presentation designer is invaluable. If unfamiliar the Noun Project has “the most diverse collection of free icons and stock photos with over 5 million art-quality icons and free photos.”
- side note: I have had a paid Noun Project plan for many years, and did know they offered images/photos! There are separate plans for icons and photos. Offering looks good, but not something we use at TLC Creative.
Three great callouts:
- It is an add-in that makes it entirely accessible directly in PowerPoint.
- Icons can be downloaded as raster .png (transparent background!) or vector .svg (yay, scalable, color change and edit directly in PowerPoint!).
- It is budget friendly at ~$40 year for unlimited use.
TO GET STARTED
- Under the insert tab select “Get Add-ins” and search for “Noun Project”
- Once added the add-in is installed, use the ICONS button on PowerPoint’s INSERT tab. Review current pricing and plans on the Noun Project website.
- Click the ICONS button and the Noun Project interface opens as a Pane in PowerPoint on the right side. The first time you open the Noun Project pane, click LOG IN TO NOUN PROJECT and add your account credentials.
- note: if you have not paid for the service, the option to create a free login by clicking on the login will then allow icons searches, but they are “locked”.
- After logging into your Noun Project account, search for any icon.
- Select the icon to see larger, choose a color, and insert.
- If you have selected to import .svg vector icons (and you should!), the ability to change the fill color – outline and other formatting options are the same as formatting a PowerPoint rectangle.
- Additionally, inserted Noun Project icons can be ungrouped – which will display this message (click YES).
- Ungroup a 2nd time and the icon will be broken into individual pieces.
- Advanced shape design can also be done by right-clicking, selecting EDIT POINTS, and modifying the shape (aka “Illustrator-lite”)
Troy @ TLC
Error Message when Opening a PowerPoint File from MS Teams
Working a set of our TLC Creative show computers I had this frustrating error when attempting to open the MS Teams based presentation:
I confirmed MS Teams was logged in with my credentials. Confirmed I can access the Team, folder and file. I also confirmed I was able to open the PowerPoint file in the Teams viewer and web-based browser version of PowerPoint. But I did not confirm PowerPoint/MS Office was logged in with my account – the user seen in the upper right of PowerPoint.
Each time I went through the process of logging myself as the profile for Office to use, the above error taunted me (argh!!). The solution, which I have confirmed works on yet another computer having the same Microsoft seizure, is to SIGN OUT of all profiles. Then sign in with your credentials. I have no idea why Office errors out when trying to login your profiles sometimes, but it does. And I now have a solution that works (but sorry to everyone else that needs to also use that computer and must go through the login profile process vs. just clicking to change profiles…).
– Troy @ TLC
Look Over There! (3)
The concept of the subject looking toward the content is not limited to people. Vehicles, roads, and animals all apply.
We can, all within PowerPoint, easily go from this:
To this:
Just some presentation design ideas for thought
Troy @ TLC
Look Over There! (2)
The previous post had these two (problem) slides.
The first image is an easy fix. The photo has no text, car steering wheel, or wedding band visible – all things that clearly show an image is in the wrong orientation. Using the FLIP HORIZONTAL in PowerPoint, updates the slide, and creates the reassuring visual of the subject looking at the slide content.
The second image is more difficult. The words on the white board prevent the image from being flipped. So we can be creative with the layout and “flip” the content to make the image work. We moved the bullet list to the left and the photo to the right, creating the reassuring visual of the subject looking at the slide content.
Troy @ TLC
Look Over There! (1)
What is wrong with these slides?
Maybe not “wrong” – but not aligning with design best practices. If you noted that the people in photos are looking away from the content!
Troy @ TLC
Happy New Year with PowerPoint Video Fill!
Wouldn’t be amazing if a shape or vector art could have a video fill it, like the previous posts showcased the Picture Fill? Although the capability of inserting a video into a custom shape isn’t possible just yet, there is a work around!
- Start with inserting the video file in the slide.
- Select the video > in the animation pane select “play” and start “with previous”. Double click on the layer in the animation pane to open the video dialog box with more options.
- Under the “Timing” tab > “Repeat” > select “Until Next Click”. This will allow the video the loop play until the next click to end the slide.
- Next is to create a rectangle shape that is the same size as the video. In layer order, video (bottom), rectangle (middle), 2024 graphic (top).
- Selecting the 2024 graphic first then the rectangle. Shape Format tab, “Merge Shapes” then select combine. This will cut the 2024 graphic out of the rectangle, making the video visible underneath.
- Adjust the color of the rectangle as needed.
- Now there are 2 layers and the video file underneath is still accessible.
- And here is the final slide with a “video fill” image. Download the editable slide here.
Troy @ TLC, with Christie on the TLC Creative presentation design team
Happy New Year – Using PowerPoint Picture Fill
This is the last week of 2023 and we used the rapidly approaching start to 2024 as inspiration for another how-to on using PowerPoint’s Picture Fill feature.
- The key to getting a seamless image inserted to the shape is choosing artwork that is connected or merged into one shape. (the smaller NEW YEAR text will not be affected)
- To make a stylized image, replacing the black with something more dynamic is to select the 2024 shape > use the INSERT or CLIPBOARD buttons > fill the shape with the image.
- The inserted art will be default “squish” to the size of the art. Click the CROP tool > adjust the width of the fill image in your and adjust the position of what part is displayed in the shape.
- And the final slide, which can be downloaded here.
Troy @ TLC, and Christie on the TLC Creative design team for the slides and screen capture!
Use Picture Fill for Vector Art in PowerPoint
One of the hidden design features within PowerPoint is the PICTURE FILL option. I use this in combination with PowerPoint shapes and inserted vector art to create custom art elements for slides. Because it is Christmas time, my example is a Christmas Tree slide.
- Add the Christmas Tree “icon”/vector art (I recommend .svg file format) to the slide
- Vector art can have different effects added; color fill, gradient fill, pattern fill (ugg – do not use any PowerPoint provided pattern!). For example, 1st is a gradient fill that can be adjusted to any color, direction etc.
- Or here, the second tree is updated from the black art to a solid green fill.
- Or, here is an example with the third tree using a PowerPoint pattern fill. Note: on pattern fills, the lines and background colors can all be customized to make them less horrible…
- But the real trick is using the PICTURE OR TEXTURE FILL option! Select the tree shape > open the FORMAT SHAPE dialog > select PICTURE OR TEXTURE FILL > locate the image to use
TIP: you can also paste an image in by using the CLIPBOARD button – if you have the image you want inserted already copied. - Important: The inserted image is distorted to the size of the tree. The solution is the CROP tool. Select the tree > click the crop tool > adjust the width of the fill image with its size/shape points. I made the fill shape much wider and positioned to show some of the real tree branches in the fill image.
- And here is the final slide, which can be downloaded here.
Troy @ TLC (with special thanks to Christie on the TLC Creative team for the screen captures!)
Housekeeping Slide of Icons
“Housekeeping” slides are a standard for many large events. The info and content varies, from location of restroom to silence your mobile device. From a recent meeting I liked this icon driven style for the housekeeping slide (vs. bullet list of text).
Troy @ TLC