PowerPoint

Morph Object Tagging Is Here!

There is so much great motion effects that the Morph transition can create – and with PowerPoint’s recent update to include the “Morph Object Tagging” feature, I decided a blog post series of some new Morph tutorials and examples was needed. Check back over the next few weeks for lots of fantastic PowerPoint Morph content!

To get things started, here is a demo file one of the TLC Creative Design Team created. The only animation (aside from slide 1) is adding a Morph transition to each slide.

[KGVID width=”596″ height=”334″]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/unnamed-file-8.mp4[/KGVID]

Only 6 slides and 0 animations

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-10-28T15:37:34-07:00June 1st, 2019|PowerPoint|

Making The Memorial Day 2019 Video in PowerPoint

To create the Memorial Day 2019 video was first about finding the art assets.

  • The US Flag was a vector art file downloaded from our Adobe Stock subscription. It was opened in Adobe Illustrator and saved as two art files; the flag with transparent “white” bands saved as an .svg, and the gradient white bands fills saved as an opaque .png.
  • The white bands gradient was saved as a .png so PowerPoint image transparency could be applied.

  • Next was searching our VideoBlocks.com account for the 4 videos.
  • Each was downloaded as .MP4 video files and in PowerPoint each was sized, cropped and duration trimmed.

Setting the animation on the slide was simple, but did require a few rounds of revision.

1 For an additional layer of motion, the U.S. flag has a very slow, horizontal only, scaling. This slow animation was used as the duration for the overall video.

2. The first video begins playback immediately.

3. The second video fades in, on top of the first video that is still playing (goal is no static pauses) and starts playback at the same time.

4. Like videos 2-3-4, the third video is set to fade in and start playing just before the end of the previous video.

5. The duration of the fourth video was set to match the U.S. flag emphasis animation.

6. All 4 videos fade out just before the U.S. flag animation completes, leaving a static U.S. flag with white bands, where the white is actually the slide background color.

Done! All layout, video compositing, animation timing and export completed in PowerPoint (note: video from PowerPoint exported at 1280×720, 30 FPS with audio channel. The exported video then brought into Adobe Media Encoder to render a blog friendly under 12MB version).

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/unnamed-file-1.mp4[/KGVID]

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-11-12T14:43:04-08:00May 30th, 2019|Portfolio, PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Scrambled PowerPoint Templates Happen

Received a client file earlier this month and had to troubleshoot some of the scrambled template setup to effectively work with the presentation. Note: this is the end of 2018 and the Master Slide name let’s me know this template was originally developed in 2011, 7 years ago, and still in use!

A humorous change to the template – at least I am assuming this was not as designed, is the layouts labelled “LEFT IMAGE” and “RIGHT IMAGE” now somehow have the image placeholders on the opposite side. So the SMALL TITLE, LEFT IMAGE has the image placeholder either deleted, or on the right… 

A real PowerPoint template is a very powerful tool in helping a corporate team develop slides quickly, and stay within corporate brand standards. This template is an example, and reminder, that a good template – and in looking at the behind the scenes settings I can see this was developed as a mostly full featured template – can become a bad template over time/use. This is also a reminder that PowerPoint’s flexibility of allowing anyone to make template level updates, is also a detriment to file longevity as small changes, many unintentional, compound into a template that was once robust and now problematic to work with.

I highly recommend annual refreshes of corporate templates. This can be for feature, visual updates (ie. color scheme, font, logo, etc.), or even if there is no changes to the template, it assures a full feature, as-designed template is in circulation.

Troy @ TLC

By |2018-12-12T09:27:41-08:00December 13th, 2018|PowerPoint|

Name the Master Slide

Every Master Slide has a name. The name is helpful in identifying the content/the purpose/the identity of the Master Layouts.

Often (far too often), when reviewing provided PowerPoint slide decks is the Microsoft default Master Slide name is there.

Updating the Master Slide name is very easy:

1. Under the VIEW tab select “Slide Master”

2. Click RENAME and change the name to something more descriptive

3. After changing the name, Click RENAME

4. The Master Slide layouts have now been updated

Troy @ TLC

By |2018-11-11T13:04:09-08:00November 30th, 2018|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

New PowerPoint Page Number Print Feature!

A new feature snuck into PowerPoint unannounced (PowerPoint for Windows, Mac version coming soon, mobile/web versions – uncertain), and it is either fantastic or a frustration, depending on what you need! 

 

Traditionally making a print of slides for reference was a bit confusing as to what slide number was being referenced. We had the print page number, but this 6-up layout meant manually counting slides to know which slide number the thumbnail represented.

But now there is an option to add slide numbers outside the thumbnails!!

This feature has been turned on by default with a  recent Office update (note: I am currently running the Insider Fast, or Monthly Targeted, build and have not verified if this feature has rolled out to all update cycles – if you do not see it, it is coming soon). Go to FILE > OPTIONS > ADVANCED > PRINT > PRINT SLIDE NUMBERS ON HANDOUTS

Let’s look at this feature a bit closer and a scenario where it may not be as helpful as you had hoped. Here is my sample slide deck, 15 slides and 2 slides (#2 and #3) hidden.

Printing this slide deck as a 2-up handout WITH hidden slides included looks like this. We have the print page number and the thumbnail slide numbers look perfect:

But if we do not print the hidden slides, things may be a bit confusing. The print page number is still perfect, but the thumbnail slide numbers match the actual slide number not the slide show number. The hidden slides still count as numbers to the print out jumps from slide 1 to slide 4:

Good? Bad? Confusing? Helpful? Not Helpful?

I find the all of the above to be possible answers. The way I am explaining the thumbnail page numbers is they are the slide number, not the slide show number. So if you need to manually jump to a specific slide in a presentation – while presenting, that is the number to use. If you are looking to confirm how many slides are in a presentation, this may not be the accurate number (if there are hidden slides in the deck).

Troy @ TLC

By |2018-11-26T12:44:19-08:00November 26th, 2018|PowerPoint, Software/Add-Ins|

Happy Thanksgiving Animation

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/unnamed-file.mp4[/KGVID]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy time with family and full of fun and food 🙂

Thanks to Christie on the TLC Creative presentation design team for creating a fun Thanksgiving themed PowerPoint animation – it only took 82 animations for the above animation!

[KGVID width=”484″]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/unnamed-file-1.mp4[/KGVID]

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-10-28T15:40:59-07:00November 22nd, 2018|Portfolio, PowerPoint|

Quick Access to Slide Master

This is a re-post from earlier this year, originally posted on June 08, 2018.

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The Master Slide is where as presentation designers we try to keep clients away from. But as a designer, this is a fantastic shortcut to accessing the master slide!

As example, we want to change the background color across all slides. Easy, just update the Master Slide. The typical way of doing this is  View > Slide Master and the Master Slide view opens with that layout selected.

Directly to the Master Slide 1

However, we need to change the background color on the Master Slide, not the Master Layout. So now we need to scroll up and select the Master slide at the top. Too many steps for a busy presentation designer!

A quick and easy shortcut to achieve going directly to the Master Slide is to hold SHIFT + DOUBLE-CLICK on the NORMAL VIEW icon in the lower right bar.

Directly to the Master Slide 3

This is will automatically open the master to the top slide where you can quickly update all slide backgrounds.

Here it is in action, 1 click (okay a double-click) access to the Slide Master.

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/unnamed-file-3.mp4[/KGVID]

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-11-06T21:55:21-08:00November 9th, 2018|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc|

Slide Background Color

Changing a presentation’s background color is made simpler with this quick shortcut. When changing slide background color, you’ll want to make sure you change it on the master layout, that way your changes will be applied to all slides, new and old. Normally, you could achieve this by going to View>Slide Master and that would open the targeted master layout.

Slide Background Color 1

However, if you change the background on this slide, it will not apply to the template. Instead, you need update the background color on the Master slide at the top.

Slide Background Color 2

A quick and easy shortcut to achieve this is to simply hold SHIFT + DOUBLE-CLICK on the NORMAL VIEW icon in the lower right bar.

Slide Background Color 3

This is will automatically open the master to the top slide where you can quickly update all slide backgrounds.

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/unnamed-file-3.mp4[/KGVID]

By |2019-12-30T09:28:13-08:00October 5th, 2018|PowerPoint|

Happy 4th of July, America!

Happy 4th of July from the TLC Creative design team! Christie on our design team developed this fun animated slide to share with everyone.

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/unnamed-file-1.mp4[/KGVID]

This fun PowerPoint slide has a lot of layers of images, lots of animation, and a fireworks audio track!

4th of July 2

Fireworks SFX sourced from one of our go to resources, AudioBlocks

4th of July 3

Enjoy the Fireworks this evening, America! Download the editable PowerPoint slide here.

 

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-10-30T05:56:16-07:00July 4th, 2018|PowerPoint|
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