PowerPoint Archives - Page 30 of 52

Section Zoom Photo Collage

One last Zoom demo to wrap up the month of August. Many thanks to Wanda, on the TLC design team, for taking my idea and turning it into a great presentation. Section Zoom 02

The concept is to create a Section Zoom, then stylize the each thumbnail into a photo collage layout.

Section Zoom 04

Here is the slide deck with sections for each photo gallery. It would be very easy to add photos to sections over time, or by multiple people.

Section Zoom 01

The presentation becomes an interactive digital photo album, and the same concept can easily be applied to touch enabled digital signage! Of course, when you see the layered thumbnail layout in action, it is (painfully) obvious there are some modifications needed to Zoom to make this great option actually usable…

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-29T09:59:12-07:00August 31st, 2016|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Inception Effect with Zoom

Impractical – yes. A cool thing you can do in PowerPoint – yes!

Using the Zoom tool, you can create a slide that zooms into itself endlessly – an Inception effect. Here is my single slide presentation. First, I use the Zoom > Insert > Slide Zoom, and then I use the Drag-and-Drop way to make a slide a linked Zoom image (the music is what I hear when I think of an endless Inception loop).

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-29T09:07:01-07:00August 29th, 2016|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Create A Summary Zoom

The Summary Zoom feature automates a few things:

Adds PowerPoint Sections automatically
Adds a Summary, or Navigation, slide automatically
Automatically adds slide thumbnail images of slides that are navigation links

Here is how the PowerPoint’s help dialog explains Summary Zoom:

Summary Zoom 01

To create a Summary Zoom, go to INSERT > ZOOM > SUMMARY ZOOM

Summary Zoom 02

From the pop up Summary Zoom dialog, click each slide that you would like to start a new section and be added to the Summary Zoom slide.

Summary Zoom 03

A new “Summary” slide is added to the presentation. The Summary slide has a grouped set of images that are thumbnails of selected slides and have all programming added to make them presentation navigation elements. In addition, each slide that was selected in the Summary Zoom dialog is the start of a new section.

Summary Zoom 04

The thumbnail group has some good, and maybe not-so-good, points.

Each thumbnail image is exactly what is on the slide it links to.
If you update the slide content, the thumbnail automatically updates (dynamic live content)!
The thumbnail image shows exactly what is seen on the slide, animated content cannot be taken into account. So if the slide starts blank and then content animates on, the thumbnail will show the animated content. Basically, whatever would print is what will be visible on the thumbnail.
The images cannot be ungrouped.
The bounding box for the group is much larger than the thumbnail images.
Images can be moved, resized, and to a limited degree, stylized, (eg. drop shadow, bevel, reflection, and rotate all work). But Z-order (front to back) cannot be changed. Rearranging and resizing can be tedious within this locked group element.
When selected, in edit view, each thumbnail displays a link icon showing it has an active link and where it links to! The arrow (that appears to be indicating backwards or return) means the thumbnail has a link to go somewhere. The numbers show Section number and how many slides are in that section.

Summary Zoom 05

Sumamry Zoo,06

In addition, the link icon visually shows when a thumbnail does not have an active link by removing the thumbnail image and displaying a broken link icon.

Summary Zoom 07

The Summary Zoom is a great new feature. It also introduces some fantastic new tools to PowerPoint (like icon links and dynamic live content updating) that I hope to see expanded into other areas of PowerPoint. Many thanks to Wanda, a TLC staff designer, for developing and testing the demo slide deck used for Summary Zoom. Here is a demo video showing how quickly Summary Zoom and non-linear presenting options can be added to a presentation.

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-09-18T16:32:57-07:00August 24th, 2016|PowerPoint|

PowerPoint Zoom – Overview of Options

PowerPoint’s newest feature is Zoom. It is a combination of Custom Shows, in-presentation hyperlinks, the Morph transition, and some new features like dynamic live updating content. It is available to Office 365 subscription PowerPoint 2016. Seeing Zoom in use is definitely the easiest way to explain Zoom, but today I want to go over the technical stuff. Check back all week as I have video demos showing how this new tool can be used.

Zoom_01

To get to Zoom, go to INSERT tab > LINKS section > ZOOM drop down.

Zoom_02

There are 3 options:

CREATE SUMMARY: Automatically adds sections to a presentation if they are not present and adds a new navigation slide with links to each section, and links default to go-to-location.

SECTION ZOOM: Only previously created sections are available and links are added to the slide currently being edited, and links default to Show-and-Return.

SLIDE ZOOM: Adds links to any selected slides, and links default to go-to-location.

Zoom_Post1_01

Once a Zoom is added to a presentation, the ZOOM FORMAT tab is available.

Zoom_Post1_02

Once a Zoom thumbnail is selected, the additional options become available under the Zoom Tab
Zoom Options: Settings include Change Image of thumbnail, Option to return to the Zoom slide (show-and-return), and the length/duration of the zoom transition
Stylize with borders or additional Zoom Styles and Effects become available from the drop down menu (basically any photo styling option is available to a Zoom thumbnail)
Option to remove the slide Zoom Background and fill with a different color or image from the Fill menu (this is a very cool new feature, look for a blog post on it coming up!)

Legacy PowerPoint

Yes, Zoom does work on non-Office 365 PowerPoint (eg. PowerPoint 2016 back to 2007)
Instead of the dynamic zoom effect, the destination slide transition is used

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-26T12:04:51-07:00August 22nd, 2016|PowerPoint|

Video Demo of Zoom

PowerPoint is adding a new feature named ZOOM.

zoom 1

Zoom leverages the Morph transition and Sections to create a new way to quickly develop non-linear presentations with a new dynamic visual effect. Here is a quick demo of how easy it is to create custom shows within a presentation using Zoom.

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/unnamed-file-2.mp4[/KGVID]

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2019-10-31T22:13:10-07:00August 11th, 2016|PowerPoint, Software/Add-Ins|

Using Morph for Animations

The PowerPoint Morph transition is PowerPoint’s best new animation feature!

using morph for animations

We have been leveraging the fantastic new transition in lots of presentation projects since its release, including using Morph for animations. Here is another example where we used Morph as the animation effect. Our client wanted to show the above three statements. The real request was to emphasize each as they were addressed. Our first step was to convert the provided bullet list into a dynamic visual; the end result was the above slide.

For the “emphasize each” request, using the Morph transition as our animation, we created a dynamic “flip” animation effect. It also was something that did not look like “PowerPoint.” Below is a video of the final animation effect:

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/unnamed-file.mp4[/KGVID]

After the slide layout was approved, we duplicated the slide 3X.
On the first slide, we added the animated entrance effect for the 3 circles and text.
On the second, third and fourth slides, we simply horizontally flipped each circle. No animation on these slides. The Morph transition created the nice twirl, or flip, animation.
Done!

using morph for animations

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2019-10-28T09:57:42-07:00August 5th, 2016|Portfolio, PowerPoint, Tutorial|

NXPowerLite PowerPoint Add-in

PowerPoint file size too big? Sometimes that’s okay if it has embedded videos, or just has a lot of slides. But if your 11 slide presentation has no videos and is 30+ MB, it is time for some file optimization. PowerPoint has built in tools to optimize images and multimedia – and they continue to improve. But for image optimization, I prefer to use one of the 3rd party add-in options, the NXPowerLite PowerPoint Add-in.

For TLC Creative Services, we have NXPowerlite installed on all computers and use as needed. As stated on their site, what this add-in does is, “Shrink Your Files.” I’ve put together a quick explanation of how we use this at TLC.

NXPowerLite

In this example, we’ve added a HiRes image to a PowerPoint Presentation. Our simple 10 slide presentation is a 29.1 MB file.

NXPowerLite PowerPoint Add-in-1

The images within the presentation are 15MB, because they are far larger than HD projection, most are “print” quality resolution. By using the NXPowerLite PowerPoint Add-in, we can optimize these images in order to reduce file size.

Step 1: Save your presentation.

Step 2: Go to the ADD-INS tab > OPTIMIZE WITH NXPOWERLITE

NXPowerLite PowerPoint Add-in-3

Step 3: Select YES at this pop up dialog (unless you do not want to save over this file because you did not do Step 1 yet, then cancel, save the presentation and come back to this step when you can select YES).

nxpowerlite-4

Step 4: Custom the NXPowerLite SETTINGS.

NXPowerLite PowerPoint Add-in-5

Step 5: This should be a one-time process as NXPowerlite will remember your custom settings.

JPEG quality =9 on all three options
Resize Images For Display At = 1920×1080 on all three options
delete Cropped Areas in Pictures = NOT checked
Flatten Embedded Objects = NOT checked
Click OK to save these settings and close the Settings dialog box

NXPowerLite PowerPoint Add-in-6

File Naming

Before we Optimize the file click on the File Naming tab. Here you can customized the text prior to Optimizing the file.

1) File Naming Tab

2) You can add custom text that will be added to your Original file name

3) The custom name will be added AFTER your file name

4) The custom name will be added BEFORE your file name

Here’s an example of the Outputted files

1) Backup of the original File name with the Custom Text BEFORE

2) Backup of the original File name with the Custom Text AFTER

3) Optimized file gets outputted with Original File Name

Back in the NXPowerLite dialogue, confirm the presentation is selected and click OPTIMIZE.

When NXPowerlite is finished, it displays the original and the optimized file size. In your project folder will be both the original (name now appended) and the new optimized version.

Looking at the new optimized file, all of the images have been adjusted to HD (1920×1080 display resolution) and are approximately 6 MB (with no visible quality loss for the slide show)!

From the entire TLC team, thank you to the NXPowerLite PowerPoint add-in for making our jobs a bit easier and quicker!

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T08:00:49-07:00June 29th, 2016|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

Can a Mobile Device Project? Yes it can!

There is a lot of talk and excitement about using mobile devices, phone or tablet, to run presentations. And yes, I can confirm it is possible. But the question is – should you use a tablet or smartphone as the presentation “computer?” The answer – it depends on the meeting.

mobile-devices-1

Some presentations require a mobile device, such as a mobile app demo. But for a traditional presentation, if it is a large meeting with AV support, I recommend conforming to the desktop app and handing off a presentation file. This ensures you can focus on the presentation, not the technology setup and function. If it’s a small board room meeting and you feel confident in using newer technology, then mobile devices can be a good option. However, I recommend having a traditional computer, and the presentation on a memory drive – just in case.

Let’s look at the different options currently available to work with when it comes to using mobile devices in presentations. This is a high-level reference and overview of the primary mobile devices that can be used for presentations.

Apple

iPhone, iPad Tablets and iPod Touch

Google

Android Phones and Android Tablets

Microsoft

Windows 8.1 / 10 Mobile and Surface Tablets

Wired and Wireless

mobile-devices-2

There are two types of connection options for getting a presentation from a device to the projector. Both are options. In general, using a wired connection is going to be easiest option, as it has the least technology needs (do to the cables, connect – done).

Wired

The first option is wired connections. This is (obviously) physically connecting a cable to the mobile device. Each device type has a different connector, and then there are multiple options for the AV system you need to figure out (eg. Is the AV system using VGA, HDMI or other display connector?).

iPhone/iPad Connectors

30 pin to VGA/HDMI
Lightning to VGA/HDMI
USB-C to VGA

mobile-devices-3

Android Phone / Tablet Connectors

Mini-HDMI to HDMI or VGA
HDMI to VGA/HDMI/DVI

mobile-devices-4

Windows 10 Phone / Tablet Connectors

Mini HDMI to HDMI/VGA
Mini DisplayPort (AKA Thunderbolt) to HDMI/VGA/DVI

mobile-devices-5

Wireless

The second option is connecting your mobile devices using a wireless system. Keep in mind, most wireless display connectors need WiFi. And the WiFi needs to be fast enough for the presentation to display content and animations smoothly, and it needs to have enough coverage to connect in the meeting meeting room (ie. Not your hotel room or the lobby, but the actual ballroom). Miracast is a direct connection technology, so a WiFi network is not needed.

iOS Devices = Apple TV

mobile-devices-6

Apple devices are easily the most popular and abundant (myself included with an iPhone and iPad). Apple devices need to connect to Apple TV, so you need the physical Apple TV device and a WiFi network for both the IOS device and Apple TV connect to (then the Apple TV connects to the AV System/projector/monitor). AirPlay is the IOS app (built in to all Apple devices) that make the wireless display work.

My opinion on wireless presentations from IOS devices is that they work well, but have a lot of hardware and setup needs.

Android Devices = Google Chromecast

mobile-devices-7

If you use an Android mobile device, the Google Chromecast device is needed. The original Chromecast device was basically a small USB drive with an HDMI connector and additional mini-USB port for power. The new Chromecast device is a bit larger, more in line with an Apple TV size (but still just a USB power). Another option is many SmartTVs are Chromecast-ready and Android devices can stream direct to it with no additional hardware. No matter what Chromecast connector is used, WiFi is needed.

Last, if you are using an Android device, a great app available in the Android Google Play App Store is AllCast, which enables Android devices to also connect to Apple TV, even more SmartTVs and the Amazon Fire TV.

My opinion on Chromecast is that it works, has smaller equipment, has easy setup – but I have been unable to connect it to some larger show AV systems…

Windows 10 Mobile = Miracast WiFi

mobile-devices-7

If you’re a Windows 10 Mobile device user, or Windows 10 desktop, the MiraCast wireless display software is built in. The interesting thing (and good thing), is MiraCast is not a Microsoft technology, but an industry wide wireless display platform that Microsoft has adopted and integrated into ALL Windows 10 devices (Note: It is also available on Windows 8.1 as a download in the Windows App Store). MiraCast is also available on Android devices as a separate app download, and it also works with IOS devices (but is not available through the Apple App store, so only works with “jail break” devices which I hope changes in the future).

My opinion of MiraCast is this works the best of all wireless display options covered. Because it is an open standard, the physical dongle is not limited to one company and I have had some work great and others not work at all. I recommend the Microsoft manufactured device as I have had flawless operation of it (and it is very small like the original Chromecast device). The other really great feature is that MiraCast does not need WiFi, it will connect to any device using a local connection (so it does use WiFi, but not internet enabled WiFi).

I hope the helps with an overview of many mobile device connection options and some of my (sometimes hard-earned) opinions on mobile devices for presentation use.

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T08:10:43-07:00May 31st, 2016|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

Can a Video Morph in PowerPoint?

Can a video morph in PowerPoint? The answer is yes (but not completely).

The great thing is – a video placeholder works with Morph. Here is my two slide sample, the video on the second slide has been resized to full screen.

video morph-1

In the demo video below, the sample video growing to full slide size with a Morph transition works perfectly. However, due to a limitation of how PowerPoint plays videos, a video cannot play across slides. In this sample, the visual works nicely with the 2nd slide set with a shorter slide transition duration (morph) and a Play-with-Previous to have the video start playing instantly after the morph finishes. But a video with audio or content that would look awkward with a pause will not work as well (visually).

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/unnamed-file-6.mp4[/KGVID]

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2019-10-31T22:13:58-07:00March 28th, 2016|PowerPoint|

Use The PowerPoint Video Playback Bar

Inserting video into Powerpoint is an easy task. Using the video playback bar also makes controlling the video playback easy.

playback bar 1

The playback bar is available in slide edit view – when a video is selected, it appears. The playback bar can be used to preview the video, click-and-scrub through a video, pause a video, and see a live time code.

During a presentation, when the mouse is moved over the video, a simplified semi-transparent playback bar will pop up. Most of the same functions are available; time code and incremental incremental jumps are not on the playback bar in slideshow.

5-2B

The playback bar position cannot be moved (although this functionality is definitely on my wish list for the Microsoft Dev team). When the cursor is moved off the video, the playback bar hides almost immediately (and reappears with any mouse movement over the video).

Slideshow playback control options:

Play / Pause Button.
Timeline bar (click anywhere on timeline and jump video to that position, click-and-drag and “scrub” through the video forward and back).
Volume Control (very helpful for muting a video during a presentation).

The semi-transparent playback bar is not overly distracting because it’s nicely designed. Here are a few examples over different color videos. In addition, these two videos are on the same slide, side-by-side. See demo video of this slide below.

9-1B

Here is a video demo of interacting with videos during a slide show.

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/unnamed-file.mp4[/KGVID]

-Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2019-10-28T09:58:50-07:00March 23rd, 2016|PowerPoint, Tutorial|