Software/Add-Ins Archives - Page 12 of 24

Awesome Screenshot.com – online screen capture app

[text]All of the designers at TLC use Snagit for screen shot needs; it is installed on every computer we have. Windows and Mac OS both have built in screen capture options that are cute and nice, but not robust. We recently found Awesome Screenshot.com which is a great online screen share, and edit app, something we can use when working on a guest computer.[/text]

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[text]Awesome Screenshot is free for 30 images and 1 project folder. The premium option (currently $8.99 promo, regularly $11.99 year) has unlimited image captures and project folders. The Chrome browser is the only one that supports the add-in, but the annotation and editing features can be used on any browser. The Chrome add-in makes Awesome Screenshot a more full featured option (eg. Use Chrome for this app).
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[text]Possibly one of the coolest features of Awesome Screenshot is adding comments to screenshots (much of what we use SnagIt for) and sharing directly from the site. In addition, other users are able to comment on the screenshot image as well, so this can make collaborative feedback simpler than ever! Some other cool tools are highlighting or blurring text. But the editing tools are more limited than other apps with fewer less colors, shapes, etc. Still, the ability to organize the screenshots by project is unique and pretty awesome (pun intended)![/text]
[text]Use Chrome and create an account. Under the Tools tab, select Add to Chrome, and follow the steps to install.[/text]

[text]After installed, Chrome has this app icon.[/text]

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[text]Click the Awesome Screenshot icon to view capture options.[/text]

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Capture visible part of page: Captures only the visible area of the current browser page
Delayed capture: Captures only the visible area of the current browser page three (or five) seconds after clicking
Capture selected area: Allows you to select the area of the current browser page to capture using a marquee selector
Capture entire page: Captures the entire area of the current browser page (include non-visible areas that require scrolling to see)
Select a local image: Allows you to choose an image that is saved locally to your computer or drive[/list_item]
Capture desktop: Allows you to select from any open windows or computer screen(s) to capture
My projects: Takes you to the Projects library
Options: Allows you to update the settings, such as image format, shortcut, and delay time specifications

[text]In addition, you can drag and drop existing images into the open project folder of your choice or select “Add images” from the project folder page on the website.[/text]

[text]Capture a screenshot (all or part of the screen) and it shows up in the simplified Annotation (or edit) screen. Save the image to a project folder to get to the full editing options.[/text]

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[text]There are several save options – save online for best collaboration.[/text]

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[text]To edit, click the Annotation icon while hovering over the image.[/text]

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[text]The top bar is the editing tools: Crop, draw, shapes (rectangle or oval), arrows/lines, text, blur, color, line weight, undo, redo, reset, delete shape, and zoom.[/text]

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[text]Save edits and add comments. By default, it goes to the comments page. You can also select other images in the project folder, share the image, return to the Annotation page, or view the comments list.[/text]

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[text]Click the “eye” icon to exit the page, or right-click select Save image as to get a local version of the image on your computer – which can be added to a presentation.[/text]

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[text]Thanks to staff designer Michelle for this review.
– Troy @ TLC[/text]

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T09:03:57-07:00July 17th, 2015|Software/Add-Ins|

Office 2016 for Mac – Available!

Office for Mac 2011, the current version, has been in existence for 4.5 years. That is a very long time between upgrades. But Microsoft has (finally) released Office 2016 for Mac – and it is a very good upgrade.

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If you are an Office 365 subscriber, Office 2016 for Mac is part of the subscription and an easy upgrade. If you are a retail or corporate licensing client, you may have a few months until Microsoft has it available to you.

I have been fortunate to be running the beta version for the past few months and have found Office 2016 has good parity with Office 2013 for Windows (not perfect, but much, much better). The interface uses the Ribbon styling (although not all buttons and options are in the same place or available) and the functionality is near identical. The ability to move presentations between platforms has never been better (again, not perfect, but a huge step forward). This is a major undertaking by the Microsoft Mac Office team (completely coding a new version of Office) and I expect Office 365 subscribers to have a steady stream of refinements rolled out (which is great!).

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T09:04:24-07:00July 14th, 2015|Software/Add-Ins|

Using Pic Resize to Optimize Images for PowerPoint

Pic Resize is a useful web-based app to optimize images for presentations, that is FREE. Images can be resized, cropped and have many editing options applied. This is a good, quick solution in the process of making images sized for a presentation and not jumbo multi-megabyte sized files from a digital camera or print project. TLC designer, Michelle, put together this overview of how Pic Resize is used and some of its options.

To get started, go to the Pic Resize webpage (here).

Click From Computer and then the Browse button. Locate a image on your computer and click Open.

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Once you have selected the image, click the Continue (Resize, Crop & Special Effects) button.

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On the top portion of the next page, you can crop or rotate your image, if needed. Continue on to the second section to resize your image. The website defaults to resizing the image to 50% of the original size. If you need a different size, click on the drop down menu and select another preset percentage or resolution. You can also select Custom Size… to enter in the dimensions of your choice.

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To optimize this image for use within PowerPoint, I will resize this image to 800 pixels wide. By leaving the Height field empty, Pic Resize will automatically keep the image proportionate by determining the correct height value. You can also select a custom percentage of the original image by selecting Percent from the drop down image next to the Width or Height fields. The new dimensions of the image can be found on the right next to Estimated Final, which will be highlighted in green.

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In the next section, you can select one of many special effects to enhance the image, if desired. Some of these special effects include Oil Paint, Scorched, Grayscale, and Sharpen, which can be seen below.

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In the last step, you will select the format, quality (if JPEG) and maximum file size (optional) to save your image as. The original format of the image will be automatically populated but JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP are all supported. PNG images with alpha transparency are supported, so transparency will be maintained if resized. If resizing to a JPG as the format, you can also select the quality of the image being saved.

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Once you have selected the format and quality, click the I’m Done, Resize My Picture! button. When successfully resized, you can select View Image to preview, Resume Edit to continue editing, Save to Disk to save onto your computer, or Save to Web to upload the image onto a social media website of your choice. For this instance, we would save the image to the desired location by clicking Save to Disk.

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Once saved, you now have an optimized version of your image that can be easily used within PowerPoint. Below, you can see the new, optimized image, which was resized from 5184 x 3456 pixels down to 800 x 533 pixels.

– Michelle @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T09:23:22-07:00October 20th, 2014|Software/Add-Ins|

Using Pic Resize to Optimize Images for PowerPoint

Pic Resize is a very useful tool to resize and edit images that are larger than needed. This website offers a quick and easy-to-use method to optimize a large image so that it fits your needs.

To get started, make sure you have selected From Computer to choose an image on your computer to resize. Click Browse to locate the image on your computer, select the image desired and click Open.

Once you have selected the image, click the Continue (Resize, Crop & Special Effects) button.

On the top portion of the next page, you can crop or rotate your image, if needed. Continue on to the second section to resize your image. The website defaults to resizing the image to 50% of the original size. If you need a different size, click on the drop down menu and select another preset percentage or resolution. You can also select Custom Size… to enter in the dimensions of your choice.

To optimize this image for use within PowerPoint, I will resize this image to 800 pixels wide. By leaving the Height field empty, Pic Resize will automatically keep the image proportionate by determining the correct height value. You can also select a custom percentage of the original image by selecting Percent from the drop down image next to the Width or Height fields. The new dimensions of the image can be found on the right next to Estimated Final, which will be highlighted in green.

In the next section, you can select one of many special effects to enhance the image, if desired. Some of these special effects include Oil Paint, Scorched, Grayscale, and Sharpen, which can be seen below.

In the last step, you will select the format, quality (if JPEG) and maximum file size (optional) to save your image as. The original format of the image will be automatically populated but JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP are all supported. PNG images with alpha transparency are supported, so transparency will be maintained if resized. If resizing to a JPG as the format, you can also select the quality of the image being saved.

Once you have selected the format and quality, click the I’m Done, Resize My Picture! button. When successfully resized, you can select View Image to preview, Resume Edit to continue editing, Save to Disk to save onto your computer, or Save to Web to upload the image onto a social media website of your choice. For this instance, we would save the image to the desired location by clicking Save to Disk.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T09:41:20-07:00May 21st, 2014|Software/Add-Ins, Tutorial|

Themed Lorum Ipsum Text! Pirate – Corporate – Coffee – and More!!

Lorum Ipsum, or Greeked Text, is placeholder text that has no meaning. Its purpose is to demonstrate how text will look in a layout, in a specific font, size and color. It is also, very helpful for PowerPoint templates and foundation presentations.

Traditional Lorum Ipsum text is a nonsensical latin (created by a 1st century Latin text by Cicero), and looks like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In lacus nisi, tincidunt non purus vel, hendrerit imperdiet urna. Mauris in mattis eros. Nulla ligula arcu, pretium eget justo nec, cursus rhoncus lectus. Nullam eu est blandit, faucibus elit at, pellentesque lectus. Maecenas a vulputate mauris. Donec quis dictum metus. Phasellus at nisi tempus mauris sollicitudin fermentum. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus.

For the above text I used the Lorem Ipsum text generator at lipsum.com (see this January 2007 post).

But that can be boring and TLC is a creative company. So we were very excited about discovering “Meet the Ipsums!” MeetTheIpsums.com is a text generator for dozens of themed Lorum Ipsum text, such as coffee ipsum, cat ipsum, Zombie Ipsum, Canada Ipsum and more!

Here is a personal favorite – Pirate ipsum:

Belaying pin chase coxswain list transom gally pillage broadside furl capstan. Hail-shot aft fore Davy Jones’ Locker careen killick mutiny weigh anchor bilge rat Nelsons folly. Chandler poop deck Blimey six pounders Buccaneer clap of thunder ye Barbary Coast keel Gold Road. Cable doubloon avast grapple interloper hang the jib boom heave down Sea Legs barkadeer.

Even better – not from a productivity vantage, but definitely better for fun and amusement – is that each Ipsum webpage is themed. Here is the interface for generating the above Pirate Ipsum text:

Next time you have a project that needs themed Lorum Ipsum text, check out MeetTheIpsums.com!

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T10:04:39-07:00December 2nd, 2013|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

(Update to) PowerPoint Video Test Toolkit

Earlier this week, a post released a copy of our internal PowerPoint Video test slides. It was drawn to my attention that there were 2 errors in the slides (1. the .avi was not set to play automatic like all others, 2. the .mpg1 was a really badly rendered video). Thank you for the those that sent emails!

The original post’s download link has been updated with a revised version of the PowerPoint Video Test Toolkit and here is same link:
Download here.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T10:12:22-07:00October 11th, 2013|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins, Templates/Assets|

SnagIt OneClick – How to Disable

As a designer, SnagIt is one of my most valued go-to apps. But even the best software sometimes creates problems. In the latest version of SnagIt, a new feature, “OneClick,” (at least this is the first version I have noticed it) just gets in the way. The concept is to have an onscreen button to activate SnagIt vs. a keyboard command.

OneClick puts a small red button at the top of your screen.

Click the red button and a small menu drops down, allowing easy access to many of the SnagIt tools and settings.

The dilemma is that the button is ever present, sitting on top of everything: windows, apps, slide shows! This is not good and something that took a bit of investigating to figure out how to turn off. Half the effort is knowing the name of this unwelcome feature – OneClick.

To turn off, open SnagIt, click the VIEW menu and click SNAGIT ONECLICK. This is an on/off toggle, so it should now be removed from your screen. You may also see a TURN OFF ONECLICK option in the Quick Launch dialog in the left action pane.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T10:12:50-07:00October 9th, 2013|Personal, Software/Add-Ins, Tutorial|

PowerPoint Video Test Toolkit

For TLC Creative Services, I developed a slide deck that the 5 most common video formats. To test a computer’s setup, we just open this PowerPoint presentation, go to the video format we want to confirm the computer is configured to play and see what happens. If the video plays, we know the computer and PowerPoint are setup for that format and then can troubleshoot the client file with the knowledge that it is not the computer or PowerPoint.

Feel free to download our PowerPoint Video Test Toolkit and use as needed.
Download here (24 MB).

Also, check out the Sept 11 post of the video reference chart to know if a computer’s configuration is going to play a video format.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T10:13:10-07:00October 7th, 2013|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

Mac Keynote Sample – Toyota

Does TLC Creative Services use Keynote? That is a question I hear from many new clients. Of course we do! Presentation design, with any of the available presentation software options, has the same design principles to engage the audience. Some of the technology and visual effects change, but the layout, messaging and use of animation “rules” remain the same.

We have recently added a video of a Keynote presentation project to our portfolio section. TLC Creative Services developed the template, did lots of custom Photoshop work to bring the provided script to life using the unique capabilities of the Apple’s Keynote app. See it here.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T10:25:52-07:00August 14th, 2013|Portfolio, Software/Add-Ins|

Add Twitter Feed To Slides

We were recently at a show to handle the presentations, and the presenter encouraged the audience to tweet about the conference daily events. During the break, we were asked to show the twitter feed. Advanced planning is great – this was not it.

We used Visibletweets.com to provide a solution. Visibletweets.com is a Flash based website with no download (other than the Flash player if not installed). On the website, you are prompted to type in a hash hag, search a term, or use someone’s twitter id.

Then one tweet at a time fills the page, each animates to the next. There are 3 types of animation to choose from: Letter by Letter (which is our favorite), Rotation, and Tag Cloud.

If you use the option to run the show in the web browser full screen, the background automatically changes colors.

There are 3 options for using visibletweets.com during a presentation.
Option 1: Run the website from a backup computer (with internet access) and toggle it to the screen.
Option 2: Have a link to the website on a slide and use it to switch from presentation to web browser (going back to the presentation requires using ALT+Tab or closing the web browser – so not as seamless and elegant).
Option 3: Use Shyam’s LiveWeb add-in to display a webpage directly on your presentation slide (this is a FREE add-in that can be downloaded here).

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-08-10T10:31:07-07:00July 10th, 2013|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins, Tutorial|