Tutorial

It’s a Leap Year Day!

On this once-every-4-years event, I had to have some PowerPoint animation fun.

The behind the scenes is this animated .GIF was created with 3 slide layouts with transitions and animation, then exported from PowerPoint to animated .gif.

The only PowerPoint animation is on slide #1 for the text:

Happy Leap Year 2024!!

Troy @ TLC

 

By |2024-02-28T12:01:54-07:00February 29th, 2024|Portfolio, PowerPoint, Tutorial|

3D Holiday Card Layout – Created in PowerPoint!

The previous blog post sharing the TLC Creative 2023 Christmas Card had a nice 3D layout to the card. That layout was entirely created in PowerPoint!

Step 1 was adding images of the outside and inside print layouts. Then cropping the image to just one side.

Next is to use PowerPoints’ 3D perspective options. Apply to the image.

Duplicate the image and adjust the crop to display the other half.

Update the 3D perspective to the opposite perspective.

Now move the two perspective images to align.

Group both images and add a PowerPoint drop shadow.

Done! Repeat for the interior layout using the desired 3D perspective (see my 3D perspective applied to the inside and outside layouts on the previous post).

Troy @ TLC

 

By |2024-01-31T11:45:34-07:00February 1st, 2024|Tutorial|

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:

  1. It is an add-in that makes it entirely accessible directly in PowerPoint.
  2. Icons can be downloaded as raster .png (transparent background!) or vector .svg (yay, scalable, color change and edit directly in PowerPoint!).
  3. 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

By |2024-01-23T19:59:22-07:00January 25th, 2024|PowerPoint, Software/Add-Ins, Tutorial|

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

By |2023-12-21T16:06:20-07:00December 28th, 2023|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

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!

By |2023-12-20T14:17:16-07:00December 26th, 2023|PowerPoint, Tutorial|
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