Tutorial

Using Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts to Move A Presentation

Windows 7 is installed on all computers here at TLC Creative Services for good reason – it is the best operating system Microsoft has released. If you are not familiar with moving and arranging application windows using keyboard shortcuts in Windows 7, it is a great feature!

Here is my desktop with PowerPoint open as a small application window:

If I used the Windows Key + Up arrow

PowerPoint maximizes to full screen:

Use the Windows key + Left arrow to snap PowerPoint to the left side:

Use the Windows key + Right arrow to snap PowerPoint to the right side:

And use the Windows key + Down arrow to minimize PowerPoint:

Plus, if you have multiple monitors this also moves the application to the other monitors! Use Window Key + Left/Right arrow to “step” the application across the screens. Or use Window key + Shift + Left/Right arrow to quickly move the application to the other monitor keeping the same size and position when it moves.

Give it a try, I am certain this is a Windows 7 feature you will make a part of your daily design routine like I have.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:37:57-07:00January 17th, 2012|Tutorial|

Theme or Source – Your Choice

When moving slides from one presentation to another, the slide formatting (based on the master slides) is your choice – if you use the Paste Dialog.

1. From any presentation, copy the slides either in the left pane or slide sorter.

2. Go to the presentation where the slides are to be added and paste them in.

3. To paste, click where new slides are to be added and right-click. From the pop-up dialog, under “Paste Options” select “Use Destination Theme.”

4. The pasted slides will take on the formatting from the master slide set in the presentation:

5. Or you can choose “Keep Source Formatting:”

6. With “Source Formatting” the new slides retain their orginal master slide and formatting:

The choice is yours!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:39:54-07:00January 8th, 2012|Tutorial|

Creating the % Number Gradient Style

Here is the example slide from the previous post (download link below).

Here is a quick how-to on creating the custom text style. The “regular” text is Arial, 24 pt, bolded. The stylized text is Arial Black, 125 pt, bolded, drop-shadow, outline and gradient fill (so think BIG)

To create the gradient fill:
1. Type = Linear (= one direction)
2. Angle = 90 degree (= top to bottom)
3. Gradient Stop 1 = white, position 28%, transparency 05 (solid)
4. Gradient Stop 2 = bright cyan, position 46%, transparency 05 (solid)
5. Gradient Stop 3 = muted blue, position 48% (very close to the other blue), transparency 05 (solid)
6. Gradient Stop 4 = white, position 75%, transparency 05 (solid)

To see this gradient in PowerPoint (2010 is my recommendation for gradients (over 2007)), download here. (43K)

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:40:12-07:00January 5th, 2012|Tutorial|

Really Nice 3D Icons Created in PPT

Here is the end result:

This great 3D icon was developed entirely in PowerPoint 2010. Using standard shapes, 3D Perspective and the Shape Combine tools.

Here are steps to create:

1. Insert the tear drop shape from the shape menu.

2. Rotate the shape until the point is pointing down.

3. Change the color to a gray, and remove the outline.

4. Insert an oval shape, holding down shift to make it a perfect circle. Holding ctrl, it will expand from the center and place in middle of the tear drop shape.

5. Remove the outline from the circle, if there is one.

6. Select both shapes and group.

7. For the 3D rotation, we will need the group selected.

8. Select “off axis 2 left.”

9. For the 3D effects, we only need the tear drop shape selected.

10. Height: 19.5 pt, width 0 pt, depth 5 pt, material special effect >> soft edge, lighting >> three point, angle 190.

11. Now you have a 3D tear drop shape.

By |2016-08-16T09:42:00-07:00December 13th, 2011|Tutorial|

PPT Halloween Pumpkin

Using the Shape Combine/Subtract/Union tools TLC Creative designer, Jennifer, developed this great pumpkin entirely from standard PPT shapes.
[youtube src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/yiD1hSN3cdM?rel=0″]

The development was basically 30 steps, which we captured as individual slides to create the video directly from PPT.

Here is what the slide looks like, which you can download here (47K) .

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:46:40-07:00October 31st, 2011|Portfolio, Tutorial|

Change Font Size with Keyboard Combinations

There is a lot of mouse movement when designing slides in PowerPoint (and while I really like the ribbon layout, I feel there is more mouse movement now than in the legacy toolbar interface). Adjusting font size is a common design need and can easily be done with keyboard commands.

To increase a font size:

To decrease a font size:

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:47:47-07:00October 26th, 2011|Tutorial|

Use VBA to Set Really-Really Long Animations

As a follow up to the previous post, Steve Rindsberg of PPTools has some how-to info for those that are willing to delve into VBA coding.

Sub VertTheDominantParaLegal()

With ActivePresentation.Slides(1).Timeline

With .MainSequence.Item(1)

.Timing.Duration = 108000

End with

End with

End Sub

Note 1: Steve’s info was specific to PPT 2007, so not certain how it works in PPT 2003 or 2010.

Note 2: I do zero VBA coding, so I am no help with how to use this code or trouble shooting it (I leave that to the code pro’s like Steve).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:48:53-07:00October 21st, 2011|Tutorial|

How Long Can An Animation Be?

So how long of an animation can be added to something in PowerPoint? Not what is practical, but what is possible.

The answer is 59 minutes, 59 seconds and 99 thousands of a second. But how you set this up depends on the version of PowerPoint you are using.

PPT 2003 and 2007:
1. Add any animation (Entrance, Exit, Emphasis, Motion Path) to element.

2. Open the animation settings dialog and input 59.

3. “59” defaults to 59 seconds.

4. Open the animation settings dialog and input 59:00.

5. Now the animation will occur over the next 59 minutes.

PPT 2010:
With PPT 2010 there were many tweaks to the animation UI, not all for the better…

1. Add any animation (Entrance, Exit, Emphasis, Motion Path) to element.

2. Open the animation settings dialog and input 59.

3. “59” defaults to 59 seconds.

4. Open the animation settings dialog and input 59:00. Click “Okay” and the time is highlighted waiting for a valid value to be entered (no hint that 59:00 is not valid or what is valid, you just get no action when you click the Okay button).

5. Open the animation pane and select the same element. It is a bit tedious, but click and drag the timeline as long as you want the animation to occur. Note: You can drag the timeline as far past 1 hour as desired.

6. Even though you extended the timeline to 1 hour, 1 minute or 5 hours, it will snap back to its maximum 59:59:99.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:49:13-07:00October 19th, 2011|Tutorial|

How Do I Get an Embedded Audio File From a Presentation?

Another question I receive a lot goes directly with the previous post (about finding video files): “Where are audio/music files that are embedded inside the .pptx file?”

Here is one process for getting to the actual audio/music files that are embedded in a PPT 2010 file.

1. Locate the presentation file in Windows Explorer and make a duplicate of it (we are going to “break” it).

2. Change the file name from .pptx to .zip

3. When you change the file extension you will get this warning dialog – click “Yes.”

4. Double click to open the new .zip file.

5. Go into the “PPT” folder.

6. Go into the “Media” folder.

7. Copy any of the video files (.mp3, .wav, etc.) from here to a folder on your computer.

8. Done!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:53:27-07:00September 28th, 2011|Tutorial|
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