Tutorial

Creating animated GIFs in PowerPoint is a newer feature, so it may be familiar. However this feature has been updated recently with the ability to export animated GIFs with transparent backgrounds.

To create an animated GIF with a transparent background, start with a new PowerPoint file. The secret for exporting an animated GIF with transparent background is to us a white background (eg. the slide background is set to white, not a white shape as the bottom layer).

An animated GIF is a “flip book” animation. Each slide is the next part of the motion. There is no animation used in this example animated GIF. Here is the first slide:

Next, the slide is duplicated and the hand graphic flipped to the opposite view using PowerPoint’s to FLIP HORIZONTAL tool and the text “HELLO” is rotated and larger.

This is a simple 2 step animation, but a 3rd step is needed for the animation effect. So slide 1 is duplicated and set as slide 3.

slide 1 transition = NONE, for a seamless transition of the animation. Set automatic slide advance after 0.00 seconds.

slide 2-3 transition = MORPH, which creates the smooth animation of the hand wave and text movement. Duration = .25 seconds. Set automatic slide advance after 0.00 seconds.

It is time to export as an animated GIF.

1. Go to FILE and select EXPORT
2. Select CREATE AN ANIMTED GIF
3. Choose the size and quality of the GIF
4. Check the box to MAKE BACKGROUND TRANSPARENT (this is the new feature!)
5. The “seconds to spend on each slide” can be left with the default value. It will not be used as each slide has a preset automatic transition set.
6. click CREATE GIF

And that’s it!

Jake @ TLC

One thing easy to do in PowerPoint is to distort images. Often it is unintentional, but it happens fairly often. As example, on this slide, the picture looks distorted.

The soccer ball looks distorted, more of an egg shape than round ball. Here is how to check: select the image > go to the FORMAT PICTURE tab > go to SIZE & PROPERTIES tab > look at SCALE HEIGHT and SCALE WIDTH.

All images should be 100% x 100% if they are using the original size. If the image has been resized to be smaller or larger, the percentage will adjust, but should remain the same value in each field. Here the height and width are different, telling us the image has been distorted and is wider than it’s height.

The simple fix is to make both fields that same value, say 100% x 100%. Then resize the picture using one of the 4 corners to maintain the aspect ratio.

Continuing looking at images in presentations, this time we are literally looking at an image on a slide and noting it appears “blurry”. The question is why? The #1 reason is the image has a small resolution and has been enlarged on the slide. Here is how to check and confirm.

The image here is not full slide, but it is noticeably blurry.

Select the image > go to the PICTURE FORMAT tab > click the RESET PICTURE dropdown menu > click RESET PICTURE AND SIZE.

The image will reset to its original/real size. In this example, the guess that the image was small and had been enlarged on the slide is correct. After resetting the image to the original size, it is MUCH smaller, hence the blurry resolution when it was enlarged.

Another option, also describe in the previous post, is to select the image > open the FORMAT PICTURE pane > go to the SIZE AND PROPERITES tab > review the SCALE HEIGHT and SCALE WIDTH settings. This image has been enlarged to 400% from the original (4X its original size). Just from the numbers, we know it is not going to be a crisp image display…

Puzzles are a great visual metaphor for presentations. We are sharing our process for creating a custom image for a presentation, with a puzzle piece theme. We do not want a single, flat image as that limits our presentation design options. But rather than create dozens of custom puzzle piece images in Illustrator or Photoshop, we prep a few images in these programs and let PowerPoint do most of the work.

1. Using Adobe Illustrator we created a image of 5 connecting puzzle piece shapes. These were exported as .SVG (vector) images.

2. Next we created a library of flag images that would be used in the puzzle pieces. These could be PNG or SVG format. We like the scalable nature of vector .svg images, and flags work well in this format. Here is an example of one flag image:

3. Insert the puzzle piece INSERT tab >> PICTURES tab >> FROM THIS DEVICE. From the dialog find the puzzle piece file.

4. Right click the puzzle piece and select FORMAT PICTURE.

5. On the left pane select FILL. In the right pane select PICTURE OR TEXTURE FILL.

6. Click FILE and from the dialog find the American Flag image.

7. Check the box to TILE the picture as texture and UNCHECK the box at the bottom “ROTATE WITH SHAPE”.

9. However, if you uncheck the TILE picture as texture box, select CROP and then use the outer dots (not crop bars) to adjust the flag image size and position.

10. Have fun with formatting your shape! All PowerPoint style effects are available: bevel, drop shadow, reflection, etc. Because the ROTATE WITH SHAPE option is turned off the puzzle piece shape rotates, but the flag stays in the same orientation!

Download the PowerPoint slide of the puzzle piece American flag HERE.

Sara @ TLC

Are you designing a presentation with a lot of text? Not sure how to make your points stand-out? Typography is one of the most important aspects of a slide, and how well its done will determine how well you can communicate your message.

One way to grab your viewer’s attention is to utilize a bold font, which is heavier and darker than the regular type. Bold fonts are used for emphasis, but too much bolding can have the exact opposite effect, because when everything is bold – nothing is bold.

Selective bolding is a design process we use often. Be choosing key words to be bold and standout the viewer can quickly see, and read, what is important.

Happy bolding!

I hinted at this great design trick in the previous post. Let me walk through process in more detail. The goal is to quickly (within minutes of receiving a folder of images) build a slideshow of full frame images, that are cropped and centered, can run as a photo loop.

Step 1: Use a native PowerPoint add-in (that has been hidden in the app for literally years and years). Go to INSERT > PHOTO ALBUM drop down > NEW PHOTO ALBUM

Step 2: Select FILE/DISK > navigate to folder of images > select your images > CREATE

This will create a NEW document with a title page as page 1. Delete page 1.

Then go to the BrightSlide tab > BATCH > and resize all images. 

Step 3: Select all slide > apply a slide transition of your choice (FADE is a safe and professional default option) > set slides to auto advance after 8 seconds (or speed your feel is best for your meeting)

Step 4: Go to SLIDE SHOW > SET UP SLIDE SHOW > select LOOP UNTIL ESCAPE. 

Done! A looping photo slide show built in just a few minutes!

A few more details on the BrightSlide resize image feature. First, it is wonderful! Second, it was added into Brightslide within days of detailing what I thought would be a great add-in tool for many presentation designers (thank you Jamie Garroch and BrightCarbon development team!). What this add-in is doing is scaling each image to fill the slide, adding a crop so the image remains the size of the slide, and centering the image within the crop.

As a final step, which is optional, I run NXPowerlite to resave the images to their crop at an optimized 1920×1080 for an easy to manage file size (because generally I am receiving the images from a professional photographer, and while the images look great, they are huge file sizes!). 

The BrightSlide add-in for PowerPoint can be downloaded for free at: https://www.brightcarbon.com/brightslide/

Troy @ TLC