Tutorial

What is “Vector”?

There are two types of graphics:
1. Raster, such as .jpg, .bmp, .png
2. Vector, such as .eps, .ai, .emf

Raster images are created in applications such as:
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Corel Paint Shop Pro and Painter

Vector images are created in applications such as:
Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDRAW, Microsoft Expression, and Flash

The Big Difference: the ability to resize without loss of quality. As example, if an image is going to cover the entire slide it needs to be a fairly large file size (eg. up to 3MB for the 1 image) to have enough resolution if a raster image (.jpg or .png). But a very small vector image (eg. only 20k) can be resized to fill the entire slide and still look perfect.

Here is a raster graphic (.png) resized to be larger

Here is a similiar graphic (.wmf) resized to be larger

There are times when a vector graphic makes sense, can save file size and be of value. But vector graphics are not photos, so they lack shading, semi-transparency and many other visual traits.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:25:53-08:00February 20th, 2008|Resource/Misc, Tutorial|

PPT2007 Reflections

In a few weeks I am doing a webcast on PPT2007 Visual Effects put on by Eli Research’s AudioSolutionz. Basically I covering the whole range of new graphic tools and options in the 1 hour webcast – so I will be talking fast! Here is a quick screencast of just one topic that I have been making extensive use of lately – reflections:

Click the image to open the screencast (and forgive the poor audio quality). You can check out details about the webinar at this page on the AudioSolutionz website here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:27:08-08:00February 15th, 2008|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc, Tutorial|

Make a “Fake” Website

One of the common requests is to show a website on a slide, or create a mock-up of a website. With this request I first open one of my favorite applications SnagIt.

Then open a blank broswer and use snagit to create a .jpg which can be inserted into the slide. Here is one I like, which I added a drop shadow to for some extra pizzazz.

Then I can capture the needed website or add images to mockup. Here is my slide, note there are 2 images; the browser image and then website image (which I positioned and cropped to fit inside the browser). I can also add the URL with a PPT text box, which makes this clear and easy to read:

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:27:31-08:00February 13th, 2008|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc, Tutorial|

PPT 2007 Compresses Images By Default

Turns out PowerPoint may be trying to be more helpful than you want. I want to control when, and how many times, an image is compressed. The default setting for PPT 2007 is to compress images every time the file is saved. Here is my example slide, which has just one large image:

With the image selected (1) go to the FORMAT tab, then (2) click the COMPRESS PICTURES option

This brings up the basic dialog box, but we want to go into the OPTIONS

Finally, UNCHECK the automatically compress images option so you can control which images, if any need to be compressed by PowerPoint.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:33:34-08:00February 5th, 2008|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Webinar on Creating Graphics in PPT2007

Most of December was posts highlighting many of the great graphics tools in PowerPoint 2007. I have been contracted by Eli Journals to do a live 1 hour webinar covering all the new PPT2007 graphic tools and lots of tips-and-tricks. You can check out the details at this page on the AudioSolutionz website here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:38:33-08:00January 23rd, 2008|Resource/Misc, Tutorial|

Change images WITHOUT losing attributes

One of the great features of PPT 2007 is the ‘Change Picture’ tool. From a programming perspective this was not a monumentus task to implement because all inserted images are now automatically an autoshape with a fill effect (in this case filled with an image).

In previous versions if we went through the steps of creating an autoshape, doing the custom fill and being willing to live with some design limitations we could update the fill effects with a new image. The advantage was any animations would remain intact. The disadvantage was a lot of extra clicks.

With PPT 2007 changing out an image is just a matter of Right-Clicking the image and selecting the CHANGE PICTURE command!

Virtually any adjustments made to the original image are maintained. Animations, rotation, dropshadows, bevels, and the new image is automatically scaled to fit in the existing bounding box (which may or may not be exactly what you need).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:39:51-08:00January 18th, 2008|Tutorial|

Grouped Images in PPT 2007

One of the great productivity updates in PPT 2007 is grouped images. Here is a set of three elements grouped:

The new feautre is that now any of the elements within the group can be selected AND adjusted. It can be moved (the group bounding box adjusts so it is not constrained to current group dimensions) or, rotatated or virtually any other adjustment – all while maintaining the group attributes.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:41:26-08:00January 14th, 2008|Tutorial|

Image Fun in PPT 2007

So with PPT 2007 we can quickly create fun, and editable, graphics. Using a stock photo and our sample image I quickly created this slide in about 45 seconds.

– I first set the image to appear in an autoshape (thought bubble).
– Then I used the autoshape adjustments to move the thought bubble trail to our characters head.
– I applied a stroke to the autoshape, colored it (dark blue) and made it thicker.
– Last I applied a drop shadow to the thought bubble and the character.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:42:29-08:00January 11th, 2008|Tutorial|

3D Perspective to Images and Shapes

The ability to add perspective to images, and maintain editability/adjustability adds some great design tools. Here is my sample image with two 3D perspective styles applied.


Both of these styles were applied in a matter of seconds from the preset options.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T13:44:08-08:00January 9th, 2008|Tutorial|
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