Hawaii 2011 – Time to Leave
I interrupt the tutorial series on Baseline Shift to say goodbye to Hawaii (the Big Island) as I fly back today. I know lots of people that do not look forward to the winter months (they generally live in snow areas), but meetings tend to be in great, warm, places during the winter. So I look forward to the winter each year (Cabo San Lucas, Hawaii, San Francisco, Florida and a family ski trip to Utah for the 2011 Winter)!
– Troy @ TLC
Baseline Shift = “Offset”
When a super-script or sub-script is applied, there is actually an automated adjustment to PowerPoint’s OFFSET function. To access, highlight text and click the arrow on the bottom right of the FONT group to launch the FONT DIALOG BOX.
Super-script text is a 30% baseline shift/offset and sub-script text is a -30% baseline shift/offset.
– Troy @ TLC
What is Baseline Shift?
Baseline shift = “To move a selected character up or down relative to the baseline/level of the surrounding text.“
Baseline shift is an essential typography fine tuning function. The most common use of it in PowerPoint is when a super-script or sub-script is applied to text. For example, here is my sample text:
After applying the super-script function, the number 1 is raised up higher than the text next to it – the baseline has been shifted.
– Troy @ TLC
Collapse the Ribbon
Sometimes having a bigger work area makes designing slides easier. A larger monitor or higher resolution monitor is an option, or just temporarily removing the ribbon is an easier option.
Standard ribbon (taking up screen realestate)
Collapsed ribbon (with more screen realestate for the design work)
– Troy @ TLC
Using BackGround Removal and Blur Tools (by Ric Bretschneider)
PowerPoint MVP Ric Bretschneider added a great tutorial to his personal blog this week called “The PowerPoint Blur Trick”.
The image effects are done by combining the Background removal tool, duplicate images, and the Blur tool – all really good ways to achieve ‘Photoshop’ images direct in PowerPoint.
Check out the full tutorial here.
– Troy @ TLC
Animation Using Super Wide Panoramic Photo
Using the panoramic image from the previous post, here is a sample animation. Actually the audience sees a continuous animation, but from the designer view is a series of slides that use Slide Transitions for the animation effect.
1. Insert panoramic image (it is almost 5Xs the width of a slide)
2. Position it by using the Align tools. (1) Align left. (2) Align Middle.
3.Duplicate the slide. Right-click the image >> Format Picture >> Position (left pane) >> set Horizontal to -10.5″ (right pane)
4. Duplicate the slide and repeat process to set horizontal another 10.5″ to the left (-21″)
5. Duplicate the slide and repeat process to set horizontal another 10.5″ to the left (-31.5″)
6. Because the image is not exactly another 10.5″ wide, go to HOME tab >> ARANGE >> ALIGN >> ALIGN RIGHT
7. Select all 5 slides and set the slide transition to WIPE
8. With all 5 slides still selected adjust the slide transition – TRANSITIONS tab >> EFFECT OPTIONS >> FROM RIGHT, so the slide transitions visually act as the on-click animations.
The result is a slide show that lets you pan through image from left to right. Download this presntation here.
– Troy @ TLC
Create a Panoramic Image in Photoshop
Sometimes presentations need specialty images that are beyond the capabilities of PowerPoint. Here is my process for creating panoramic images:
1. Take a series of photos, aligning as close as possible. Here are my sample images – 4 photos taken from the 11,000′ elevation peak at BrianHead ski resort in Utah.
2. Open PhotoShop and import all images as separate layers. Be sure the layers are in order of what will be the side-by-side order.
3. With all 4 layers selected go to EDIT >> AUTO-ALIGN LAYERS.
4. In the Auto-Align Layers dialog there are a number of options, for this one I am going to use AUTO.
5. The result is (1) a super wide image, that is (2) made up of the layers, each repositioned side-by-side.
6. Then use the cropping tool to remove excess areas and create a clean rectangle.
7. Because my images have slightly different exposures, the individual images can still be seen. First I quickly apply an AUTO TONE, AUTO CONTRAST, AUTO COLOR to each layer. Then I use the eraser tool to blend the edges – which is easy because the AUTO ALIGN tool overlaps the images.
8. Now with the edges blended I have a super wide panoramic image ready to be saved as a .jpg and inserted into a presentation.
– Troy @ TLC