images

PickIt Image Add-In

Pickit is another image resource site, but it is uniquely focused on providing images for PowerPoint presentations. The home page boldly says “Legally Cleared images for people at work. Make your work stand out with unlimited access to royalty free photos and clipart in PowerPoint.”
Pickit
To go with the PowerPoint (and Word) focus, Pickit has a Microsoft Store add-in that provides quick and convenient access to a large library of royalty-free and legally cleared™ images directly inside PowerPoint (and Word), meaning you can use them all without worrying about infringing on copyright laws. 

To install the add-in go to INSERT > STORE > search for PICKIT > ADD.

Pickit

Access the image library any time by clicking the PICKIT IMAGES button on PowerPoint HOME tab.

Pickit

Open the Images action pane, search for any image, click INSERT, and the image is added to the current slide.

Pickit

There is a free version that accesses the image library only from PowerPoint (no website access) and no HD resolution. The subscription is $1.99/month and makes all ad-free with unlimited app and web access, and access to HD resolution images.

Troy @ TLC

By |2018-03-20T13:47:33-07:00March 26th, 2018|Software/Add-Ins|

YAY Images PowerPoint Add-In

Previously, we looked at Adobe’s Image Search PowerPoint Add-In. Today, we’re looking at a similar tool, YAY Images. This add-in searches for images directly in PowerPoint and it has some advanced search filters to find the perfect image.

YAY Images 1

Go to th INSERT Tab> click the STORE button > search for “YAY.” Select “add” and after installed PowerPoint will open the YAY action pane.

YAY Images 2

Within the action pane, search for images using a variety of options: (1) search for similar images, (2) insert previews into your presentation, or (3) directly license and insert image.

YAY Images 3

Our favorite thing about this tool is the advanced search options (it would be great to see some of the “big” stock photo sites integrate some of these options), such as the search by aspect, number of people in the photo, and the “TextSpace” is a great option! 

YAY Images 4

But as with most image licensing tools and websites, licensing any of the images requires a subscription plan. Signing up for the account is free but plans range from around $10 – $100 depending on the number of images you are downloading each month.

Enjoy!

By |2018-03-20T13:42:29-07:00March 15th, 2018|Software/Add-Ins|

Unsplash – Free Images (that are great!)

In a recent podcast, my co-host, Nolan, made a comment about a project where the client wanted to release a presentation project to the general public. Nolan’s point was that the presentation could not use standard royalty-free image resources but needed Creative Commons images. Just this week, Christie, a member of our design team, sent me a link to an image site she found. Her notes were: free, high-quality, easy search, lots of options. After looking at the Unsplash.com site, I agree, the images are high-quality, creative and the site has a good search option (often a limitation of many free image sites). And to Nolan’s point, all images are under Creative Commons licensing and would work great for a presentation design project where the ability to freely distribute the file is needed.

unsplash 1

What makes unsplash different from other image sites is that it does not actually own the images. Unsplash is a community with photographers submitting images, all of which must meet the Unsplash criteria (quality, licensing, file size, free). It was founded in 2013, based in Montreal, Canada. I am surprised that I have not run across it sooner.

On the quality side, one of the requirements is that photos are at least 3MB and 2048 by 1536 pixels in size – which is great for presentation use! The licensing is near perfect. This is just the first paragraph of the Unsplash License: “All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.”

I will not be giving up our subscription to Adobe Stock or Getty, but, for certain projects, we have added Unsplash to our list of resources. In looking at images on the site, I found the “Black” and “Photos for Parent Bloggers” collections to be great, curated images within a theme.

Tip: After selecting a collection or doing a search, click the small grid layout icon to see images in a more friendly grid layout.

unsplash 2

To download:

  • Search for an image
    unsplash 3
  • Click on the image
    unsplash 4
  • Use the save options in the upper right (or save to collection if you have signed up with a free membership) or the download icon if viewing as a thumbnail grid
    unsplash 5
  • Use image in project!

Troy @ TLC

By |2017-06-20T15:31:18-07:00June 21st, 2017|Resource/Misc|

Creating .SVG images in Adobe Illustrator for PowerPoint

Adobe Illustrator is most likely going to be where designers are creating .svg images. But the .svg format has a number of options, not all are currently recognized or supported by PowerPoint. Here are the Save As options we use for PowerPoint .SVG images:

  1. In Adobe Illustrator, go to FILE > SAVE AS
  2. Change the file to SVG in the drop down
  3. In the SAVE OPTIONS dialog, use these options
    1. SVG Profile = SVG 1.1.
    2. Fonts – Type = Convert to outline
    3. Fonts – Subsetting = None.
    4. Image Location = Embed.
    5. Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities = unchecked

For even more details on the SVG save options, we developed this PDF 1-sheet reference to all Illustrator SVG options and PowerPoint compatibility. Download Here.

If you need an .svg image to experiment with, click here to download the apple image used for this blog series.

Troy @ TLC

By |2020-04-01T10:03:14-07:00January 16th, 2017|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

Slide Design Using Images and Illustrations

Just a quick slide from a recent project that I thought was pretty cool.

Slide Design Using Images and illustrations 1

Throughout this presentation, we used a layered visual styling of photo images as the base and animated vector illustrations that interacted with the photo. Rather than list the 4-5 talking points about CO2 emissions from vehicles, we visually represented vehicles with a huge tail pipe. Then, to visually support the talking points, the CO2 icon was introduced, followed by the gasoline icon, which supported the talking point about gasoline powered engines with another vector overlay (the story there was how much better gasoline has become over the decades, in terms of CO2 emissions, but that it still creates them).

Overall, the slide design using images and illustrations allowed for a presentation that was visually creative with a unique style and a happy presenter.

-Troy @ TLC

By |2016-10-10T10:55:47-07:00October 12th, 2016|Portfolio|

PowerPoint Content vs. Picture Placeholders

Inserting an image using the preset Picture Placeholders seems like a super shortcut, until things get frustrating with why images do not insert the same way every time a Picture Placeholder is used. The reason, almost always, is knowing there are two types of Placeholders – and each handles images differently.

Here is an explanation and example using a Content Placeholder vs. Picture Placeholder – and as a side note, neither option works the way I feel it really should…

CONTENT PLACEHOLDER

Inserting an image in the Content placeholder, identified by this icon, offers the option of inserting various elements: Tables, Charts, Smart Art, Video, and Images.

Insert Content icons

Inserting an image in the Content placeholder adjusts the layout to the size of the actual image. If you insert a small image, the placeholder shrinks to the small size image. If you insert a large image, the image will at maximum be the size of the slide and the placeholder will grow to that size. The downside is the preset position and size on the master layout is ignored and the slide content needs to be manually repositioned and sized.

Content placeholders

 

PICTURE PLACEHOLDER

Inserting an image in the Picture placeholder adjusts image to fill the size of the layout. The downside here is the image is often cut off and needs to be repositioned and resized using the Crop tool.

Picture placeholders

 

While both Placeholder options are pro’s and con’s, at least now you have an idea of what PowerPoint is doing and what to expect.

 

-Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-09T18:15:45-07:00August 15th, 2016|Tutorial|

Crop to Aspect Ratio & Shape in PowerPoint

When PowerPoint added image crop capabilities, the need to rely on Photoshop (or other external image editing programs) was amazingly reduced. The Image Crop tool has some great advanced options that are not well known, or used nearly enough. So, here is a demo of two great tools hidden in PowerPoint’s Image Crop tool.

Here is our sample slide and original image, a tall rectangle:

IMAGE CROP Page_1

If the goal is to use a perfect square image, it is only 3 clicks away:

  1. Select the image
  2. Go to FORMAT > CROP > ASPECT RATIO
  3. Select 1:1 and the image is cropped to a perfect square (1:1 aspect ratio) – without the image being distorted
  4. The bonus click would be moving the image within the crop to adjust what is visible

IMAGE CROP Page_6

  • 3 clicks and our test slide image now looks like this:

IMAGE CROP Page_2

The same can be used for the common 4×3 and 16×9 aspect ratios and several other options!

Another great, but not well known, option of the Image Crop tool is changing the shape of any image. All of the shapes dialog, used to add a PowerPoint shape (rectangle, circle, trapezoid, etc.) are available to images too.

  1. Select the image
  2. Go to FORMAT > CROP > CROP TO SHAPE
  3. Select any available PowerPoint shape

image crop 10

  • 3 clicks and the image can be an oval or trapezoid:

IMAGE CROP Page_4

IMAGE CROP Page_5

-Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T08:23:47-07:00April 15th, 2016|Tutorial|

Powerpoint 2016 Image Export Improvements

Two ways to export images from PowerPoint 2016

Image Export Improvements in Powerpoint 2016 have made things more interesting. Depending on previous version used, this may have been an okay result to a not-so-good result. But that has changed for the better with PowerPoint 2016.

Image Export Improvements Option 1

Here is my sample slide to demo the PowerPoint 2016 image export. Single widescreen slide  (13.33″x7.5″) with a full frame image.
 Powerpoint 2016 with Image Export Improvements 1

The original image inserted was very large (for PowerPoint needs) at 5184x3456px.
 Powerpoint 2016 with Image Export Improvements 2

A great way to export a number of slides as images is through the SAVE AS option. This export option can be used for a single slide, a selection of slides, or an entire presentation.

Go to FILE > SAVE AS > and click the SAVE TO TYPE drop down.
 Powerpoint 2016 with Image Export Improvements 3

From the available list, select .PNG or .JPG format (personal preference).
 Powerpoint 2016 with Image Export Improvements 4

Exporting this way creates good image at 1280×720 – the low end of HD resolution.
 Powerpoint 2016 with Image Export Improvements 5

 

Image Export Improvements Option 2

To export a single image, not a full slide, multiple images or slides. The advantage is a much higher resolution image.

Select the image, right click and select SAVE AS PICTURE.
 Powerpoint 2016 with Image Export Improvements 6

Exporting this way creates a much higher resolution image (depending on the original image size). This image exported to 2000x1122px.
 Powerpoint 2016 with Image Export Improvements 7

 

Conclusion

The 2 options are available and use based on what is needed. I will also say that when working with very unique page sizes (e.g. 50″x 9″), slide export as images do a much better job than previous versions.  Note: there are several 3rd party add-ins that export slides as images in a variety of formats and to any pixel size needed (Here at TLC Creative, all computers have PPTools Image Export installed).

 

-Troy@TLC

 

By |2016-08-10T08:39:10-07:00February 12th, 2016|PowerPoint|

Adobe Stock Image Service

For TLC Creative Services’ design projects, we have multiple stock asset subscriptions for images, video, music, etc. I recently noticed Adobe has a new stock image option called “Adobe Stock.” Being an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, I was excited that this may be a new CC benefit – which it is, and is not.

adobe stock 1

Adobe Stock is a new service that offers royalty-free, high quality photos and graphics. Currently Adobe lists a library of 40 million “world-class, curated images and graphics.”  The image selection is very high quality, but many images are the same (or very close) to those found on other services (which is not necessarily bad). I was hoping to find it an included option with Creative Cloud subscription (wishful thinking), which it is not (reality). It is a separate paid service that can be added to a Creative Cloud subscription.

adobe stock 3

One interesting difference from other services is there is only one size available, BIG. File formats are .jpg or .eps. The other big differentiator from other services is images can be managed directly from Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign using Libraries. Watermarked preview images are saved directly to your Adobe CC account’s library as they are added to work. If you decide to purchase, it can done directly inside the app AND the watermarked images are automatically updated to the high res, non-watermark version (which is a pretty fantastic feature!).

adobe stock 4

Cost:

    • $30 monthly for 10 images. Unused images will rollover for up to 120 images. Additional images cost just $2.99 each.
    • The other plan available is $200 a month for 750 images.

Will we be adding Adobe Stock to TLC Creative Services’ options? Not immediately. The cost (for the 750 images per month) is competitive with what we are currently using. When subscription services are up for renewal, Adobe Stock will definitely be one of the options to consider.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:05:05-07:00July 10th, 2015|Resource/Misc|

Design Idea – Image Fill Text (Part 2)

As a continuation of the previous post, we are looking at some of the advanced image sizing and placement options for Image Fill Text. Thanks to TLC staff designer, Christie, for this step-by-step tutorial and examples.

 

We are working from the same sample text.

Image Fill Text 1

1. Select the text to add an image fill too.

2. Open the FORMAT SHAPE pane to the text options.

– How to…

3. Select TEXTURE OR PICTURE FILL.

4. Click FILE.

5. Select an image. For this example, I am using a nice flower image that has lots of vibrant colors.

Image Fill Text 0

6. The auto fill position and size do not really do much for the overall visual.

Image Fill Text 13

7. Select TILE PICTURE AS TEXTURE. This will allow access to additional formatting options.

Image Fill Text 9

8. Adjust the OFFSET (X and Y), SCALE (X and Y) and ALIGNMENT options to size and position the image for the best visual.

Image Fill Text 11

8. Now the image fill adds a lot of the pink tones and a bit of the green on the edges.

Image Fill Text 5

 

 

By |2016-08-10T09:09:17-07:00February 20th, 2015|Resource/Misc, Tutorial|
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