video

#8 – Video Styles

There are so many great things when working with inserted video files in PPT 2010 this can only be an overview of some of the new tools and ways to work with them.

Here is my sample video, an abstract motion background loop:

With the movie selected the FORMAT tab offers all of the custom settings:

Videos are no longer contrained to rectangles! Any autoshape can contain a movie, just select the one you want:

Here is my sample movie set to playback in some custom shapes:

In addition the CROP TOOL works on videos now! So the next time you have a CNN news ticker running along the bottom of a video, just use the crop tool to remove it!

Almost any style options for shapes and images can be applied to videos. As example here is the RECOLOR pallet (note the pallet gives a live preview of the video in the thumbnails):

Here is the video changed to a blue from its original pink – just 3 clicks!

Here is the sample video with a lot of style settings applied:
– Drop shadow
– Gradient outline
– 3D perspective
– Reflection (that plays in synce with video!)

And the video played perfect, even with all of the custom styles applied.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:20:04-07:00November 18th, 2009|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

#6 – Video and Audio Options

The Microsoft development team has added some really, really great usability options for working with video and audio files!

First, when a video or audio file is inserted it can easily be previewed from the edit view with full playback controls:

A. Play/Pause
B. Playback duration, which is draggable
C. Step forward/back (approx. 1/4 second per click)
D. Timecode
E. Volume control

In slideshow a pop-up playback bar can be activated – just move the mouse to view it (note: the pop-up playback bar can also be disabled during a slideshow (my preference)) that has play/pause, playback duration indicator (also draggable) and volume control.

When a video is inserted it by default shows the 1st frame of the video (often black) which is called the “Poster Frame”. In PPT 2010 the Poster Frame can easily be set to any frame in the video or an external image!

Here is the new Ribbon tab to Edit video files:

It makes many of the current options easy to find and set. It also adds some new features, like the “Trim Video” button.

The Trim Video button opens a new dialog box that most of the time replaces the need for video editing software!

A. Playback preview
B. The orange left bar can be moved to any point and the video begins playback from there (called ‘trim’).
C. The red right bar can be moved/slide to any point, but not past the begin/orange bar, and the video ends there
D. Shows the timecode position of the begin/orange bar
E. Shows the timecode position of the end/red bar

There are even more fine tuning options for both videos and audio files. PPT 2010 really opens PowerPoint to the power of multimedia integration!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:21:21-07:00November 14th, 2009|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

#2 – Insert ANY Movie Type and EMBED

PPT 2007 brought the new .pptx file format. PPT 2010 starts taking full advantage of the new file format with the ability to truly embed video files!

Just look at the INSERT >> VIDEO >> VIDEO FROM FILE options listed (Yes, that is Quicktime, .mp4, and mpeg2!).

In the presentation info section is details about the EMBEDDED video.

– Optimize Compatability: I inserted a quicktime video (which plays no problem). But Microsoft really wants its own format (.wmv) and this feature will convert all embedded videos to .wmv (which it does very well, maintaining quality and producing small file sizes).
– Reduce The Size of Media Files: .wmv files can be compressed in 3 quality levels, choose the level needed here (note: you can go directly to this feature, skipping “optimize compatability”). It also has an ‘undo’ option. I have been optimizing videos, reviewing in slideshow and deciding if the quality was maintained, if not I just ‘undo’. For this sample I inserted a 21MB .mov and it was compressed to a 1.5MB .wmv with no visible quality difference.

The embed video functionality (and the video options detailed later) will revolutionize the use of video in presentations. Microsoft has eliminated linking issues, forgotten files (Yes, Mr. Client you need to have both the presentation and the video files on your computer – in the same folder) and format issues (no, Mr. Client, I am sorry but Microsoft and Apple do not play together when it comes to using Quicktime videos in a presntation).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:23:27-07:00November 6th, 2009|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

StockExpert – Images and Video

StockExpert seems similiar to iStockPhoto when I do a search – lots of the same or similiar images. They are all good quality and the pricing is good (or looking better as sites like iStockPhoto slowly raise their rates). One new feature is the selection of videos – which will be more important with the release of PowerPoint 2010 and the whole world goes video crazy. The search engine is intuitive and gives more precise results than some others – this may be because StockExpert was acquired by Jupiter Images who injected much of there meta tagging and search technology.

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $2 for standard PPT use (small, 800px)
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 1 year unlimited = $1,500)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 4,449 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 958 results

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:36:21-07:00October 2nd, 2009|Resource/Misc|

Photos.com (and Clipart.com)

Photos.com is venerable, being one of the few companies around before the internet. I have a collection of (costly) Photo CDs from them. And if you every purchased one of the bright boxes full of “4 Million Images of CD/DVD” you know photos.com. Of course, that long history means some of the images are a bit dated, or perhaps seen in many other layouts over the years.

But the images are good quality, the search is nice and the thumbnails easy to review and use. The subscription rates are some of the best, so another reason you see the images a lot. You can also get some things here not available at others: a sound effects library, custom fonts and Flash animations.

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: Yes
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $5 for standard PPT use (‘multimedia’, 500-800px)
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 1 year unlimited of photo images only = $450 OR photos+vector+Flash+audio+fonts = $1,200)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 4,670 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 7,348 results

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:36:55-07:00September 30th, 2009|Resource/Misc|

Getty Images – Real People, Royalty Free

Getty Images is an industry force, owning many of the other services, used by major media (newspaper, magazine, TV) and the place to get images of real (famous) people, real-life video and audio. This is the benchmark for professional quality images and breadth of search options. It does come at a price, but you definitely get what is paid for. Everyone should click the “Search Tips” button and read how to maximize search results (same tips apply to virtually all sites).

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: Yes
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $35-150 ($35 = “web & Multimedia” 413px)
Subscription Download: Yes (this goes to photos.com – one of the many they own)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 5,301 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 11,616 results

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:37:23-07:00September 28th, 2009|Resource/Misc|

iStockPhoto – Independent Artists for Variety

iStockPhoto can take credit for revolutionizing royalty free images. They permit anyone to upload images (vs. contracted artists/photographers) and the artist receives a royalty whenever the image is purchased (vs. paying upfront fees to the contracted artists). The good is unbelievable variety, often outside the expected and norm (independent artists). The bad is anyone can add images, so not everything is professional and polished…

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: Yes
Pay Per Image: Yes (average for “Medium” image $9 each)
Subscription Download: Sort Of

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 11,605 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 18,889 reults

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:39:24-07:00September 24th, 2009|Resource/Misc|

Shutterstock Photos – Lots of images, including vector!

Shutterstock Photos is one of the sites I have been using a lot lately. They offer a huge selection of images, all professional quaility, though some a bit dated and a great selection. One option I have made really good use of is the number and diversity of vector art, especially for developing template background images.

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes (optional with subscription)
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: Yes average $10 each)
Subscription Download: Yes (25 images per day for 1, 3, 6, 12 month durations)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 17,206 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 3,696 results

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T09:39:52-07:00September 23rd, 2009|Resource/Misc|

Creativity Boost with MoodStream

Here is a nifty online tool for those days creativity is just not there (or if you have some time to stare at the computer and be entertained). Getty Images has MoodStream.

Pulling from its vast image and video libraries you can have a full screen never ending stream of images and video based on your parameters. Adjust the sliders or use a preset, click ‘Refresh Stream’ and watch.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T10:19:57-07:00May 21st, 2009|Software/Add-Ins|

Multimedia Lecture

This is the lecture mentioned in the previous post. This is a great use of PowerPoint and is a great teaching tool!

For this project I was supplied with two items:
1. Raw video recording of the instructor/presenter (recorded by professional video crew with monitored audio recording).
2. PowerPoint slide deck instructor used.

The project process was:
1. Edit video to remove long pauses, audience comments (no handheld microphone for audience, so to quiet to hear on recording), pan & zoom (crop) to bring presenter to full screen (especially important as video of instructor is small).
2. Optimize PowerPoint deck for use in video.
3. Sync lecture and slides (this is time consuming when there is no cue sheet or wide angle recording to see both the presenter and the projected slides – but I did learn a lot about molecular genetics as I listened to the full lecture 3-4X’s!).
4. Setup the interactive table of contents.
5. Render video(s), which were .flv format. Instructor at 29.97 FPS and slides at 5 FPS.
6. Prep for CDROM playback.
7. Prep for local computer (hard drive) playback.
8. Develop custom installer to automate process of copying files to computer, creating shortcuts, etc.
9. Develop the launch/install app. outlined in previous post.
10. Test, test, test.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T11:05:49-07:00February 12th, 2009|Portfolio|
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