PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Apply Shadow Effects to Shapes

You have already learned how to apply the preset shape effects in PowerPoint 2010. These presets are a combination of various shape effects available — in this tutorial, I’ll show you how you can apply Shadow, one of these effects to selected shapes in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Learn how you can apply shadow effects to shape(s) in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Effects, PowerPoint 2010, Shapes, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Drawing Scribble Lines in PowerPoint

You have already learned how to use three of the four line drawing tools in PowerPoint 2010: Line, Curve, and Freeform. In this tutorial, I show you how you can use the last of these line tools: the Scribble Line tool. Drawing with the Scribble line is almost the same as drawing with the Freeform line — but there is one difference. You don’t need to double click to create an end point for your line. Just like you draw with a pencil on a piece of paper, your line stops the minute you stop drawing it. Having said that, you still need to practice to make your scribble lines perfect. Let us get started and explore how the Scribble line option works.

Learn how to draw with the Scribble line tool in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Lines, PowerPoint 2010, Shapes, Tutorials

PowerPoint to Flash with Wildform Flair: Conversation with Colby Devitt

  Colby Devitt is the president and co-founder of Wildform, a multimedia software company based out of Los Angeles, USA. In this conversation, Colby discusses the advantages of converting from PowerPoint to Flash, and how Wildform’s Flair performs the conversion in a more efficient way.

Geetesh: What are the ways in which converting a PowerPoint presentation to Flash can complement its message, distribution, and impact?

Colby: The Flash format provides many advantages for distributing multimedia presentations. To view PowerPoint files you either need the full PowerPoint authoring tool or the PowerPoint viewer installed. Neither of these comes standard on any computer. They are also Windows-based products. When you convert your PowerPoint to Flash it becomes viewable by anyone with an Internet connection. The Flash player works on all browsers used on Windows, Mac, and Linux and Flash files even play on some popular mobile platforms like Android. So when you put your presentation into the Flash format you dramatically increase the size of your potential audience.

The converted Flash files are also almost always substantially smaller than the PowerPoint source file which makes them much friendlier to display on the Web or to email. You also gain access to the many features of Flash such as the ability to add links, ActionScript, SCORM tracking for e-learning, etc.

Geetesh: Wildform products don’t do a one-click PowerPoint to Flash conversion with respect to the distinct features and capabilities of both the PowerPoint and Flash file formats — how does this result in a more faithful and cleaner output.

Colby: There are two basic ways to convert PowerPoint to Flash.

One is to record a movie of the PowerPoint playing. This can yield a very faithful result. However, the file size is usually very large. It is also impossible to change any element of the file after you have made your conversion. This means that to make any change you have to go back to your source file and then convert it all over again. Flair allows you to convert the PowerPoint into an editable Flash file. This allows you to make changes even after the conversion process to adjust elements, add new elements, enhance your presentation with Flash only features, and so on. In addition, all the elements that can be turned into vectors, such as shapes, callouts, background, etc. are transformed this way which greatly reduces file sizes.

See Also: The Benefits of Converting PowerPoint to Flash by Colby Devitt

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Colby Devitt, Interviews, PowerPoint, PowerPoint Flash, Wildform

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Apply Preset Effects to Shapes In PowerPoint

In PowerPoint 2010 there are six types of Shape Effects that you can use — and more than one of these effects can be applied to a selected shape. It goes without saying that some combinations of these effects look better than others — the restraint to not go overboard is always a good thing. On the other hand, trying out all the effect combinations may take a lot of time — fortunately, the Presets option comes to your rescue.

Learn how to apply Preset effects to shapes in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Effects, PowerPoint 2010, Shapes, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Drawing Freeform Lines in PowerPoint

PowerPoint provides four line drawing tools: line, curve, freeform, and scribble. You have already explored the Line and Curve tools, and in this tutorial you will learn how you can use the Freeform tool to create lines that can be drawn with more creative freedom — in fact the Freeform tool lets you draw anything almost like drawing with a pencil on a piece of paper. In addition, you can create straight lines as well.

Learn how to draw with the Freeform line tool in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Lines, PowerPoint 2010, Shapes, Tutorials