If you have some understanding on adding crossfade effects or transition in videos, you will know that it is a pretty simple process. What about PowerPoint? Well, there are two common ways you can do so. The simplest way to achieve crossfade animations in PowerPoint is using the fade transition provided. First, insert an image on each slide. Next, go to the Transition tab and add Fade > Effect Options > Fade Smoothly. On Advance Slide, set it to a timing of your preference so that it will automatically advance to the next slide after a certain timing. Now click on Apply to All so that the entire presentation will crossfade. While this technique is simple, it has its limitation as well. Say if you want to have a set of images crossfading at the corner of a slide while you show your content, using the fade transition would meant that you are required to create multiple slides and that is certainly not what you would hope to achieve since you would have a hard time backtracking to the content.

Instead, you can make use of custom animation to do so. First, add all the images that you wish to crossfade on the current slide. Next, click on the image (A) that is on the top. Add Exit > Fade animation onto the image (A). Now, click on the image (B) right below the top image (A). Add an Entrance > Fade animation onto the image (B). Add an Exit > Fade animation onto the image (B). Now, repeat the same for rest of the images. Now, hold the Ctrl key, select all the Exit Fade animations and set it to Start After Previous. Next, hold Ctrl key again and select all Entrance Fade animations and set it to Start With Previous. Select all the added animations and set the delay to 1 second. This allows each image to stay hold for a while before transitioning to the next one. Lastly, align the images so that they are all in the same position. To do so, select all the images, go Picture Tools > Format, click Align > Align Center, then Align > Align Middle. Now, you will have a smooth crossfading animations in PowerPoint!

Download the sample here:
Crossfade Animations in PowerPoint

Swapping objects so that object A, which is initially on top of object B, will now be on the bottom after the animation. Natively, PowerPoint doesn't have such feature to achieve this, though I believe the same applies to most animation tools out there. This however, can be achieved with a neat workaround. First, you have to understand that every shape, text, images and many more, are considered an individual object. If you use Photoshop, Flash or similar tools, think of each object being in their own layer, where they can be rearranged in orders. Objects can thus be sent to the back, bring forward and so on, so as to readjust their ordering. By know this concept, you will then be able to workaround and create a swap animation on PowerPoint.

To do so, you will need 3 objects. Object A, B and C, where C will be a duplicate of object B. Next, re-order the objects so that B will be on top, followed by A, then finally C. Then, add Disappear effect and set it to after previous on object C. This will allow you to hide it at the start. Next, add the same custom motion path on both object C and B such that it creates a swap motion (it should be in a loop). Set the object B to start on click while object C to start with previous. Add Disappear effect on object B, start on with previous and delay to 1 second. Do the same to object C, except with an Appear effect instead. This will allow object C (the duplicate) which is under object A to replace B during the animation. 

With further tweaks, you can also improvise the swap animation by having the animated objects shrink during the swap animation so as to apply a more 3 dimensional feel. Swap technique is also an useful animation where you can apply it to various situations. An example would be Orbital animation, which basically uses similar technique showing an animation of the moon orbiting around the earth. Take a look at the link below to see how Swap Animation technique works: Swap Animation PPT

PowerPoint comes with a set of ready made designs and templates that would usually cater to your need. This is what makes PowerPoint easy and friendly to use. With PowerPoint 2007 and newer versions, shapes, texts and smartarts now have more formatting sets (color, fonts, effects and etc) than you would ever get to use. However, there would be a time where you will be thinking of mixing these formatting to suit your need. Unfortunately, changing the design means reformatting the entire presentation slides, where all the shapes, texts and smartarts would be affected. 

There's a way to achieve hybrid formatting. First, for those who are unaware of the design and formatting sets, open up PowerPoint, then click on the Design tab. Under Design, you will see various formatting such as Colors, Fonts, Effects, Background Styles and many more. These features are available to help you format your presentation without the need to edit them manually, such as assigning a particular color to all the shapes or a particular font to all the texts. In short, it makes thing much easier. A combination of these formattings allow you to create tons of variations to each presentation. Technically, with some tweaking, you could say that no two presentation will be the exact replica.

Now, in order to achieve hybrid formatting, open up a blank presentation. Next, create the object that you wish to have (e.g. text, shape, smartart, chart etc). Give it the formatting of your choice. Then, right click on it and select Copy. Go back to your initial presentation and paste the object onto a slide. You will see that the object changes to the formatting based on the initial presentation. To switch it back to the new formatting you have created, click on the 'Paste Options' icon beside the object and select 'Keep Source Formatting'. You may also wish to save the new formatting by saving it as a presentation file for future use. The advantage of this hybrid formatting allows you to mix various preset designs made available in PowerPoint. However, do keep in mind that by doing so, these hybrid formatted objects will stick to their own formatting, thus they will remain unchanged when you attempt to change the design 'globally'. 

PowerPoint Heaven eConvention 2012 is up! An annual event for PowerPointers to submit PowerPoint artworks, games and animations. Week 1 content is now available. Stay tuned for more updates on Week 2 (10 Jan 2013)!

Link: http://pptheaven.mvps.org/

Based on the consumer preview, below is roughly the list of new features you will expect to see. More detailed information will be up when it is officially release.

Better reorder feature selection pane 
Welcome back - where you left last editing.
Save as mp4 video!
Merge shapes
Better presenter view, show presenter view in slide show.
Slide sorter in slide show
Pin/unpin pane
Advanced editing and artistic effects on background image.
Eyedropper!
Crop to shape
Crop to aspect ratio
Crop to fill
Crop to fit
Reset picture and size
Right click > shortcut style, fill and outline for objects.

No, not those subtitles or captions that appear on television. Rather, I am referring to the "Click to add subtitle" that you will see on the title slide when starting a new presentation. So what's exactly the great deal about the subtitle? Seldom, we see a presentation that actually include a subtitle to the subtitle textbox (placeholder). At least that is what I have been seeing for the past few years. Subtitle however, does have the ability to send persuasive and meaningful message across the audience if utilized correctly. One way would be to make use of it across the entire presentation. In this situation, the title does the role of conveying what the presenter will be presenting, while the subtitle can act as a sub header much like those we see in reports. For instance, given a scenario where you are required to talk about suggestions for being an equal opportunity employer, your presentation contains a section covering 3 suggestions for Job Advertisement, Job Application Form, and Interview - one suggestion each. Subtitle can thus be used instead of bullet points.

In some cases, subtitles can also go beyond its role. Instead of simply indicating what you are presenting on, leverage on the potential of subtitle. For instance, you can invoke curiosity by having your subtitle in question form or a phrase to summarize the point you would like to convey. This not only helps bring in the attention of the audience, but also improves the flow of your presentation and keep it interesting.

An issue with Excel is that you are not able to generate links that can dynamically increase, say I want to collate the final mark of every student (e.g. 100 of them) from a list of spreadsheets that they have saved. One way to do this is to have them save according to their class index number. If the class size is 100, we will have 100 files named 1.xlsx to 100.xlsx. However, in order to collate the result, it will be tedious as you will have to open up manually and record their marks. You can create a new spreadsheet that collate all the results by referencing. For instance, on the new spreadsheet, type this in the cell A1: ='C:\Users\teacher\Desktop\excel\[1.xlsx]Sheet1'!$C$20 (where C20 represents the cell showing the total mark that a particular student has obtained).

Well, that would make life easy, isn't it? Unfortunately, this is where you would get stuck with a static file path. Try dragging it and Excel will not increase the file number (e.g. from 1.xlsx to 2.xlsx) automatically for you. The workaround is slightly complicated but gets the work done easily. This requires the use 2 functions: CONCATENATE() and INDIRECT(). First, create a column starting from cell A1 with 1 to 100. This will be used as a file name reference. Next, you will have to separate the file name (which is 1 to 100) with the rest of the file path. In this case, we will use the CONCATENATE() function so that the file name in the file path is a standalone number (referencing column A as mentioned earlier on) which will increase automatically. Using the previous file path example ='C:\Users\teacher\Desktop\excel\[1.xlsx]Sheet1'!$C$20,  we will apply the CONCATENATE() function on cell B1 so that it appears as =CONCATENATE("'C:\Users\teacher\Desktop\excel\[",A1,".xlsx]Sheet1'!$C$20"). Once you are done, cell B1 should look like 'C:\Users\teacher\Desktop\excel\[1.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1. Drag it all the way to 100 so that you should be able to see the paths update accordingly.

We are not done yet though. What shown on each cell has become a String due to the use of CONCATENATE() function. Meaning they are simply a combination of text which makes sense to us, but not Excel. Thus the mark referencing will not occur. To resolve this, you will need to make use of INDIRECT(), which is a very useful function. What INDIRECT() function does is it will take a text string and convert it to a proper reference, thus allowing the spreadsheet to reference the final mark of the students. To do so, add the INDIRECT() function to the existing code: =INDIRECT(CONCATENATE("'C:\Users\teacher\Desktop\excel\[",A1,".xlsx]Sheet1'!$C$20")) and re-drag it again. Now, the final mark of the students should be collated easily. One thing to note however, is that reference error may occur. To resolve this, just open up all the files, then head back to the spreadsheet where the marks are collated.

Have you watched the movie Inception? Well, if you had (or even if you hadn't), here's a Christmas gift in the form of PowerPoint! In this PowerPoint, a presentation is embedded within a presentation which is embedded in yet another presentation and it goes on. Don't get it? Well, open up the presentation and go deeper into the presentation by clicking on the center of the slideshow till you reach the final state! You will see then see snow, greetings and.. Merry Christmas! Press 'Esc' to kick yourself out of each presentation. Have fun :)

For PowerPoint 2010: Download now
For PowerPoint 2007 and below: Download now 

If you need to perform a countdown or break timer during your presentation, PowerPoint does the job. In fact, there are many ready-made PowerPoint timers out on the web that you can easily access to and the methods of executing them range from the use of PowerPoint animations to VBA. Here's another neat way you can try out if you are new to PowerPoint and want a quick and easy way to create a timer in PowerPoint.

In traditional timer using animations, editing the numbers manually can be cumbersome. Imagine you are going to do a 1 minute counter or break timer and you want to have the timer increment every second. You will eventually have to edit the number 59 times manually. So why not let PowerPoint does the job instead? To achieve this, you can use the Slide Number and Slide Transition.

1. First, enter the Slide Master (View > Slide Master). 
2. Enlarge the slide number on the main master itself.
3. Set it to a font size of approximately 90-100, then align it to center of the slide.  
4. Next, click on the Design > Page Setup and set to number slides from 0.
5. Now, close Slide Master. Change your first slide to a Title and Content Layout. (Right click > Layout > Title and Content)
6. Then click Insert > Slide Number. Check the Slide Number and click Apply to All. 
7. Go to the Transition tab (Animation tab for PowerPoint 2007), set it to Advance Slide Automatically After 1 second, which will be 00:01:00. 
8. Then simply duplicate the slides using Ctrl-D to increment the numbers automatically. 
9. You can also add a minute counter that keeps track of the time after every 60 seconds/slides.
10. Once you are done, go back to the first slide and uncheck Advance Slide Automatically After if you do not want it to start immediately.

Here's an example of the PowerPoint Timer: Download Now

For all Hong Kong movie lovers out there, remember Golden Harvest, the production company that produced martial arts films starring actors such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan? Well, you might not remember the company name, but you will definitely recognize its prominent opening animation!

Here's a tribute of the Golden Harvest intro animation dedicated to all the HK movie lovers out there, done entirely using PowerPoint. Download the Golden Harvest animation now! Note that there might be slight animation issue if you are using PowerPoint 2010. In this case, you can view the animation on YouTube instead:

Few years back, I have provided a sample for Bevel and Shadow effects on balls using PowerPoint 2003. The sample includes Ball Effects variations (5 variations, 4 colors each) accompanied by 6 examples on how you can make use them. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the link: http://msmvps.com/blogs/tohlz/archive/2006/06/13/100958.aspx

Today, with the newer versions of PowerPoint (from 2007 and onwards), you can create these effects more easily and realistically without the need of multiple layering. Manipulating the properties under 3-D Format, you can now create spheres that looks much better than the default ones provided by Shape Styles. But by saying easy, it doesn't mean you can create a sphere with just a few clicks, especially since modifying the size of the shape will mess up your creation of the sphere. Thus, it is important to decide on the size that you are looking for before you start going on testing out with the settings and variables. As with the ball effect sample I have created previously, here's a completely new Ball Effects sample done using PowerPoint 2010. The sample comes with 9 variations and 4 colors each, accompanied with an example of image inserted into the sphere (For other examples, you can check out my original version on the link above).

Download the Ball Effects 2010 here.

We have come to the last image. The fifth one is slightly complicated. The concept is to do a moon-like curve that cover about 3/4 of the background while leaving 1/4 of the top, the left and bottom, and 1/4 of the right as the background. It uses Basic Shapes > Tear Drop. Now you may ask, why not simply use an oval shape to do it? The reason for not doing so is due to the top right corner, which cannot be covered completely if you use an oval shape. Likewise, increase the size may not get the result of your preference and covering it with additional shape may not look neat. The Tear drop shape does just the job in this case. Next, add a simple glow to the tear drop as an outline for the content panel.

For the banner of the content slide, you will need a random abstract image cropped and then added with Picture Effects > Soft Edges > 5 Point. Then, place a rectangle on top of the banner, add a black outline and set the transparency to 50%. As for the background, I gave it a light blue recolor and an Artistic Effect > Texturizer (which is only available in PowerPoint 2010). 

Through these articles, you can see that it is not as hard as it seems to create a PowerPoint template of your liking, with the help of a background image. Play around with the various shapes provided in PowerPoint and you should be able to create your own customized PowerPoint template. You can also download the actual PowerPoint Template Demo that has been shown so far.

Occasionally, pre-made PowerPoint templates design may not be what you are looking for or there simply isn't any available that fits a specific theme/topic. In this case, you may want to create one yourself. So what we have previously are couple of sample template slides created in PowerPoint (apart from the background, which can also be created using Freeform if you have the time to do so).

The first image shown below is a sample title slide. For the background, there are many royalty free or stock images (for a small sum of fee) that you can find on internet. The curved banner is created using Insert > Shapes > Stars and Banners > Wave. You can also apply some shape effects to make it looks more realistic. First, add an Accent Color 3, 8 pt glow. This applies a glow effect which makes it looks distinct from the background. Next, add a Shadow > Outer > Offset Center to darken the glow.

The second image uses the same wave shape, but with a few tweaks. You need to skew the image using the bottom yellow handle on the wave, lengthen the width and shorten the height, then rotate the shape. Sound complicated? Second image on the right is a full view of how it is done. Next, give it a green glow as stated on the first image, then an Inner > Inside Center Shadow. This makes the banner sink into the background.

The third image is a content slide, with the content panel done using an oval shape (slightly longer height) and the ring made using Insert Shapes > Basic Shapes > Block Arc. Then, give both the shapes an outline a dark green outline (or an outline color that is similar and slightly darker to the background). Next, right click on the shapes, select Format Shape and set Fill > Transparency to 20%. 

 The fourth image is a wave shape. Increase the height so that the wave does not look overly curved. Then add an appropriate outline color, and an additional rectangle to cover the remaining background. 

Last image will be revealed in the next article. See if you can figure out how it works!

Professionals tend to make use of graphical editing tool such as Photoshop to create their templates. However, if you are not familiar with these software, PowerPoint comes with many great features, and some of them include ready made shapes and shape styles that are really useful in creating your own templates. Below are some sample screenshots. Can you figure out how these are done? Find out more in the upcoming article.

Many people will agree that it is good to have an agenda or table of contents in a presentation. Reasons can include laying out clearly by telling your audience what topics are being covered and knowing what you are going to unfold next, length of the presentation and acting as a guidance for your audience.

But are they really necessary? Probably not in all situations. Here's a couple of thoughts:

1. True that without an agenda, audience may sit through a presentation lost in a maze and not knowing when it will end. However, it is also true that in most presentations, a time period or limit is always given or known by the audience beforehand. An agenda in this case, is not a solution for presenters who knowingly exceed the time limit. Instead, one should be well prepared by rehearsing your presentation thoroughly. If you have only 10 minutes to present a case, audience will start wondering when you are going to end if you exceed the time limit. And if you are only given a short amount of time for your presentation, an agenda may not be something you want to include on a slide. 

2. A good presentation is akin to storytelling or movie. You start the presentation strong, capture the attention of your audience and bring them from one chapter to the next, gradually unveiling the mystery. In some cases, agenda may act as an intermission between an introduction and the rest of your slides, much like a commercial break, which may not flow well with your story, or a spoiler that spells out everything clearly and spoils the surprise.

3. When presenting for instance, a business idea to your superior or client, a handout of your slides may be required to be submitted to them before your presentation. In this case, an agenda is not necessary since they would have skimmed through your handout and briefly know the topics you are going to cover.

4. With agenda, audience can follow your presentation like a navigation guide, yet being a good presenter, you can become a driver and lead the passengers to the destination smoothly. The passengers do not necessarily need to know how to get to the destination, they just need to get there comfortably. Likewise, a bumpy ride will not give a good experience even if informed of the path that will be taken.

5. Instead of an agenda, one can use a progress bar similar to a website's shopping cart checkout process (example 1, example 2) which lists out the main topics and highlights the current ones you are presenting. By doing so, audience can know what you are going to cover without hurting the flow or time of the presentation.

If you are working on a filming project or any other works that require the heavy use of video editing software, Windows Movie Maker may not be the best software out there due to the light features it has. However, for quick and easy editing, you should give it a try. That's what I have been experimenting on recently. First thing I have come upon is a video import issue, and this is definitely a tough one if you have not been a geek with tons of video editing and converting software. To talk about it briefly, you might encounter two situations. One is problem handling a file format that Windows Movie Maker does not support (e.g. avi is probably one of them), and two is you might end up waiting indefinitely after importing (probably due to some error when recording the video).

In my case, it was the latter issue. We had many videos, all with short takes of less than 10 seconds. All videos work except one, which seems to have sort of corrupted during the recording. Viewing its file properties show that the total time was 2 hours long instead of original time of less than 10 seconds. So be it format support or import issue, you wouldn't want to start installing countless of software just to convert the file or re-film the scene. Online conversion might work, but then again, looking for a good site might take some time due to the large number of video extensions that exist today. 

Here's a quick tip to resolve this. Why not let YouTube do the work? If you have a YouTube account, uploading the video shouldn't take long. Next, fire up your search engine and look for an online converter that convert youtube to HD or youtube to wmv. Furthermore, if you have recorded an audio using your video cam, you can't simply import only the audio and remove the video on movie maker. In this case, there's a couple of sites that allow you to convert youtube video to mp3. 

And there you go, hassle free. :)

In this article, I would like to briefly talk about Neodymium Sphere Magnets. For those who are not sure what this is all about, basically, one makes use of small (but strong) Neodymium magnets (usually consists of 216 magnets, in the size of 5mm in diameter) to make limitless shapes ranging from abstract to geometry and flat to 3D. It is marketed under several brand names such as NeoCube, Nanodots, Zen Magnets, CyberCube, and Buckyballs to name a few. Like any magnets, each sphere has its north and south pole and thus do not simply attract in any direction of your choice.

If you are familiar with the picture styles on PowerPoint 2007, you will know that styles such as Simple Frame and Beveled Matte which allow you to style up your pictures will also soften them at the same time, causing the pictures to look blur. In PowerPoint 2010, you will still get the same effect. However, you can enhance it using the new Picture Corrections tool which allows you to bring your picture back to its sharp and crisp look. To do so, simply double click on the picture to bring out the Picture Tools ribbon. Under Adjust section, click on Corrections > Sharpen and Soften > Sharpen 50%. Alternately, you can right click on the picture and select Format Picture > Picture Corrections, which will give you even more control up to Sharpen 100%, though I wouldn't recommend going beyond the 70% mark. Below is an example showing you the original picture, after picture style added and the Sharpen enhancement.

If you happen to watch anime frequently, during your childhood, or at least chanced upon a few anime series, you would have seen those familiar running scenes (See Anime Run Around on youtube for a rough idea), where anime characters run around very quickly. In this article, we will talk about the concept on how you can create/ mimic the running animation using PowerPoint. To start off, think of anime as a flipbook, where every movement is a new frame (in this case, slide) by itself. Thus, instead of using animation effects available on PowerPoint, you link the movements together through tons of slides (Advanced PowerPointers may use Flash Once effect as a substitute for easier addition of other animations occurring in the background, though it has much more complex implementation for starters). Sounds difficult? Yes, but it's really easy once you have a grasp of the concept (Note: The slide by slide animation, has also been achieved by several PowerPoint animators (notably Blastoons on PowerPoint Heaven)). However, what we are going to cover is the running animation concept, rather than slide by slide animation as a whole.

The basic running animation is extremely easy and can be achieved in as little as two slides, while the advanced version requires roughly 6-10 slides depending on the details of your animated character. To achieve the basic running animation, all you will need to do is to link the leg movements. First, we will start off by drawing a simple character similar to the popular Newground's madness series. Now, instead of having two circular legs, we create four with equal spacing apart. Duplicate the slide so that we have two similar slides. On the second slide, reposition the legs so that they are now 'in between' the ones from the previous slide. Next, select the Transition tab. Under Timing section, put a checkmark on the After option. Leave it as 00:00.00. Click Apply to All slides. This will allow it to advance to the next slide automatically. Then, go to Slide Show tab and select Set Up Slide Show. Put a checkmark on Loop Continuously until 'Esc' so that the two slides will loop infinitely. Run the slide show and we are done!  

Download Running Demonstration at: http://pptheaven.mvps.org/experimental.html

The basic running animation concept above can be used in scenes where a character is being chased after or running in panic. If you are going for the more advanced running animation, you will also need the hand movements. It will not be as simple as the previous ones, though the same concept applies. We will need roughly eight slides this time round, with the two slides duplicated another three times. When done correctly, you should see alternate leg movements throughout. Next, will be the hand movements. What we need to do here is to create a swinging illusion. Start off by using three slides to adjust the lower hand down to the back evenly. Then, using the next three slides to adjust the upper hand down to the back, while the lower hand now goes back to its original position. Take note that for the upper hand, you will need to do a right click then select Send to Back so as to show that the upper hand is on the other side of the body. For the remaining two slides, bring the upper hand back to somewhere close to the initial position, but not quite as it will be looped back to the first slide, which is has the initial position. Now, run the slide show and we are done!

Download Running Demonstration Advance at: http://pptheaven.mvps.org/experimental.html