August 2006 - Posts

Mike Fried's PowerPoint and Development Blog
Thu, Aug 31 2006 14:27
Mike Fried is a developer in the PowerPoint Team working on Office 2003 and 2007. He has started blogging recently and would like to share with us some useful information where people (particularly PowerPoint customers) can put it to some good use. You can take a look at his blog here: http://blogs.msdn.com/mike_frieds_blog/
by tohlz | with no comments
Speed Test
Wed, Aug 30 2006 18:25

Nothing related to PowerPoint, but a cool looking Bandwidth speed test which you might be interested to try out!
http://www.speedtest.net

by tohlz | 1 comment(s)
Survey Shows How to Stop Annoying Audiences
Mon, Aug 28 2006 17:12
Came across an article today, which you maybe interested to take a look at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/articles/pptsurvey_article.htm
by tohlz | with no comments
Scrolling Banner - Tutorial
Mon, Aug 28 2006 2:11
Previously, I have posted a sample on how scrolling banner can be achieved in PowerPoint. Today, I will go through the steps:

First of all, you will need to create a duplicate of the scrolling banner. To do so, right click on the banner, and click Copy.
Next, click Edit > Paste.
Position the original banner on the top of the slide.
Now, place the duplicated banner beside (at the right side) the original ones.
Ensure that there are no gaps in between.
Hold down the Shift key and select both the banners.
Click the Draw button on the drawing toolbar located at the bottom.
Select Group.
Click Slide Show > Custom Animation.
Click Add Effect > Motion Path > Left.
Double click on the added motion path. This will bring up the effect options dialog box.
Uncheck Smooth Start and Smooth End.
Click on the Timing tab.
Click on the Repeat dropdown field and select "Until End of Slide".
Set a speed of your preference. Medium should be good enough.
Ok your way out.
Now here's the tougher part. Basically, what we are trying to achieve here is to have the banner in view first. When the motion path stops, the end position should looks exactly the same as the start position.
Hence, you will need to increase the length of the motion path. How long exactly? It must be the length of one banner.
To do so, select the motion path, then hold down the shift key.
Click on the end point of the motion path, drag it till it is the length of one banner.
Release and preview it in the slide show.
If you can still see minor jerks, do a little adjustment on the motion path until it is perfect.
by tohlz | with no comments
Fikree's Projects - Pointer's Way 3 Demo released
Sat, Aug 26 2006 6:12
Fikree has released his Pointer's Way 3 Demo. You can download the PowerPoint game here. Take note that it is in .rar format: http://files.filefront.com/Pointers_Way_3_Demo/;5452230;;/fileinfo.html

To download the previous PowerPoint games by Fikree, check out PowerPoint Heaven at:
http://pptheaven.mvps.org/fikree.html
by tohlz | with no comments
OfficeFX Review
Thu, Aug 24 2006 18:15
Just finished the review for Instant Effects' OfficeFX. OfficeFX is a third party software by Instant Effects which allows you to transform static PowerPoint slides into dynamic presentations with stunning 3D visual impact. The write-up is also accompanied by videos which is converted through OfficeFX itself. The review can be found in PowerPoint Heaven, under the Cool Add-ins section here.
by tohlz | with no comments
Scrolling Banner
Wed, Aug 23 2006 12:38

You have a banner or several images that you want them to scroll across the screen continuously, looping itself until the next slide. In addition, you don't want any gaps in between. This is a question posted in the PowerPoint newsgroup recently. Here's a sample that I have come up with and would like to share with everyone:
http://pptheaven.mvps.org/blog/ScrollingPictures.zip

Tutorial will be up next.

by tohlz | 3 comment(s)
Circle the keywords
Mon, Aug 21 2006 17:21

Lets say you have a slide filled up with a number of points. During the slide show, you want the audience to take note on certain keywords. One way you can do is to draw a ring (a circle without fill color) around the keywords and animate it in such a way that the ring is being drawn around the keywords automatically during the slide show.

This can be done in PowerPoint, with the help of Wheel effect. Using PowerPoint 2002/XP and above, go to the Custom Animation (Click Slide Show > Custom Animation).
Select the ring on the slide.
Now, click Add Effect > Entrance > Wheel. (Click on More Effects if it doesn't appear on the list).
Select the added Wheel effect.
You will see that the default number of spokes is set to 4. Change it to 1 and we are done.
You can then adjust the speed to your preference.

You can also take a look at my Traditional Countdown tutorial which is similar to the above tutorial. Traditional Countdown tutorial also includes 2 samples for you to take a look at:
http://pptheaven.mvps.org/tutorials/countdown.html

by tohlz | with no comments
Tile up your background
Sun, Aug 20 2006 6:12
In PowerPoint, you can tile up your background so that you will see repeated images filling up your slides. This may look tricky, because there isn't an option where you can choose to tile or stretch your background. So how can this be done?

First, click Format > Background.
Click on the dropdown field and select Fill Effects.
This will bring up the Fill Effects dialog box.
Select the texture tab.
Click on "Other Texture...".
Look for the image you want for tiling the background.
Click Insert.
Click Ok and Apply to All.
Now, you will see repeated image filling up the slides.
by tohlz | 2 comment(s)
Ten worst presentation moments
Fri, Aug 18 2006 18:43
What's the ten worst presentation moments? You gonna check out the published article on Microsoft here:
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/atwork/work/presentationdisasters.mspx
by tohlz | with no comments
Insert Slide Number, Date and Time
Mon, Aug 14 2006 19:06
If you click Insert > Slide Number, or Insert > Date and Time, PowerPoint will bring up the Header and Footer dialog box. Alternately, clicking View > Header and Footer will also bring up this dialog box. So what does the Insert > Slide Number and Insert > Date and Time actually do? They are there for another reason, somewhat harder to discover.

First, click on a textbox and go into editing mode. To go into editing mode, you can press the F2 key on your keyboard. Next, click Insert > Slide Number. This will allow you to insert the current slide number onto the textbox.

Finally, try clicking Insert > Date and Time. This time round, a Date and Time dialog box will appear, with different formats available for you to choose. You can have it update automatically, changing the language, calendar type, and also setting the defaults.
by tohlz | with no comments
PowerPlugs: Transitions Review
Sun, Aug 13 2006 18:03
Sorry for the lack of posting! Been very busy recently, hence you can see me getting lesser time in blogging. Today, I have added a Cool Add-Ins section in Tutorials page at PowerPoint Heaven. I will be looking out for cool add-ins or third party products that can help enhance and beautify PowerPoint presentations. These add-ins will then be reviewed and posted under the Cool Add-Ins section. The reviews will help you to understand more about how these add-ins work. The first add-in to be reviewed is PowerPlugs: Transitions. Check out the Cool Add-Ins section here!
by tohlz | with no comments