Animating a Roller Coaster

A roller coaster ride isn’t always fun. This project uses a roller coaster to symbolize undesirable fluctuations in cash flow (whatever that is) and suggests that my (fictional) company may be able to help.

Here’s the animation:

You will notice that the cars move and rotate to follow the track. In PowerPoint terms, motion paths are combined with Spin effects. If I were to use a realistic roller coaster profile, it would be difficult to synchronize the Spins with the motion path to get a smooth action. On the other hand, if I use a series of straight lines and circular arcs to define the path, there will be no rotations required during the straight segments and a single Spin will work for the arcs. However, I will need to do a little arithmetic to time the Spins. All of this will become clear, one hopes, as we progress.

Here is the layout for the track profile:

Note: You can always click on these images to see a larger version. Click Back on your browser to return to this post.

To make this easy to construct, I used 45 degree lines with equally sized circles and, as you can see by the green dots, I allowed the lines to snap to the 45 degree points on the circle. With this construction, each peak/valley will require a 90 degree Spin, either clockwise or counterclockwise.

The roller coaster will have several cars. Since the animation is not simple, I don’t want to manually animate each car; there are two ways to accomplish this:

• If your version of PowerPoint has the Animation Painter, you will be able to transfer the animation you built for the first car to the next car in a couple of clicks. This is the method I will use but there is a wrinkle for this project; details later.
• If you don’t have the Animation Painter, animate a rectangle picture-filled with the first car image. Then, after the animation is applied, duplicate and change the fill of the rectangle to create animated versions of the next car.

In either case, duplicate the second car several times and position all the cars at the starting point. Then add a delay to the start of the second and following cars to create a “train.”

The cars are create using standard shapes and applying a black fill. I decided to do this project in a silhouette form; you may want a more colorful roller coaster and cars. Here’s my construction:

The wheels are equidistant from the center of the car and the wheel spacing is the same for both cars.

Next, the lead car is sized so that so that the car will go through a “dip” without colliding with the track:

Now, I want to build a series of “targets” on the track to help with the animation; this is a technique I use often in these posts to create accurate motion paths. I converted the lead car to a png and added an outline. I added Lines to the png to identify the center; the Lines (red) snap to the midpoints of each side:

The reason for the conversion to png is to allow these center lines to be easily drawn. Group the lines with the png. Then, position copies of the target at selected points on the track profile and rotate appropriately:

The first target is placed at the starting point, off the slide to the left. The next target is placed at the point where the car enters the curve – the front wheels are at the transition point. I added a rotated target at the bottom of the curve and at the exit, continuing to rotate and position all of the targets.

Next, position the original car at the starting point. Apply a Custom motion path drawn through the center points of each “target.”  Eliminate the Smooth Start/End for the path. Edit the points of the motion path to add the curves. Set the appropriate segments to Straight. Here’s what the motion path (red) looks like:

Now the car will follow the track profile but it does not rotate as it should; that’s the next step.

The speed of the car is constant; it is determined by the duration of the motion path. So, I need to know the distance for each segment so that I can determine the start time and duration of the rotations. To get a “distance,” I drew a dashed line along the track profile and counted the dashes. Here’re the numbers:

The first (straight) segment is about 16 dashes long; the curved segments are about 6 dashes long, etc. Since the smallest increment in animation timing is 0.1 seconds, I won’t need greater accuracy.

I set the duration of the motion path to 3.5 seconds and the total path distance is 54 dashes. Now, the first segment duration is

((number of dashes in the segment)/(total number of dashes))*(total duration) =
(16/54)*3.5 = 1.0 seconds.

That is, the duration is proportional to the distance. By the way, this says that the start of the first curved segment is at 1.0 seconds so this should be the start time of the Spin. I did a little spreadsheet to calculate the duration and start time of each segment (for a 3.5 second total time):

To add the first rotation, select the car and apply Spin/Quarter Spin/Counterclockwise animation effect With the motion path. The start time for this segment is 1.0 seconds and the duration is 0.4 seconds. You can adjust the timing directly on the animation pane by moving and changing the size of the bar representing the effect; using Zoom In on the animation path makes this easier. Here’s the animation pane for the path and the first rotation:

And here’s the result:

Adding the additional rotations using the calculated timing results in this animation pane:

I will use the Animation Painter to add the second car; however, the second car is shorter than the lead car and doesn’t quite track. To fix this, group the second car object with a rectangle that is the same size as the lead car; the rectangle can be made invisible (No outline) later. Here’s the process:

Now, select the animated lead car, select the Animation Painter, and click on the second car group. Position the second car at the starting point of the animation. Using the Animation Pane, delay the effects for the second car by 0.2 seconds. Here’s the Animation Pane:

Duplicate the second car and add the delay as many times as you like to create the “train.”

All that’s left is to create the roller coaster structure. The “track” consists of three lines: the rail (a 4.5 pt line), the ties (a 4.5 pt dashed line) and the base (8pts):

It will take a little fiddling to line these up with the layout and each other.

The structure is built using the “group and dupe” method outlined in an earlier post. Create a group of aligned vertical lines along with groups of lines at plus and minus 45 degrees. Position the three groups over the layout like this:

Now, edit the lines to fit the track; if you hold down the Shift key while editing the lines, the angle will tend to “stick”:

The flags are a Wave shape with a vertical line.

I added the text and the logo to create the final version; I also changed the color of the structure to a light gray to de-emphasize it.

If you want a free copy of the PowerPoint file for this post, please use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file:

Powerpointy blog – animating a roller coaster

See this page for more on downloading files.

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. If you appreciate my efforts, liking or following this blog might be a good idea.

 

Animations for “Cutting, Slashing and Trimming” – Scissors

You may use phrases like “cut your costs,” “slash your budget” or “trim your overhead” in your presentations. Using an animation will add impact and help sell your product or proposition.

This post uses scissors to build the animations.

If you check out scissor images on the net, you will find a variety of shapes, some fairly complicated. I want a simple version that can be constructed from standard PowerPoint shapes. But to be a “working” pair of scissors, it must have two blades and a common pivot point so that, when closed, the blades overlap (more or less) and the handles don’t interfere with each other. Some static clipart scissors won’t really “work.”

Here’s my version of half the scissors (a “scissor”?) with the lower handle and upper blade:

The object consists of a Donut and a Rectangle for the handle, a rotated Isosceles Triangle for the blade, and a circle for the pivot. I used the Drawing Guides as shown to help align the parts. Group these parts for the complete half.

Next I added a circle, centered on the pivot point and larger than the object. Fans of this blog will recognize this as a technique to assure that the object rotates around the desired pivot point rather than the default “center of gravity.” The circle will be made invisible (no outline color) in the final result.

I duplicated the object and inverted it to make the other half (blue outline). I also made the centering circle a little larger in the blue (lower blade) version; this makes it easier to select. The two halves are rotated 20 degrees to the “open” position:

Note: For “right-handed” scissors, the upper blade is on the right when the scissors are held in the cutting position. In the orientation shown above, this means that the upper blade (the red half) is in front of the blue half. Theoretically, if you show the scissors pointing to the left, the lower blade half should be in front.

You may have to iterate these steps a few times to get the result you want; I did.

Now add some color and make the circles invisible (set outline color to No Line). Use slightly contrasting colors for the blades and the pivot:

Note: When I create icons, etc., on this blog, I usually try to use combinations of pre-defined PowerPoint Shapes  because this requires less experience and practice than other techniques. If you want to try Freeform drawing, you can create a more elaborate pair of scissors:

For the simple scissors, the animation is pretty simple; simultaneous 20 degree Spins. Make the duration fairly short for a satisfying “snip”:

Note: The PowerPoint animations are smoother than the video conversion shown here.

To represent cutting costs, etc., I want the scissors to cut a symbol for cash; e.g., a dollar sign. Here’s the animation:

Here are the steps:

• Create a text dollar sign, covert it to png and crop two versions to make two halves of the symbol; here’s the process:

Note: Why do I use png rather than jpg for the converted dollar sign? Here’s why:

The png format supports transparency and PowerPoint uses transparency in the Paste/Special operation.

Align the scissors and the two parts of the dollar sign. The lower half rotates when it is cut; establish the center of the rotation by grouping a circle (red) centered near the upper right corner with the lower half:

• The scissors animation is the same as before. A Spin is added to the lower half wirh a motion path for the falling piece. The Spin overlaps the end of the cutting action and the motion path:

Here’s another application of the scissors animation. A cost is shown rising regularly with a bar graph and the scissors trim the last bar:

Some notes:

• The last bar is in two pieces; the bottom half has a Spin and motion path added. A circle is grouped with the bottom piece to establish the center of the Spin. The blue bar/circle is a target for the animation; that is, it is positioned where I want the motion path to end. The motion path has a bounce at the end.

• The timing is a little tricky. The bars are introduced by a Wipe/From Bottom animation. The Wipes for the last bar (halves) are overlapped since, with the circle, the bottom half is taller.

• The Spin for the cut-off piece is overlapped with the motion path.

If you want to see more details, use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file containing these objects and animations:

PowerPointy blog – cutting, etc – scissors

See this page for more on downloading files.

There are a couple of additional posts like this: they use “axes and knives” and “saws.”

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. Liking or following this blog might be a good idea.

 

More Prezi-style PowerPoint

One of the things that Prezi brings to the table is a non-linear presentation style. Rather than being locked in to a start-to-finish sequence, the presenter can react to the audience and, in the case of a web-based presentation, the viewer can directly navigate to specific areas of interest.

Some of my earlier posts have addressed this:

• Non-linear navigation – this post outlines the benefits of non- linear navigation (along with caveats) and demonstrates the use of hyperlinks in PowerPoint. In particular, it points out that a stand-up presenter must use a true pointing device to select and activate hyperlinked objects.
• “Custom Slide Shows” – shows how to use a feature called “custom slide shows” to organize presentation material so that sales presentations can be tailored to specific prospects.
• Prezi-style navigation and effects – demonstrates animation techniques that mimic Prezi zooming effects.

I am also inspired by a couple of other things:

• A reader pointed me to pptPlex, an unsupported “Office Labs experiment” – a free PowerPoint plugin (released in 2011).
• I ran across a July 2014 press release on ActivePlex, an add-in from GMARK.

Both of these appear to support non-linear presentations based on PowerPoint. I have not used either of these and have no opinion regarding them. If you have had experience with either of these, please let me know what you think (comment or use the form at the end of this post).

So, here’s the plan:

• The presentation material is organized into a series of Custom Shows, each addressing a specific topic (intro/about us, portfolio, customer profiles, etc.).
• The “canvas” or “map,” the starting point for navigation, is a slide containing images of the first slide of each of the Custom Shows. A hyperlink is associated with each image so that it provides a clickable link to the corresponding show.
• The first slide of each show is designed so that it is legible as a smaller image on the map.
• Each slide includes an escape button that returns to the map. This allows the presenter or viewer to cut short that show.
• Prezi-style “zoom” transitions are provided for each show entry and exit.
• Other navigation is restricted so that the presenter/viewer can’t go astray in the “deck.”

Here’s a diagram for the example I’ll build here (four shows):

The process:

• Build each segment/show – create or collect the slides as a sequence in the file. Design the opening slide so that it will be legible as the smaller image on the map. For now, insert a blank slide for the transitions (the first and last slides). For the example, I created 4 shows, each with 3 slides.
• Define each sequence as a Custom Show:  Under Custom Slide Show/Custom Shows select New. Using the Define Custom Show pane, name the show and select the slides in the file and add to the new show. Continue for each segment.
• Hide each slide in each show. This will prevent the presenter/viewer from accidentally selecting slides in the show. Even though the slides are hidden, they will appear normally when the Custom Show is evoked.
• Make a full-sized png image of the first slide in each show. You can do this by using the presentation Save As function. Position at the slide, select Save As/Other Formats/PNG and select the Save Current Slide option.
• Make the map/canvas slide – create a new slide as the first slide, and insert each slide image. Reduce each image and arrange on the slide. Here’s the map slide for the example:

• For the prezi-style zoom transitions, it will be useful to know the size of each image relative to the slide. In my example each image is 4 inches wide and the slide is 10 inches (the default slide size).
• Set up each image as a clickable link to the corresponding show. Right click an image and select Hyperlink… . In the Edit Hyperlink pane, select Place in This Document. Find the Custom Shows item in the list and select the appropriate show. Check the Show and Return box.
• Add an exit button to each slide in each custom show. Design an unobtrusive object to act as the button (I used a “rewind”symbol) and create a reduced size PNG version of the object. Right click on the reduced object and select Hyperlink… . Select Place in This Document and, under Slide Titles, select the map slide. Paste the button on each slide in this show. Repeat the process for each show.
• It’s a good idea to add a Screen Tip to each hyperlinked object (the slide images and the exit button). This is text that appears when the mouse is over (hovers over) the hyperlinked object. The text appearance will  signal to the presenter/viewer that the object is linked and provide information about the purpose of the link. This option is available in the Edit Hyperlink pane.
• Test the result – exercise all the links and assure that clicking the last slide in each show returns to the map slide.

Here’s an annotated slide sorter view of the resulting file:

The hyperlinks from the map slide are shown in yellow. The escape button is linked to the map slide. All the transition placeholder slides are shown in gray. Note that a return link from each show is not needed since the entry links have the Show and Return option selected.

Each show has a prezi-style (entry) transition and a reverse (exit) transition. Here’s what the entry transition looks like:

The PowerPoint animation is smoother than the video indicates.

As usual, I approach this by setting up a “target” object for the animation. Here are the steps:

• Create a full size png version of the map slide using Save As and Insert it on the transition slide.
• Enlarge the map slide image by 250%.
• Create a center point (“cross hair”) of the image by drawing a Line from the midpoint of one side of the image to the opposite side and repeat for the remaining two sides. The end points of the Lines will turn red when they are properly positioned.

I would normally use drawing guides for this but, since PowerPoint does not allow drawing guides outside the boundaries of a slide, I use the “cross hair” technique instead.

• Carefully position the enlarged slide image with the Lines so that the first slide is positioned exactly in the visible slide space. It’s helpful to create a slide-sized rectangle in front of the image to identify the slide space boundaries. Here’s what the setup looks like:

•  The yellow rectangle outlines the visible slide space.
• Now that the “target” is set, add another image of the map slide, original size, positioned in the slide space.
• Apply a Right motion path to the original image. Uncheck Smooth Start/End and set the duration to Fast (1 sec). Carefully position the end point of the motion path to the intersection of the red lines on the larger image.
• Add a Grow/Shrink 250% With the motion path and Fast duration.
• Set the Advance Slide option to Advance Automatically after 00:00 sec.
• Test the result and modify the position of the target and the motion path end point until the transition is smooth. Here’s the final set up:

Once the animation is adjusted to your liking, you can remove the “target” (the enlarged image). Since the slide advance is automatic, the somewhat fuzzy result of the Grow animation is immediately replaced by the actual slide.

Repeat the process to provide an entry transition for each story. You can re-use the story 1 transition slide but reposition the large image and modify the motion paths.

The reverse or return animation looks like this:

The construction of this animation is complicated by a PowerPoint bug that causes motion paths for large objects (more than twice the size of the slide space) to work incorrectly.

NOTE: A reader informs me that there is no sign of this bug in the latest PowerPoint versions

Here are the steps:

• Set drawing guides as shown below; these will serve as targets for the motion paths and an aid for the next step:

• Insert the map slide image and, using the Crop tool and the 0.0 in. vertical guide, create two halves of the map slide image:

Temporarily, group the two halves together and enlarge the group by 250%. Position the group so that the image of slide 1 is centered in the visible slide space (the yellow rectangle identifies the slide space as before):

Ungroup the image into its two parts and apply the motion paths (and Grow/Shrink 40%) to each half as shown here:

•  Repeat for each story, using this slide, repositioning the image and modifying the motion paths.

A  couple of additional notes about restricting the presenter/viewer navigation:

• You can use the PowerPoint Advanced/Slide Show option to disable Show Menu on Right Mouse Click and Show Popup Toolbar.  Obviously, this will prevent the presenter/viewer from getting off track. Warning: this is a global option – it is not a setting for this particular file but for all PowerPoint presentations.
• As it now stands, clicking on the map slide at locations other than the slide images will end the presentation; this might be disconcerting for the presenter/viewer. For a solution, create a slide-sized rectangle behind the slide images and add a hyperlink to this slide. Add an object as an end button and link it to a dummy last slide. Here’s a diagram:

•  With this arrangement, the slide images work as before, the exit button ends the presentation, and any other clicks stay on this slide.

As usual, if you want a free copy of the example presentation developed in this post, use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file:

Powerpointy blog – More prezi-style

See this page for more on downloading files.

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. If you appreciate my efforts, liking or following this blog might be a good idea.

PowerPoint People – Characters

In the previous post, I showed how simple figures can be surprisingly expressive, adding impact to our training, marketing and sales stories.  In this post, I’ll begin to create individual unique characters from these generic figures using clothing and a few other embellishments.

Here’s the first character (Mike) – he’s an office worker, a middle manager and is based on the basic male figure developed in the last post:

Note: You may notice from my costume choices that I am not particularly clothing/fashion conscious. I hope that I have provided enough detail in these examples so that you can created costumes appropriate for your needs.

Mike is built by modifying the body parts of the basic figure and adding a couple of additional shapes. Here’s how Mike’s front view is constructed:

Note: I had originally planned to add clothing to the basic figures (like paper dolls) but I found that modifying the shapes in the basic figure worked for me.

Here are some notes on Mike’s construction:

• Starting with the basic male front view, I modified the lower arm and lower leg as shown in red.
• I Unioned  parts to form the shirt and pants. I’m using a classic comic/cartoon style with heavy black outlines; the Union operation for the shirt, for example, results in a single shape with an outline rather than several distinct shapes. This picture shows the difference:

• If you choose not to use outlines, you can skip the Union step.
• Mike’s hair is created by Subtracting a Trapezoid shape from a circle. His tie is a Union of a Hexagon and a couple of Triangles.
• Adding Fill colors completes the character.

Note: As usual, I am using only standard PowerPoint shapes to build these characters. My assumption is that this is easier if you are not confident in drawing Freeforms. Of course, you may disagree.

Here is the side view construction:

• I modified the lower arm and leg from the basic figure (red).
• I Unioned the shapes to form the pants and the arm of the shirt.
• The hair is a Union of two Chord shapes, the side view of the tie is an Isosceles Triangle.

Here’s how I posed Mike:

I started with the modified front view, rotated and moved the arms and then applied Union and fills as before.

Here’s another pose

Because of the overlap of the arms, I couldn’t Union the lower arms with the rest of the upper body. I added white “patches” to eliminate the unwanted lines at the elbows; one of these is shown outlined in red.

The last pose is pretty expressive; Mike’s pet project is probably in trouble:

Mike’s female counterpart  is Millie; here’s how she’s constructed:

• As before, I started with the generic female front view. I modified the lower arm to a sleeve and cuff. I added hair, the lower flare of the jacket, and the skirt (red).
• I Unioned the jacket parts, except for the lower sleeves which overlap the jacket body.
• A Triangle forms the neck opening. The neckware is formed by Intersecting a Triangle and a Double Wave shape.
• I added fill colors and a blue “patch” to cover the unwanted lines at the elbow.

Here is the construction of Millie’s profile:

The hair is a Union of three Chord shapes. The flare is a Rectangle and a Right Triangle. The neckware is an Oval.

Here are a few poses:

Clothing has a lot to do with indicating the role of the character. Here’s Mike on the weekend:

Here’s Tony the technician:

Some occupations are associated with a “uniform” and accessories. Here’s Nelly the nurse (who seems to have had a very good day):

Here are a couple of similar examples – Polly, the police officer:

And Cecil, a construction worker:

Check out clip art and other images on the internet to get ideas for representing particular occupations.

In this post, I have tried to show you can start with the basic figures and, with simple modifications, develop specific characters for your story. In the next post, I’ll add a little more expressiveness.

If you want a free copy of a PowerPoint file with these examples, use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file:

Powerpointy blog – PowerPoint People – Characters U

See this page for more on downloading files.

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. If you appreciate my efforts, liking or following this blog might be a good idea.

 

Making Screenshots Work in PowerPoint

Screenshots (-grabs, -captures, -caps) are used in a lot of PowerPoint presentations to show software product user interfaces, web content, results from analysis software, etc. They are probably essential in software training presentations.

The problem with screenshots in presentations is that they are almost always illegible. Presenters do little more than paste the image onto a PowerPoint slide, not understanding that the audience sitting more than a few feet from the projected image will not be able to discern the text or other details; if a “widescreen” monitor is used, the problem is even worse. Any value that the screenshot adds to the presentation is lost.

Excuse me while I engage in a brief rant:

• Presenting illegible material is not only pointless, it is irritating. It is a symptom of a major (and astounding) fault in most presentation designs: failure to consider the audience. 
• Presentation gurus will often tell you to “simplify” – in your world, you may deal with complex subjects and your challenge is to present complexity clearly. Making screenshots work for you is an example of how to approach this challenge.

You will usually use screenshots because they add credibility – the software exists and it really works, the analysis tools show these results. etc. The challenge is to show details within the context of the screen. This suggests zooming in and out of the screen; I’ll show you a few techniques in this post.

To capture a screenshot In Windows, press a function key (look for “print screen” or a similar caption) or a function key plus a modifier to copy the current screen contents to the clipboard. Software is available to capture screens on other systems/devices. In Windows, adding the Alt key captures only the active window or you can use the Crop tool to get the appropriate part of the image after Pasting the image to a slide.

PowerPoint 2013 includes Insert/Screenshot which allows you to capture (and crop) any active window directly.

If your screenshot comes from someone else, try to get a high resolution version since we will be enlarging parts of the image for clarity.

For no particular reason, the examples will use a user interface screenshot for Audacity, an open source audio editor:

Imagine that the presenter wants to explain individual parts of the Audacity interface; for example, the “toolbox” at the top center.

To start, make a copy of this tool box – duplicate the screenshot, position the duplicate directly over the original and crop the duplicate to contain only the tool box. The copied/cropped tool box should be directly over the original:

Next, enlarge the toolbox, while keeping it in position – use Shift/Ctrl while adjusting the corner handle or use the Size and Position pane to enlarge the image by a specific percentage. The larger toolbox is outlined in red for this demonstration:

Add the Enter/Zoom/In animation effect to get this result:

NOTE: Another way to highlight part of an image is demonstrated in this post.

Another slightly more convincing zoom uses Grow/Shrink animation. Start with the duplicated toolbox at its original size and position and apply Enter/Fade animation followed by Grow/Shrink/200%; this is the result:

You may notice that the result of the Grow is poorly rendered. You can correct this by replacing the Grow result with enlarged version of the original after the Grow animation. Here are the steps:

• Set drawing guides to locate the center of the cropped tool box.
• Copy the cropped tool box and Paste/Special to convert to png (this step will allow the outline to be scaled in the next step).
• Use the Size and Position pane to resize the png 200% – this is the amount used in the Grow animation,
• Using the drawing guides, position the png over the original cropped toolbox.
• Apply Appear to the png and Disappear to the cropped toolbox after the Grow.

Here’s the animation sequence:

Here’s the result:

The rendering of the Grow animation is improved in recent PowerPoint versions; you may not need this replacement step.

You can add a motion path so that the original location of the tool box is not obscured – this will make the context clearer. Here’s the process:

• Set drawing guides to the target location for the “zoomed” tool box (the center of the slide in this example).
• Add a Down motion path to the tool box and move the endpoint to the target location identified by the drawing guides. To move the endpoint, click on it and drag to the target location.
• Order the animations so that the motion path occurs With the Grow.
• Move the replacement tool box to the target location and add the Appear effect as before.

Here’s the setup:

The resulting animation looks like this:

You can relate the zoomed tool box to its location in the user interface more clearly by adding a “beam” that connects the tool box to its location, The beam is a semitransparent Freeform with a Wipe/From Top animation With the motion path. Here’s the setup:

Here’s what the animation looks like:

You can add a call-out to indicate the properties of the tool box:

An alternative approach is to zoom in on the screenshot and highlight the area of interest (the tool box).  I used techniques like this in the Prezi style PowerPoint post; it might help to refer to that post. Here’re the steps:

• Copy the screenshot and enlarge it by 200%.  
• Position the enlarged version so that the tool box is in the center of the screen.
• Draw lines between the midpoints of opposite sides of the enlarged screenshot (the endpoints of the lines will be red when the line is located exactly at the midpoint). The intersection of these lines is the target for a motion path (see below)
• Here’s the setup so far:

• The slide boundary is highlighted in red to show that the tool box is at the center of the slide.  The “target” lines are yellow.
• Now add the animation: apply Grow/200% to the screenshot With a Down motion path; the endpoint of the motion path is moved to the intersection of the yellow “target” lines which are then removed.  Then apply Disappear to the screen shot and Appear to the enlarged screen shot.  Here’s the set up:

• To highlight the tool box, add a mask to “gray out” other parts of the screenshot. The mask was constructed by starting with a Frame shape, converting it to Freeform and editing the points. A semitransparent fill was added. Apply Enter/Fade to the mask at the end of the animation sequence. Here’s the setup with the mask:

• Here’s what it looks like:

• To get back to the original perspective on the screenshot, make a copy of the last slide and remove the animations.  Then Fade out the mask, Shrink the enlarged screenshot by 50% and add a motion path back to the center of the slide. Here’s what this looks like:

Obviously, there are other applications for this technique; block diagrams, floor plans, networks, scientific illustrations, assembly drawings, maps and even spreadsheets come to mind. In any situation where you want to show a complex slide and show the details in context without losing legibility, try zooming.

Here’s a post describing similar effects using Morph; it may be a little easier.

If you want a copy of a PowerPoint file demonstrating these techniques, use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file:

PowerPointy blog – Making Screenshots work

See this page for more on downloading files.

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. If you appreciate my efforts, liking or following this blog might be a good idea.

Animated Icons in PowerPoint – Vehicles

In a presentation, vehicle icons can represent transportation or travel and even manufacturing and warehousing. More abstractly, they can connote starting/departure, arrival or speed. Add your logo and you can represent product delivery. Here are some animated examples:

This post will demonstrate the construction of these vehicles and their animation. Earlier posts in this series provide general guidelines and additional examples of animated icons.

Rolling Wheels

Vehicles usually use rolling wheels. In PowerPoint, a rolling wheel animation is a combination of a Motion Path and a Spin, acting simultaneously. Here’s an example:

Here’s a video of this animation:

The white line on the circle makes the rotation evident. The rotation is not visible with a perfectly uniform circle.

For a wheel that doesn’t  slip or skid, there is a particular relationship between the distance traveled and the number of rotations. Here’s how to build a “tool” to help set up a rolling wheel:

• Draw a circle with a diameter of 1 inch (hold Shift down while drawing/sizing an Oval to create a symmetric circle). Use the Drawing Tools/Size and Position pane to set the diameter exactly.
• Group the circle with a small line at the bottom of the circle so that you can see the rotation.
• Add a horizontal line starting at the base of the circle.  Using the Size and Position pane, set the length to about 3.14 inches (wink, wink).
• Add the Motion Path to the circle group – Right to the end of the line.
• Add a Spin – Full Spin/Clockwise – With the motion path. Here’s what the layout/animation looks like:

• Run the animation (Slide Show) to assure that the line is about the right length.
• Now the line is the distance traveled during a single rotation of the wheel. It will be convenient to work with fractions of a rotation so now we add a “ruler” to measure quarter rotations. Draw a rectangle (any convenient size) and duplicate it three times. Position the four rectangles in a line touching each other and group them. Resize the group so that the length matches the line.  Here’s the result:

• Group all the parts (you will lose the animation but that’s ok). You can use this object as a tool in creating the icons.

Truck

A convincing truck icon can be constructed from standard PowerPoint shapes:

The cab and window are Snip and Round Corner Rectangles. The body is a Round Single Corner Rectangle and a small Oval. The wheels consist of a circle for the tire and two half circles (Pie shapes) for the wheel cover.

There are a number of ways to create the wheel openings (the green circles) including using the PowerPoint 2011 Merge Shapes/Subtract feature to “cut out” the openings (in subsequent posts, I use this method). I converted the truck body and cab to Freeforms and used the Edit Points feature to add the wheel opening using the green circles as guides:

For the animation, group the truck body and cab as a unit. Similarly, group the tire and wheel cover shapes for each wheel. The truck and each wheels will be animated separately,

Next, create the motion paths. I have mentioned before that I often use target objects to help determine the end point of a motion path.  That is, I create a copy of the object, place it in the desired position and use its center point as the end point for the motion path.

In this case we also want the distance that the truck (and wheels) travel to correspond to a convenient number of wheel rotations. Use the “tool” described above to position the target versions of the truck and wheels:

Resize the tool so that the circle matches the size of the wheels. Position the tool on one of the wheels. Duplicate the wheel (three times in this case) and lay the tools end to end. Position the target version of the truck/wheels so that the corresponding (rear) wheel lines up with a convenient marker on the tool. Here, the position of the target is set at two and one half rotations.

Now set Drawing Guides to the center of the rear wheel on the target. Apply and adjust a Right motion path so that the endpoint is at the center of the target wheel, Repeat for the other wheel and the truck body/cab.  Here’s the result:

Now add Spin Clockwise 900 degrees (two and a half rotations) to each wheel With the motion paths (Vroom! Vroom!):

Forklift

The forklift icon relates to manufacturing or warehousing,  It demonstrates an animation after the rolling. The forklift body and window are hand-drawn Freeforms, (See this post for an example of creating a Freeform.) The other elements are standard PowerPoint shapes:

Compared to the truck, there is an additional, separately animated object (the lifting device and its load).

Animation is similar to the truck with an added motion path (the lift) and the end. Here’s the layout and animation (the motion distance is equivalent to a single rotation):

Performance Car

The body and spoiler of the “performance car” are hand drawn Freeforms:

The wheel covers are modified versions of the standard Sun shape and a circle:

The standard shape is adjusted and then converted to a Freeform. The inner circle is removed by point editing and the result is filled and grouped with a circle to form the wheel cover.

The car skids to a stop – the wheels rotate only during the first part of the motion:

The wheels rotate one and a quarter revolutions (400 degrees) in the first 0.6 seconds of the animation.

Dump Truck

The dump truck body and bed are Freeforms; the 24 Point Star shape is used for the tires. A large circle is grouped with the truck bed to determine the center of rotation:

The animation consists of the “roll’ followed by the dumping action:

Off-road Vehicle

The off-road vehicle is constructed of Freeforms and uses the same wheels as the dump truck (note the wheel clearance):

The animation uses “bumpy” motion paths:

For these motion paths. you can draw a Custom Path or modify (point edit) a standard path.  I modified a standard path because a Custom Path is not automatically centered on the object. Note that a simple Left, Right, etc., path cannot be point edited.

There is a Zig Zag motion path but it seemed too regular for this application.

Since this post was written, I have developed additional techniques for drawing and animating vehicles. See these posts: construction equipment,  more construction equipment and still more construction equipment. You may also be interested in the series on drawing “3d” vehicles starting with this post.

As usual, you can get a free copy of a PowerPoint file containing these objects and animations. Use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file:

Powerpointy blog – animated vehicles

See this page for more on downloading files.

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. Liking or following this blog might be a good idea. If there are other topics you would like to see in this blog, please leave a comment or click on “Contact the author” in the banner above to email me.

Animated Icons in PowerPoint

Icons are simplified/stylistic images used in presentations to represent or amplify a concept. Acme Corp. presents its value proposition using animated icons:

I have pontificated about the value of using PowerPoint objects rather than downloaded clip art as icons in an earlier post. Briefly, you can get the precise image you need and the colors and style to match your branding/theme. Also, you can edit them and use them to build new objects.

Why would you want to animate icons? First, motion is a powerful tool for grabbing attention (the old predator-prey thing) and animation can elaborate the actual meaning of the icon. (See this post for more on rational PowerPoint animation.)

Before I show you some additional examples, here are a few guidelines:

• Keep icons simple. They should be instantly recognizable but, since they are often relatively small, not detailed.
• Search the internet for inspiration and image ideas. Search for the concept (“security icon”) rather than the object (“lock”) if you want to see other metaphors for the concept. Remember to keep it simple; you don’t need to try to reproduce images created by professional designers.
• All of the icons shown in the post have been constructed using combinations of PowerPoint Autoshapes with only occasional use of PowerPoint drawing tools.
• Use your branding/theme colors; occasionally an odd color may be used if it enhances the icon (like the stack of bills in the video above).
• Use animation that amplifies the concept; think of verbs (locking, growing, etc.) and common visual metaphors (light bulb illuminating for idea, etc.).  However, keep the animation simple; don’t expect too much from PowerPoint.
• Animate the object for only a short time immediately after it is introduced; repeated animation is distracting and doesn’t add anything. If you use the icon again (for example, to tie later material to the first appearance), don’t animate it.
• I usually construct icons at a large scale and then reduce the size for the actual presentation. This means that point-measured components will cause problems when reduced (text, line widths, shadow parameters, etc.) . If you use these components, convert to png before reducing.
• A motion path associated with an object will not scale when the object is resized.  Resize the icon before adding the motion path or edit the path after resizing.

Security Icon (Lock)

The lock icon with the closing hasp represents security as in the Acme presentation above.

The lock is constructed mostly of Autoshapes:

The slotted end of the hasp is constructed from a Rectangle, converted to a Freeform and point-edited.  You can also use the Shape Subtract tool in PowerPoint 2010.

Here’s the lock with the shapes filled (with brand colors, naturally). The elements of the hasp and the elements of the body form two Groups.

Although it’s not strictly necessary in this case, I’m going to show you a way to accurately set the end point of a motion path.  The idea is to duplicate the object, move the duplicate to the desired location, and set Drawing Guides to the center of the duplicate.  A motion path can then be defined and edited so that the endpoint is located at the center of the duplicate.  Here’s what the construction looks like for the lock (the duplicate is in red outline):

The complete animation includes the Fade In of the body and hasp, followed by the motion path. The Smooth End box is unchecked so that the hasp “snaps” into place. Here’s what the animation pane looks like:

As I noted above, the motion path will not scale when the lock icon is resized.

Profit Icon (Stacking Bills)

A growing stack of currency represents profit or other financial gain (also in the Acme presentation).

The bill is constructed from Autoshapes:

Next apply a 3d Rotation/Perspective Relaxed to the group and add a few points of depth to the outer rectangle. Adjust the Lighting angle to get the right color:

Since the dollar sign and the depth are measured in points, the bill will not scale well – convert the image to a png.

Now scale and stack the bills:

The animation is Enter/Descend, bottom bill first:

You can convert this icon to represent to loss of cash by using Exit/Ascend animation, top bill first.

Productivity Icon (Gears)

There’s more than you want to know about animating gears in PowerPoint here.

Success/Accuracy Icon (Target and Arrow)

Here’s how this one looks:

The trick is to build the target in two pieces and animate the arrow so that it lands in front of one piece and behind the other.

The target half is constructed from standard Autoshapes (Block Arcs and Pies); duplicate the first half and rotate it to form the second half:

The arrow is similar (Chevron, Rectangle and Triangle):

Group each half of the target and arrange them with the arrow like this; set the ordering so that the left half of the target is in front of the arrow and the arrow is in front of the right half:

Apply Enter/Fade and a motion path to complete the animation.  Use the technique discussed under the Security icon (above) to determine the end point of the motion path.

Data/Document Storage Icon (File Folder)

This icon is the usual file folder but animated with a document being stored in the folder:

The folder consists of the front and the back (not grouped) and the document is a Folded Corner shape with rectangles to suggest text lines:

Here are the pieces with color:

This is the animation path:

The document is behind the front of the folder and in front of the back piece.  The animation path was created by selecting the Arc Up built-in motion path and then editing the points to the desired shape. A 90 degree Clockwise Spin occurs with the motion path.  Here’s what the animation pane looks like:

Epilogue

This post has demonstrated four animated icons; I plan additional posts in this series.  If  you want a PowerPoint file containing the icons discussed in this post, use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file:

PowerPointy blog – animated icons

See this page for more on downloading files.

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. If you appreciate my efforts, liking or following this blog might be a good idea.

Lessons from the “Experts” on Presenting

(This is a contribution by Billy Joe Spatchcock, Jr., a guest blogger)

Always ready to improve my presentation skills, I recently read this: “7 Lessons From the World’s Most Captivating Presenters” and I would like to share my thoughts on this “expert” advice.

You might say I’m an old hand at presenting – I’ve been an old-fashioned face-to-face on-the-road sales guy for my entire career and I have worked for dozens of companies. I give three or four sales presentations a week.  (Frankly, the product is not that great and my strategy is to present to as many prospects as I can to find the customer who “gets it.”)

So, I think I know something about presenting and my reaction to this article should be worth reading.

First, why all this attention on Steve Jobs? If I had millions to spend on writers, designers and equipment, I could give pretty flashy presentations, too.  So, let’s get real.

Next, what about this?

Thirty slides in 60 minutes? I present at least 70 very detailed slides for my presentations and they last much longer than an hour. My bosses expect a thorough job and I need to cover a lot of details. And, usually, customers don’t seem to mind. So, again, let’s get real.

And, 30 hours to “craft the story?” I’ve been doing this a long time and, believe me, the story is always the same: who am I and what am I selling.  Then I add the stuff the technical people want me to say; this is always a lot of detailed information and I copy and paste a lot of  graphs, spreadsheets and diagrams. Also, I have to include the fluff from Marketing. By the way, I find that copying and pasting from the company’s brochures is an easy way to fill slides.  (And that’s a real tip from an expert!)

Then 30 hours to “build the slides?” You’ve got to be kidding. Even with my poor typing skills, it doesn’t take that long. And I have hundreds of slides from my previous jobs that are usually a pretty good fit.

And finally, 30 hours of rehearsing? Come on. I give live presentations constantly in real situations so I know what I’m doing. Although I do admit that for a new or updated presentation, I go over it on the plane on the way to the meeting. Also, I have occasionally given the sales presentation to our own team as an exercise. And since this audience already knows the material, this is a pretty good “rehearsal.”

Then there’s “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  I think this is probably true in a lot of situations; after all, those Chinese are pretty smart. But it doesn’t seem to work that well in my world. For a while, I did use some pretty funny clip art and a picture of my dog to try to “break the ice” but it didn’t seem to go over very well. At least, my boss didn’t like it. Plus, I don’t have time to search for good pictures and they’re pretty expensive. Besides, isn’t that a  job for Marketing?

Finally, I want to say something about this “emotion” thing.  I guess it’s all right for some kind of motivational speech but my customers are hard-headed business men looking for a way to beat the other guy and keep their jobs.  Emotion doesn’t have anything to do with it.  Plus, I feel a little uneasy in this area and I think my audiences do too.

Well, I’ll probably have more to say about this later.  Right now I have to catch a plane (Cedar Rapids tomorrow).  Damn quota.

(If you liked this post, you might enjoy Why PowerPoint is Brilliant!)

Drawing and Animating Gears in PowerPoint

Meshing gears are a useful metaphor for an activity or a process and can be used as an icon for thought, intelligence or expertise. Rather than search for gears clip art, you can create gears as PowerPoint objects and animate them for more impact. (Why bother? See this post.)

If you want a copy of the PowerPoint files associated with this post, see the end of this post.

Since this post was written, I have added a couple more on animating gears: more gears and planetary gears.

Basics

This video demonstrates some gear “physics:”

It’s pretty easy to generalize the relationship between diameters, number of teeth and number of rotations, but if you’re intimidated by the algebra, here are  some combinations that will work:

Note added 8/2014: A reader sent me a gear animation with 8 (!) meshed gears that he used as part of a video introduction to his theater’s production of “Willie Wonka.” Kudos!

Drawing the Gears

Next, we’ll build the gears shown in the video. The design of real gear teeth is complicated and since we aren’t limited by reality, we’ll eyeball the tooth shape and size. Here’s the first step in adding the teeth; the blue lines are the center lines for the teeth:

Add some additional layout lines:

The outer circles (red) are 1/4 in larger than the original wheels; the inner Doughnut shapes are 1/4 in smaller  (these dimensions are fairly arbitrary). Also, the small gear-to-be has been rotated half a tooth.

Now, create a Trapezoid shape,  rotate and size it, and position it on the larger gear as shown below.  Rotate and position two duplicates of the shape on the smaller gear:

The teeth are centered on the blue index lines and are positioned flush with the outer circle and extend into the inner shape. The tooth shape and size is adjusted so that there is space between them for the meshing teeth (but not too much space). Don’t obsess with this; it doesn’t need to be perfect to look OK in the final result.

Next, duplicate the tooth on the large gear and rotate/position it on the opposite side of the gear. Group the two opposite teeth together:

Now, copy, rotate and position this group at the appropriate locations on the gears. Repeat the process for the small gear. Use guidelines and the default  Rotates and Flips to make this easier:

Now, delete the layout lines, group the gear parts and apply outline and fill colors:

The smaller gear can be moved to engage the larger gear at a different point:

You can create a three-gear train using the parameters in the table above:

Variations are possible; these  use “3D” format and gradient fills:

And, you can apply “3D” rotation:

PLEASE NOTE: there are issues with animating these variations – see below.

You can combine the gears with other shapes; here’s my favorite icon for “expertise:”

Animating the Gears

Apply animation as shown below (click on picture to enlarge):

The Spin animation is applied to both gears. The larger gear rotates 360 degrees (1 rotation) clockwise. I have selected Very Slow (5 sec duration); slower speeds seem to look better. The smaller gear rotates With the larger gear – 720 degrees (2 rotations) in the counterclockwise direction at the same speed.

This video shows the result and includes a 3-gear animation based on the table (the smallest gear rotates once at a Very Slow speed):

To rotate the gears continually, apply the Repeat Until Click or Repeat Until Next Slide option (in the Effect Options pane). There are some problems with this – see below.

Some Issues

Spinning gears with gradient fills or “3D” effects are not, strictly speaking, realistic since the shadows and highlights spin with the gears. And, clearing the Rotate with Shape option doesn’t help (a different kind of rotation). You can ignore this particular nit with little danger.  On the other hand, spinning an object with “3D” Rotation might make you ill; this video demonstrates these issues:

I suggested above that you can use the animation Repeat option to continue an animation. Unfortunately, this option resets the spinning object’s position each time it repeats.  For some simple gears, this is not a problem. For gears with asymmetric features, this restart will be noticeable; this video demonstrates:

You can work around these problems by using simpler symmetric gears or by increasing the number of rotations for each gear (preserving the ratios) until each gear rotates one or more full rotations. By the way, the Smooth Start/End options will cause a problem here.

If you want to see more details, use the link below and click on the PowerPoint icon to download a “source” PowerPoint file containing these objects:

PowerPointy blog – drawing and animating gears

See this page for more on downloading files.

If you have questions, praise or complaints, please add a comment below. Liking or following this blog might be a good idea if you think I should keep doing this. If there are other topics you would like to see in this blog, please leave a comment or click on “Contact the author” in the banner above to email me.

 

Warning! Defective “Template!”

Often, when  a client  gives me their corporate PowerPoint “template,” what I get is a default PowerPoint presentation file with, at most, a slide background and a title slide background.  The client has asked the company’s design firm (or department) for a “template” and this is what they got.

So, I spend the first hour or so of the project completing the “template” so I can get on with the assignment.  This is OK with me since these are paid hours, but I can’t help thinking that there are a lot of companies out there that are being treated in this shabby way by their design teams.

So, why does it matter? The purpose of the “template” is to assure that the look and feel (part of your corporate branding) works in your presentations as well as your web presence and printed collateral.  A defective “template’ will allow  the presentation color scheme, fonts and graphics to be all over the place.

The reason you have a defective “template”  is that graphic designers are generally PowerPoint-illiterate.  Certainly, PowerPoint is a poor stepchild as  a design tool and beneath the  contempt of a truly creative graphics designer. Besides, if designers produced their work in PowerPoint, their customers might make small changes on their own, without paying the design firm to do so.  Bad business.

I also believe that designers (and many others) misunderstand the role of PowerPoint in the presentation scenario – for example, that there is usually a presenter, who is primarily responsible for delivering the message.  Designers and marketing types generally seem to think in terms of a printed document where the message is carried by the document.

Let me digress to make sure that we are on the same page regarding templates.

You should understand  that a PowerPoint file containing desired colors, fonts and some slide examples with titles, your logo, etc., is NOT a template. A template is a special file (a .thmx or .potx file) that you use to set the default colors, fonts and slide formats/layouts.

For example, the color choices that appear when you set a Fill or Line color are determined by the current template/theme. The Headings and Body fonts that appear at the top of the font list are also determined by the template. The body font is the default font that is used when you create text. The master slide and the layouts that determine the overall appearance of your slides are also defined by the template.

Microsoft now uses the word theme for this special file. For purposes of this post, I will use the terms template and theme interchangeably.

If you look at the Design ribbon, you will see an array of slide images that represent themes. The first image represents the theme that your presentation is now using. If you use the pull-down menu associated  with Variants, you can see some of the details of the fonts and colors you are now using (highlighted). If you View the Slide Master you can see the slide layouts available to you with the current theme.

You can use the tools on the Design ribbon to modify themes and create new ones.

So, here is what you should get when you ask your designer for a complete “template”  :

• Color scheme – when you select a color for a fill or outline, you choose from colors in the color selection pane.  If these have not been specifically assigned, a default palette shows up and these colors (or random ones) will be selected and your presentations will loose your corporate identity.
  I have thoughtfully provided some guidelines for color schemes here.
• Fonts – you probably have corporate fonts;  specifying these as  your Theme Fonts will make them the default for PowerPoint text rather than Arial or Calibri.
  I have recorded my guidelines for fonts  here.
• Master slide and layouts – slide backgrounds;  slide title and bullet formats; layouts for the title slide, section title slides, etc., are all determined by the Master Slide and a number of Layouts.
  Slide backgrounds are an area where graphic designers like to exercise their skill, usually at the expense of the actual slide content.  Here’s my rant on bad slide backgrounds.
  I have also provided some details on working with masters and layouts in this amusing post.

So, to assure that your presentations are not crippled by an incomplete “template,” make sure your designer provides the elements noted above.  Or, hire a PowerPoint specialist, like me.