Software/Add-Ins

Adobe Stock PowerPoint Add-In

AdobeStock is a large royalty free image resource offering. TLC Creative opted to make it our current project resource (we change out services every few years). Adobe has released a PowerPoint add-in for Adobe Stock. If you’re a Adobe Stock subscriber, you can easily access the image search directly in PowerPoint.

 

 

Install the Adobe Stock PowerPoint Add-in: Insert Tab > My Add-ins (or Store) > See All > Add

Adobe Stock PowerPoint 1

Adobe Stock PowerPoint 2

Click the Adobe Stock add-in button on the Insert tab to open the Adobe Stock action pane.

Adobe Stock PowerPoint 3

The process of searching, finding, selecting and inserting images onto a slide is very intuitive and easy. A few observations:

  • You need to log in to your Adobe account the first time the Adobe Stock action pane is opened.
  • When you select an image, there is an option to license or insert a watermarked comp image (Preview in PowerPoint).
    Adobe Stock PowerPoint 4
  • Images only exist in the PowerPoint file, vs. downloading an image file through the Adobe Stock site and then adding that file to a presentation.
  • Vector graphics are inserted as raster .png images (but can be downloaded as vector files if downloaded direct from the Adobe Stock site, which ironically cannot be downloaded as a raster image from the website where it is only available as a vector graphic that must be converted to be PowerPoint compatible).

 

Enjoy!

By |2018-03-10T19:43:41-07:00March 13th, 2018|Software/Add-Ins|

Beautiful.ai Review

Beautiful.AI is a stand alone (eg. not a PowerPoint companion or add-in) web-based presentation design app.

The immediate thing the TLC Creative team noted when testing Beautiful.ai was the visual and clean styling and layouts for presentations. Less is often better and the Beautiful.ai app focuses on that design aesthetic – in a good way. 

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/unnamed-file.mp4[/KGVID]

On the technical side, it is web-based. So no internet, no app. In addition it is a browser-based app, so no standalone app to launch, or even “button” to open a browser to the app. It also only functions in the Google Chrome browser. We have fast fiber internet service at the TLC Creative studio, but has noted other web-based apps still pause and have noticeable performance issues. Beautiful.ai was fast and never had us waiting for the internet to catch up.

Using Beautiful AI to create a presentation:

  • Click the plus symbol to “Add a Slide” and an array of 75+ preset layout options are available.

  • Preset layouts can be customized with images (from internal app resources or from computer), text and several styling options. As example, the “Variations” icon is available at the bottom right and depending on what is selected on the slide it brings up a list of additional options to choose from, such as bullets, numbered icons, etc.
  • Content is intuitive to add or delete, as are most of the styling options.
  • Entrance animations are preset, and overall everything is elegant and professional.
  • The “Artificial Intelligence” in the Beautiful.ai name shines with layouts that automatically readjust and realign for a professional and balanced arrangement. As example, adjusting a 5-item slide to a 3-item slide everything adjusts and centers on the slide area.
  • Videos are possible with a YouTube import option. We were also informed that the ability to import your own video files is being added.

  • For corporate PowerPoint template projects, one of our stand adds is a preset CONTACT layout. Beautiful.ai has a preset “CONTACT INFO” layout, and it has some nifty options such as add your address and it verifies the address from Google Maps and adds a Google Map to the slide. Plus you have the control of the map style and zoom level.

While this is one of the better web-based presentation design apps I have tested, there were points where I think the app became overwhelmed and it went into a never-ending spin mode (ie. it froze vs. being painfully slow to work with). There are also several limitations worth being aware of:

  • Limited fonts available (okay, you use what it picks and no other choices are offered)
  • No option to export editable files (PDF and PowerPoint deck made up of static images)
  • No presenter view (to see presenter notes, a timer, etc.)
  • And some styling limitations, such as on a timeline there is no control over the text wrapping. The layout is balanced between content, but often longer timeline elements need to be “off balance” from the rest of the content to create an overall balanced slide layout. Beautiful.ai follows some great rules for aesthetics, but does not have customization options for things that are outside its rules.

All in all, there’s a lot of pretty cool functions in Beautiful.ai. It is also valuable to take existing slides and content and see new design options presented by Beautiful.ai. My big takeaway is for the corporate user, I would still recommend using PowerPoint, but for one-off and the non-designer looking for a polished and professional visual styled presentation, Beautiful.ai should be an option to remember.

 

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-10-28T09:55:24-07:00March 5th, 2018|Software/Add-Ins|

Microsoft Remix3D for 3D Models

Microsoft is making a big push into 3D and is supporting all users with some new tools. Remix 3D is a Microsoft offering, and uniquely the site has minimal Microsoft branding, and can be used by anyone.

Remix3D has a wide variety of 3D models (and by “wide variety” I mean cheesy cartoon quality to more professional subject matter). Everything on Remix3D is FREE and completely royalty free!

PowerPoint has very recently added the ability to add real 3D models to slides. Here at TLC Creative we feel having support for 3D models in presentations is going to add a great layer of visual styling options! Previously adding a 3D model meant exporting a .png image or movie file of the model. Now we can add the real 3D model, maintaining its 3D attributes.

To use any of the Remix3D.com models in PowerPoint (or Word, or Excel) you can either go direct to the website, login (a Microsoft account is needed, not necessarily your Office365 email), download and insert onto a slide. As example, searching for “Globe” there is a good selection of models to choose from.

 

The other option is to search and insert directly in PowerPoint. Remix3D works seamlessly with all Office apps (PowerPoint, Word, Excel), including the new Microsoft Paint 3D application. The integration is impressive. Using Office 365 PowerPoint go to INSERT > 3D MODELS > FROM ONLINE SOURCES.

The dialog that opens is a view of Remix3D’s library. Search and find a 3D model and click insert. Here is a search for “Globe” in the PowerPoint direct dialog. All the same models. Find the 3D model you want and click INSERT.

Two notes: 

  1. The background behind the 3D model is not going to be inserted, just the model over the slide background.
  2. When searching through the website, you can interact with the 3D models to rotated on all axis’ to view. But the PowerPoint direct dialog is only a static image of the 3D model.

 

The selected 3D model is placed on the current slide, centered on the slide. 3D models are vector act, so they can be scaled to any size with no quality loss. In addition, 3D models has a new center activation icon that allows it to rotate, zoom and pan the model to the desired view for the presentation. 

Throughout this month we are highlighting using 3D models in presentations with the TLC Creative design team’s PowerPoint demos that integrate 3D models.

Troy @ TLC

By |2018-01-06T23:30:23-07:00January 4th, 2018|Software/Add-Ins|

Adobe Experts Productivity Tips

Lori and I  were featured in a great PowerPoint Productivity Tips list (Lori tip #16, Troy tip #18) a few months ago, which is something definitely worth reading (see blog post with link to full article here). Recently, Paul at Acuity Training in the UK sent me a link to an Adobe Experts Productivity Tips article they posted, and it has some great power user tips and hacks, definitely worth bookmarking. Full article here.

Adobe Experts Productivity Tips

Troy @ TLC 

By |2017-12-14T12:37:14-07:00December 14th, 2017|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

WeCompress – NXPowerlite’s Online Version

The guys at Neuxpower recently invited us to beta test a new online compression tool called WeCompress. We found using this online tool is simple, easy and provides impressive results on par with the desktop version of NXPowerlite (review of NXPowerlite here). And the good news is, wecompress is now publicly available for use!

Overall we found WeCompress an impressive online tool – and it is FREE to use! While our tests below show it is not as robust as the NXPowerlite desktop app, it provides a great option for everyone trapped in a corporate world of “we do not allow add-ins or utility apps to be installed.” 

Our first test was optimizing this high-res .jpg image. WeCompress reduced the file size by 4MB and maintained image quality (for use on a 1920×1080 monitor).

To use, go to WeCompress and just drag and drop your file to get started.

The upload and download time is dependent on your internet connection, but the actual compression/processing time was on par with the desktop NXPowerlite processing (eg. fast).

WeCompress has a clean online app design and it’s easy to use. But it does lack a few things in comparison to the desktop NXPowerlite app. The biggest difference is the ability to customize settings. For example, TLC Creative’s standard compression is custom settings optimized for 1920×1080 HD display. Other areas custom compression settings are important to us are when working on 4-6-8K output files (although the desktop version is currently limited to a 3480x2160px resolution base).

For comparison, here is our 10 slide sample deck which we optimized with WeCompress, NXPowerlite’s default compression setting, and our “TLC” custom NXPowerlite compression settings.

The original file, with purposefully oversize images, is 14.9 MB.

Running the file through WeCompress adjusted the file to a helpful 642 KB (and maintained good image quality, but a bit lower than we really want).

NXPowerlite (Windows v7.1.5) using its default PRINT compression gave us a 4.68 MB file (and image quality we approved of).

Optimizing with our “TLC” custom compression setting (1920×1080, JPG quality 9) gave us a 3.39 MB file (and image quality we approved of).

We then tested with another test file. We optimized a 10 slide PowerPoint file with close up, detailed high res images. Using NXPowerlite with our TLC HD compression settings, the file went from 16.8MB to 3.76MB, with image detail quality that met our standards.  

Uploading the same file to WeCompress reduced the file a lot – down to 674 KB! But image quality was below our standards (Note: compressing same file with NXPowerlite’s SCREEN default was comparable, creating a 1.15 MB file – a default setting we never use).

Aside from WeCompress’ limitations, the two tools have similar compression speeds and results. But WeCompress is FREE and does not require any install permissions. Neuxpower’s NXPowerlite has been the TLC Creative Services go-to compression solution for several years and we definitely recommend booking their new WeCompress online option to add to your toolbox.

Troy @ TLC

By |2017-10-13T11:46:21-07:00October 26th, 2017|Software/Add-Ins|

Video Across Slides (Sort Of)

Unbeknownst to the world, Microsoft somehow enabled video to play across slides again! This is something I have been requesting since the release of PowerPoint 2010, when video-across-slides stopped working. But don’t get too excited, there are limitations in using it today.

First the technical note: I am using Office 365, PowerPoint 2016 on Windows 10. This is untested on legacy versions or the Mac version.

Here is my sample slide deck; 5 slides with a video on slide 1 and indicator text on balance of slides.

Video Across Slides

When things are setup correct, yes we can play video across slides (yay!) as this video of the sample slides in slideshow demonstrate:

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/unnamed-file-3.mp4[/KGVID]

Side note: the above video was a Camtasia screen recording, because I discovered that using the Export As Video option does not show the video across slides (which makes sense with the below explanation of why I believe this is working)

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/unnamed-file-2.mp4[/KGVID]

Backstory:

  • Back in PowerPoint 2003, a video could be set to continue playing across slides and it would!
  • The reason was more of a limitation of PowerPoint that users were able to exploit and make a good thing. Back in PowerPoint 2003  video was not embedded and ran as a separate video player layer on top of PowerPoint. The good news was PowerPoint could keep the external video player going across multiple slides. The bad news was among other things, no PowerPoint content could be on top of the video while it was playing, because it was on top of the slides when playing.
  • Fast forward to PowerPoint 2010 and videos became embedded and content could be on top of videos! The downside was the embedded video removed the hand off to an external video player on top of the slides (but the improvements in reliable playback and styling effects were far superior options to have available!)
  • Today, video across slides works again. Here is my theory:
    • When the play across multiple slides option is selected for a video, the video uses a legacy video player and reverts back to the PowerPoint 2003 model of being a layer on top of PowerPoint. So yes, you can play a video across slides, but the video has a lot of styling limitations.

How to Set a Video to Play Across Slides:

  • Add video to slide (can be an embedded video, no legacy settings needed)
  • My example video was set to play the video automatically 
    Video Across Slides
  • Open the Animation Pane
  • Right-click the video animation 
  • Select EFFECT OPTIONS
  • Go to the EFFECT tab
  • Look in the STOP PLAYING section
  • Change the AFTER dialog to any number of slides needed (maximum 999 slides)
  • Click OKAY
    Video Across Slides

Limitations of Applying Styling Options to Videos That Use The Play Across Slides Option:

  • Below video demonstrates things that do not work when play across slides is set; 3D perspective, distorted aspect ratio, reflection, and more
    [KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/unnamed-file-1.mp4[/KGVID]

My Advice:

  • Don’t count on this working in the future. It was broken for years and suddenly started working (thanks to Taylor Croonquist for mentioning it!). It could easily stop working with another update (and the ultimate update would be to enable video to play-across-slides AND maintain the embedded video player for z-order control and styling effects!!).
  • But don’t hesitate to use it if needed. I was recently used a 60 second countdown video to play across a series of slides and all worked perfect (but the request was a circle shaped clock, which I could not do because of the above noted styling limitations). I tested on my show computers and was confident all would work for the meeting. If the same client asks for the same effect next year, I cannot promise it will work until we are close to the meeting date and I can test and confirm it is still a supported feature (eg. I am not sending out Sales Team decks using this feature, because it would be bad for things to stop working in the future).

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-10-31T22:07:25-07:00October 19th, 2017|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

Alternatives to PowerPoint

In the most recent episode of The Presentation Podcast, episode 38 “Alternatives to PowerPoint,” my co-hosts and I talked through presentation software options other than PowerPoint. On a related note, I spent this week at The Presentation Summit conference in Florida. The conference is focused on the presentation industry as a whole, not specific software, and there are some interesting parallels from what I saw at the conference and the podcast discussion.

Presentation Software

Throughout the podcast, Nolan Haims, Sandra Johnson and I (Troy Chollar) discuss a lot of apps and when other software can be a good option. PowerPoint is the software we reference as the benchmark. Ironically, at The Presentation Summit this week, Microsoft was the only presentation software represented (they came with a team of 6 Project Managers and Developers – which is a fantastic opportunity for anyone in the presentation industry to have direct access and conversation with the people responsible for PowerPoint!). The product expo had many great companies represented: slide management, hardware, add-in coders, AR and VR (amazing stuff!), and more. But Keynote, Prezi (who have been at the conference in the past), Haiku Deck, Adobe, Google, and other presentation creation apps did not have a presence.

Another interesting parallel that I noted was that for a conference full of professional presentation designers, there was continuous excitement over discovering new features and ways to use PowerPoint. That excitement of discovery ties in directly with a new LinkedIn an article that I posted, “The ‘New’ PowerPoint” about how people do not realize features that have changed and been added, literally making PowerPoint a new software app compared to previous versions.

The key takeaway is: yes, there are other presentation software options available. However, those other options do not have a large user base or large profile at presentation industry events. Microsoft’s PowerPoint continues to be the industry standard for presentation software – and there are plenty of new features to make it better than the “old” PowerPoint.

– Troy @ TLC

 

 

 

By |2017-09-27T15:09:38-07:00September 28th, 2017|Software/Add-Ins|

NXPowerlite Asking Users for Feedback

Currently the dev team at Neuxpower are soliciting user input as they prepare the specs for v8. I sent in my suggestions a few weeks ago and had a great note from them about a number of my thoughts are already in the specs, and  few that will be included (yay!). Everyone that is familiar with NXPowerlite should take advantage of this open request for feedback!

Click here for the Neuxpower NXPowerlite survey.

Troy @ TLC

 

By |2017-08-01T10:50:16-07:00August 2nd, 2017|Software/Add-Ins, The PowerPoint® Blog|

IOS PowerPoint Morph & Zoom Test File

PowerPoint’s Morph (transition/animation effect) and Zoom (new custom shows) have had an amazing adoption rate and become something we use in projects on a regular basis. The addition of support for both effects on mobile versions of PowerPoint has happened fairly recently.  Amber on the TLC Creative Presentation Design Team created a fun, small file size, sample presentation setup with Morph transitions and Zoom custom shows for us to test and see how they work on our mobile devices.

Use this link to download our test file and open on your mobile device to see if Morph and Zoom are included/working on your mobile version of PowerPoint – Download test PPTX file here

After downloading, it is important to open with Microsoft PowerPoint on the device, not a PowerPoint viewer application. For iPhones (IOS), this means click-and-hold the file name to bring up a list of applications it can be opened with. Select the Microsoft PowerPoint icon.

Download > click-and-hold to select “Copy to PowerPoint” > the mobile version of PowerPoint opens > Presentation opens > click the Play icon to view as a slide show.

 

Here is a quick video capture showing the visual effects that should be seen on the mobile PowerPoint apps.

[KGVID]https://thepowerpointblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/unnamed-file-1.mp4[/KGVID]

 

Troy @ TLC

By |2019-10-28T10:11:46-07:00April 19th, 2017|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins, The PowerPoint® Blog|
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