Finalizing our text treatment series, another way to make text more visually interesting is to fill text with a picture. Here is the image used for the next styling effect. Note that the fire and ice are within the same image:

To fill the text with the image, on the ribbon go to SHAPE FORMAT (A), click TEXT FILL (B), select PICTURE (C)

PowerPoints default is to make the image fill the selected text. In this case the image is “squished” to fit. But we want to show only the fire portion of the image on the FIRE text. To adjust the image, work from the FORMAT SHAPE and TEXT OPTIONS pane. Note: We cannot use crop tool to adjust fill image size/position, we must use the legacy fill offset tools.

  • Go to the TEXT FILL tab
  • Select “Tile picture as texture”

Here is our image fill BEFORE checking “Tile picture as texture”

And here is our image AFTER checking “Tile picture as texture”

Now that the fire flames portion of the image is filling the entirety of the text, we have a few customizing refinements, but for the most part the default settings work:

  • Check TILE PICTURE AS TEXTURE
  • Set the Offset X & Y to 0 pt (default)
  • Set the X & Y SCALE to 100% (default)
  • Set the ALIGNMENT to TOP LEFT (default)

Similar adjustments for ICE:

  • Check TILE PICTURE AS TEXTURE
  • Set the Offset X & Y to 0 pt (default)
  • Adjust the X SCALE (width) to 62% which let’s us see some black area of the image for more visual interest
  • Set the Y SCALE (height) to 100% (default)
  • Set the ALIGNMENT to RIGHT

Text is still editable in PowerPoint. Styling options such as drop shadows and beveling can also be applied – be creative! Download the sample slide Here.

Troy @ TLC