images

PointClips.com = Great PPT Images

Jeff Koke of PointClips recently emailed me a few samples of their PowerPoint images. Pointclips offers “hand-crafted artwork and icons, built in PowerPoint.”

What impressed me was that not only did I see good quality, but that all were made of grouped vector images (autoshapes) and could be resized and even re-colored as needed! Sure you could (maybe) create all of these images yourself, but why spend hours doing so…

The left image is from PointClips free downloadable sample. On the right is a number of the elements ungrouped – all editable autoshapes!

Individual images for $5 and collections of 50 images for $99. Check them out here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T15:59:28-07:00May 17th, 2007|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

Align, Equal Size and Balance

On this slide the elements where nice high-resolution images. But they blend together and do not have a strong sense of balance.

The presentation I was working on involved converting all to a 16×9, widescreen, format. Having the extra space was great for this slide, allowing me to keep the images large. From a design perspective each had a black stroke applied to keep it from blending into the background, they were made equal size with the other elements on its row, the left and right elements were aligned with one another and all were equally distributed (horizontally). The overall goal was to help the images stand out as individual elements and be presented in a visually balanced layout – here is the slide developed:

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T15:46:35-07:00March 9th, 2007|Portfolio|

PPT Brightness & Contrast Buttons

PowerPoint has very, very basic image editing capabilities. But some great effects and adjusts can be created quickly using the Brightness and Contrast toolset. Here is my original image of a chess board added to the slide.

But it is to dark and too much contrast to effectively overlay text on.

Here is my adjusted image:

Instead of opening the image in Photoshop again – adjusting the brightness and contrast – saving out – re-inserting into presentation, I did all of the needed adjustments directly in PowerPoint.

I selected the image, increased the brightness around 8 clicks and decreased the contrast around 10 clicks and now the image is ready for the text box to be added to the slide. Took less than 10 seconds!

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T15:30:18-07:00January 12th, 2007|Portfolio, Tutorial|

What is “Royalty Free”

If adding photos to a presentation they are most likely “royalty-free” photos. The term is used a lot, so here is a quick overview of what it really means.

Royalty free photographs are offered for a one-time fee. When you purchase a rolyalty free image you can use the image as many times as you want, in as many projects as you want. As opposed to a fee for a specified number of times the photo is permitted to be used (which was the dominant business model 10+ years ago).

Royalty free also means the image is purchased for use in a product, not for resale as a stock image or as an image alone. Every royalty free company has slightly different guidelines, so be sure to review before use. The last tip is to check the image size (although with PowerPoint/multimedia this is not as critical as print design).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T14:58:45-07:00November 21st, 2006|Resource/Misc|

Stock Photography Site – “Big Stock Photo”

Years ago when I specialized in print design and royalty free/stock photography was a bit more expensive (think $300-500 for a CD with 20-50 images) and much harder to find just the right image (it is much easier and more economical to be a designer now!).

Another great resource I have been making use of recently is “Big Stock Photo. This online stock photography site has a very good library of images with lots of diversity of topics. The cost is incredible at just a couple of dollars each.

Add this one to your resources – “Big Stock Photo

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T14:58:23-07:00November 19th, 2006|Resource/Misc|

Animated Frame Entrance

Using native PowerPoint elements and animations, add a dynamic entrance to photos.

1. Insert a photo, or other graphic, to a slide.

2. Add a Line Color (aka stroke) to the photo. Use a color that coordinates with the image or background and is thick enough to be visible (sample here is 2 1/4pt.).

3. Now add a rectangle autoshape. Size it to be slightly larger than the photo and set the Fill to none. Add the same Line Color and weight as applied to the photo.

4. Animate the photo: EXPAND, FAST, WITH PREVIOUS

5. Animate the frame: COMPRESS, FAST, WITH PREVIOUS

Done! I have also uploaded a sample presentation of this animated slide. Click here to download.

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T14:23:58-07:00September 27th, 2006|Tutorial|

What is the File Name of that Image?

You carefully label all of the layers and saved out images from Photoshop with descriptive names. But once imported into PowerPoint you lose all reference to what image it is… Take this example:

You have a dozen very similiar images in the presentation, but you need to verify what model this one is. Is it a 300, 350, 430… You know the file name says exactly what it is, but where is the file name to be found?

If you have an animation applied, open the CUSTOM ANIMATION PANE, click on the image and reference the animation, it contains the file name! If you do not have an animation applied – temporarily apply one so you can read the info. Here I quickly applied the first animation in my list, APPEAR. Now I can read the file name, verify what model vehicle it is, delete the animation and move on.

Note: Hovering over the animation will let the pop-up info appear, which is helpful for reading long file names that become cut off in the animation bar.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T14:19:35-07:00September 5th, 2006|Tutorial|

Background vs. Layer in Photoshop

You are trying to remove the background from an image in Photoshop but when you hit the delete key it fills the selection with a solid color. This is an easy oversight, and even easier to correct. Most likely your image is set to a single merged/flattened layer. In Photoshop:
○ Open the layers palette by going to WINDOWS >> LAYER
○ Look at your image layer. It will either say BACKGROUND, LAYER 0 or another name. We are only concerned if it says “background.”

○ Either double-click the layer or go to LAYER >> NEW >> LAYER FROM BACKGROUND

○ Optionally name the layer in the New Layer dialog, click OKAY

○ Now in the layers palette the “background” has been replaced with “Layer 0” or the name you set. Make a selection, hit delete and the transparency checker board will be all that remains.

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T14:06:00-07:00July 14th, 2006|Tutorial|

Online Movie Tutorial : Remove Image Background in PhotoShop

In this screen capture tutorial I go through the process of exporting an image from a presentation, opening it in PhotoShop, removing the background, properly saving it with transparency and then inserting back into the presentation.

This is a 4 minute narrated online movie – because seeing a real demonstration saves hours of frustration! To view click here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-11-17T14:05:43-07:00July 12th, 2006|Tutorial|
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