So the more I utilize iStockPhoto (my latest was purchasing some fantastic vector art to integrate into a template) the more I am putting my budget toward it vs. maintaining subscriptions to other services.
Of course things get even better when I discover a discount! Here are the details:
a. 20% off any $50+ purchase
b. Offer code: XARACOM
c. Note: only can be used 1x per account
– Troy @ TLC
Turns out PowerPoint may be trying to be more helpful than you want. I want to control when, and how many times, an image is compressed. The default setting for PPT 2007 is to compress images every time the file is saved. Here is my example slide, which has just one large image:
With the image selected (1) go to the FORMAT tab, then (2) click the COMPRESS PICTURES option
This brings up the basic dialog box, but we want to go into the OPTIONS
Finally, UNCHECK the automatically compress images option so you can control which images, if any need to be compressed by PowerPoint.
– Troy @ TLC
Okay, so I just discovered a deal that includes a 1 year subscription to iCLIPART.com, which was yesterday’s post.
With 2 rebates you can purchase the entire ClipArt 3.5 Million image collection from Buy.com for nothing (and shipping is included!). The boxed set includes a 1 year subscription to iClipArt.com, so now you have it all!!
Click here to go to the Buy.com page.
– Troy @ TLC
If you use clip art in presentations, or any design application, then this may be a good deal for you. The venerable ClipArt collection from IMSI (who remembers purchasing the 30+ CDROM sets….) is entirely online – and searchable! Of note this is just the vector clipart, not any of the photos, fonts, sounds, etc. and is at a clip-art only site iCLIPART.com.
Special pricing drops the year subscription from $99 to $29. Although I do not make use of much clip art these days, I do have need of it (in vector format) when developing custom graphics or template backgrounds.
Thought some people could make use of this.
– Troy @ TLC
One of the great features of PPT 2007 is the ‘Change Picture’ tool. From a programming perspective this was not a monumentus task to implement because all inserted images are now automatically an autoshape with a fill effect (in this case filled with an image).
In previous versions if we went through the steps of creating an autoshape, doing the custom fill and being willing to live with some design limitations we could update the fill effects with a new image. The advantage was any animations would remain intact. The disadvantage was a lot of extra clicks.
With PPT 2007 changing out an image is just a matter of Right-Clicking the image and selecting the CHANGE PICTURE command!
Virtually any adjustments made to the original image are maintained. Animations, rotation, dropshadows, bevels, and the new image is automatically scaled to fit in the existing bounding box (which may or may not be exactly what you need).
– Troy @ TLC
One of the great productivity updates in PPT 2007 is grouped images. Here is a set of three elements grouped:
The new feautre is that now any of the elements within the group can be selected AND adjusted. It can be moved (the group bounding box adjusts so it is not constrained to current group dimensions) or, rotatated or virtually any other adjustment – all while maintaining the group attributes.
– Troy @ TLC
So with PPT 2007 we can quickly create fun, and editable, graphics. Using a stock photo and our sample image I quickly created this slide in about 45 seconds.
– I first set the image to appear in an autoshape (thought bubble).
– Then I used the autoshape adjustments to move the thought bubble trail to our characters head.
– I applied a stroke to the autoshape, colored it (dark blue) and made it thicker.
– Last I applied a drop shadow to the thought bubble and the character.
– Troy @ TLC
The ability to add perspective to images, and maintain editability/adjustability adds some great design tools. Here is my sample image with two 3D perspective styles applied.
Both of these styles were applied in a matter of seconds from the preset options.
– Troy @ TLC
One of the creative things possible in earlier versions was to fill an autoshape (circle, rectangle, triangle, etc.) with an image. This required:
– creating the autoshape
– go through 4-7 steps to fill shape with the photo
But now things are MUCH EASIER!
– Insert photo
– With photo selected choose any autoshape
– Done!
In less than 1 minute all of these custom images were created:
– Troy @ TLC
Needless to say, but I am able to spend more time in PowerPoint than with any previous version. Here is another reason – the Soft Edge feature! Previously I would work with an image in Photoshop, save it out as a .png and then insert into the presentation. Here is our sample image with a soft edge applied:
AND a key with the softedges, drop shadows, and glows is that all add transparency. This means the images can easily be layered on top of other images or textured backgrounds.
The presets are setup in how much is feathered away, which is measured in Points.
The only downside to this feature is that the image must have a uniform soft edge all the way around it – no on just a few sides…. back to Photoshop when this is needed.
– Troy @ TLC