If you use Adobe Illustrator, or other vector art programs, you are familiar with Bezier curves. Vector art is scalable, without resolution loss, and is editable in both appearance and in shape. PowerPoint shapes are vector graphics and can be edited directly in PowerPoint just like editing vector art in Illustrator (but with a simplified set of options). For example, Christie on the TLC Creative design team created this example showing how a rectangle can be edited into a purple jelly bean shape – all inside PowerPoint, using native PowerPoint features.

1. Create any shape in PowerPoint, mine is a purple rectangle

2. Right click on the shape and select EDIT POINTS

3. A rectangle is a simple vector shape with just 4 points, one for each corner. Click and select any of the points. The Bezier handles will display. Right-click the selected point and from the pop up menu we can change the type of Bezier corner.

PowerPoint points can be SMOOTH, STRAIGHT, or CORNER points. For a rectangle, with all straight edges, the points are CORNER points which keeps the Bezier handles straight and 90 degrees to each other. But to create my purple jelly bean I do not want the 90 degree corner and change its properties to SMOOTH. 

4. The Bezier handles move outside the shape and it becomes a radius corner. 

5. My purple jelly bean has no straight lines, so all 4 points are changed to SMOOTH points. The rectangle is now a “blob” with no straight edges. 

6. This next step has nothing to do with shape edit points, but I cannot leave a slide with an ugly shape, so I am adding a cast shadow.

7. Back to editing shape points, and some design – duplicate the shape, change the color to a lighter shade of purple and then right-click and select EDIT POINTS.

8. Through a combination of adding a few new points (also SMOOTH points) and moving the position of points and Bezier handles, it was pretty quick and easy to create a new custom shape that is now a highlight accent.

9. To make the large blob shape more like a jelly bean, right-click > edit points > add a new point in the top center (make it a SMOOTH point) and drag it down a bit.

10. Done – at least enough for this tutorial, and we never left PowerPoint. Think of it as working in a legacy version of Illustrator, maybe 2.0.

I would classify the .svg support in PowerPoint as first generation, or v1. There is lots of additional support and features to be implemented – which I have a lot of confidence from conversations with the Microsoft Dev Team will steadily be added.

THE GOOD

• True vector format, so image can be resized from very small to very large with no quality loss.
  
• Ability to apply PowerPoint styling:
  • Fill
    
  • Drop Shadow
    
  • Glow
    
  • Outline
    
  • Outline with no fill
    
  • Soft Edge
    

The BAD

• .svg images in PowerPoint definitely have some limitations
• There is no gradient fill or line option, only solid color
  
• .svg vector graphics cannot be ungrouped and there is no edit point functionality
  
  • BUT, there is a work around to some vector shape editing! PowerPoint’s Merge Shapes tools work on .svg images. As example, here is our sample image with a PowerPoint heart shape added.
    
  • By selecting both the .svg image and the heart shape > Merge Shapes > Union the .svg vector image is edited to a new shape
    

.SVG is the future of vector images and graphics in PowerPoint, and if the PowerPoint Dev Team continues to add functionality and features (like edit points, gradient fills, etc.) I predict .svg will become a common file format on par with .png.

Troy @ TLC

PowerPoint has always supported multiple image file formats. All PowerPoint shapes (circle, rectangle, rounded rectangle, etc.) are actually vector art elements. While PowerPoint was an early adopter of .png images (raster images with transparent background), it has definitely been slow in supporting more robust vector image formats.

Question: But why are vector images important, especially for presentations?

Answer: Flexibility and file size.

Flexibility: Vector graphics can be resized from small to large with no quality loss – which is a huge advantage in repurposing graphics throughout a presentation or other presentations.

File Size: Vector graphics have a huge advantage over raster images (eg. .jpg or .png) when it comes to file size. As example we saved this image in 6 of the most common file formats.

EMF = 3.40 MB

WMF = 2.65 MB

EPS = 1.41 MB

AI = 84 KB

PNG = 54 KB

JPG = 26 KB

SVG = 5 KB

Same image, same quality on a slide, big difference for the file size. Multiply this by 10-20-80 images in a presentation and the file size can be 5MB or 250MB (assuming PowerPoint optimized rasterized images. But could easily jump to 500+ MB with oversized high res images).

Why: Vector graphics are made of mathematical paths – which means they are mathematical lines and fills not pixels. Vector format graphics can be sized and scaled from small to large without a loss of resolution. Because vector images are mathematical formulas and not pixels the file is (almost always) much smaller than raster images. But there is a difference between vector formats as you can see in the above example. .emf and .wmf are old, limited vector formats that do not handle gradients well and are the reason their file size is so large. SVG is one of the newest vector file formats to emerge and as this example shows, it handles compression great!

Troy @ TLC

All versions of Office 365, PowerPoint 2016 now support .svg images!

This extends to PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook.

.SVG is “Scalable Vector Graphic“, and as the name implies, it is a full feature vector format. SVG has been around since 1999, but only moved into design mainstream within the past few years. A few reasons for its increased use is virtually all web browsers have included support for it (Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) and specialty mobile device formats (SVG Tiny, SVGT, and SVG Basic, SVGB).

For presentation designers this is a huge feature. PowerPoint has been very slow in adopting vector format support with legacy file formats .wmf and .emf being our most common format when developing art elements in Adobe Illustrator for use in PowerPoint. Both of these formats are very limited and have poor quality (especially in anything beyond flat art) and larger file sizes (often larger than a .jpg version of same image).

Over the next few weeks we have a blog series on the many different aspects of using .svg images in PowerPoint.

Troy @ TLC

In the previous portfolio sample of a recent PowerPoint template for HCV Treatment Research, the Section Divider layout had some customized formatting.

One of the TLC Creative Design Team objectives is to do as much formatting within PowerPoint to preserve future editing options (vs. doing all design in external programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and importing  a series of uneditable images). The Section Divider in this template is a great example of our process of future proofing templates.

1. Photoshop developed background image
2. PowerPoint color block
3. PowerPoint shapes, with custom semi-transparent gradient fill, thick outline, and drop shadow effect
4. Duplicate of #3, resized
5. PowerPoint text box with semi-transparent fill, text formatting preset
6. PowerPoint text box with semi-transparent fill, text formatting preset

The Hexagon accent title boxes actually have a lot of customized PowerPoint formatting in putting them together.

• Add 2 PowerPoint text boxes, with semi-transparent fills and text formatting options preset (including a custom left margin to move text away from left edge).

• Add PowerPoint hexagon shapes with semi-transparent gradient fill, thick outline, shadowing and other styling applied. The position and size was determined by the text boxes. Each was sized to have the outline within the text box shape.

• The dilemma is, even with the text boxes sent to back, the semi-transparent gradient fills of the hexagons show the text box edge.

• Using PowerPoint’s Vector Shape Editing capabilities, we can customize the text boxes further in order to meet the visual needs of the template. Step 1 is selecting a text box and EDIT the vector POINTS.

• The text boxes are simple rectangles with 4 points, these two are the ones we are customizing.

• Right-click the red shape outline and ADD 2 additional vector points to the vertical left of the rectangle (location is arbitrary).

• The thick (4.5 pt) shape outline was a nice styling accent, but it also makes this vector customization much easier by providing lots of area to “hide” the text box shape under. We moved the 2 new vector anchor point to sit in the middle of the hexagon outline and making the text box shape, when sent to back under the hexagon, hidden from view.

• Temporarily removing the hexagon shapes, here are the customized text box shapes with their new left edge.

• The end results, Title and Subtitle custom text boxes for the Section Divider layout, are all developed within PowerPoint and maintains template color scheme colors and editability.

-Troy @ TLC

Photos.com is venerable, being one of the few companies around before the internet. I have a collection of (costly) Photo CDs from them. And if you every purchased one of the bright boxes full of “4 Million Images of CD/DVD” you know photos.com. Of course, that long history means some of the images are a bit dated, or perhaps seen in many other layouts over the years.

But the images are good quality, the search is nice and the thumbnails easy to review and use. The subscription rates are some of the best, so another reason you see the images a lot. You can also get some things here not available at others: a sound effects library, custom fonts and Flash animations.

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: Yes
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $5 for standard PPT use (‘multimedia’, 500-800px)
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 1 year unlimited of photo images only = $450 OR photos+vector+Flash+audio+fonts = $1,200)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 4,670 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 7,348 results

– Troy @ TLC

Getty Images is an industry force, owning many of the other services, used by major media (newspaper, magazine, TV) and the place to get images of real (famous) people, real-life video and audio. This is the benchmark for professional quality images and breadth of search options. It does come at a price, but you definitely get what is paid for. Everyone should click the “Search Tips” button and read how to maximize search results (same tips apply to virtually all sites).

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: Yes
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $35-150 ($35 = “web & Multimedia” 413px)
Subscription Download: Yes (this goes to photos.com – one of the many they own)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 5,301 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 11,616 results

– Troy @ TLC

Dreamstime has been around for a while, but I do not hear a lot of people talking about it. One reason may be their Royalty Free license has more options than most and the image price can vary quite a bit based on the options (which seem confusing and easier to find images elsewhere without the confusion). But the images are great, with lots of unique photography for topics not found on other sites.

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: No
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $3 for standard PPT use (small, 800px, level 2 RF)
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 25 images per day for 6 months = $1,250)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 12,918 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 1,150 results

– Troy @ TLC

JupiterImages Unlimited is a Getty Images company – a central service that gives access to images from several Getty companies. The mid-level “Essentials” subscription shows images from photos.com, ablestock.com, liquidlibrary and photobjects.net. I spent a few months using this site for a project through a clients’ subscription. The images are great, quality top notch and selection wide. Doing a vector search brings up lots of great vector images, but also plenty that are dated and lackluster. Another highlight is the huge library of photo object images (photos shot on a white background).

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: No
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: No
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 1 year unlimied download Essential Plan = $1,500)

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 4,077 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 1,518 results

– Troy @ TLC

“Stock Exchange” (Stock.XCHNG) bills itself as the leading FREE stock photo site- and I would have to agree. This is definitely one of my go-to resources as the quality is good, image size is great (near fullsize print quality) and it is a true image site, though the search can give limited results. It does have ties with pay sites, so note the 1st row of images on each page is not part of the free options (and that’s why they look perfect). Another consideration is everything is a .jpg image, even the vector looking images (because the vector version is available at the affiliated pay site).

Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: No
Video: No
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: No – They are all free!
Subscription Download: No

Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 262 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 0 results
* With alternate search terms I was able to located 100’s of images for each, just took more effort.

– Troy @ TLC