Adding video to PowerPoint shows
Have screen shows, will travel
Speedier type in PageMaker
The Harvard-PageMaker shuttle
Changing PowerPoint templates
Q I inserted a Video for Windows clip (in .avi file format) in a PowerPoint 4.0 slide and placed it on top of a clip art drawing of a TV screen, so it looks like the video sequence is playing on a small TV. Unfortunately, the name of the .avi file and a scroll bar display in the frame where I'm running the clip, ruining the effect. What's the magic word that will make them disappear?
- Dennis Rials
A There's no magic word, but you can make those extraneous elements go away by changing some of the playback options in the Windows Media Player.
It's fairly simple to use media clips - including video, animation and sound files - in a PowerPoint presentation: in Slide Editor, select Insert-Object. Under Object Type, select Media Clip and click OK. This launches Media Player. Choose File-Open to load a media clip, then use other features - such as the VCR-style control bar - to play it. Select File-Update filename.ppt and File-Exit filename.ppt & Return to exit Media Player and embed the media clip in your PowerPoint slide.
To get rid of that persistent scroll bar and filename and let your embedded video clip blend more smoothly with other slide contents, follow these steps:
1. Click the video clip object to select it (typically, this object is the first shot of the video, with a border and file name attached). Select Edit-Media Clip Object-Edit to launch Media Player and open the embedded clip.
2. In Media Player, select Edit-Options. In the OLE Object section, mark the check box for Play in client document and unmark the boxes for Caption, Border around object, and Control Bar on playback. Click OK.
3. Select Device-Configure to open the Video Playback Options dialogue box. Be sure to select Window as the Video Mode, and unmark the box for Zoom by 2. Click OK to exit.
4. Select File-Update filename.ppt and File-Exit filename.ppt & Return to return to PowerPoint.
Now it's time to see how it looks. Select the Slide Show icon (at the bottom of the screen) to preview the results. With the playback changes you've just made, the video clip should now blend in seamlessly with the surrounding drawing.
Q I use PowerPoint 4.0 and want to distribute self-running screen shows for clients to play on their PCs. PowerPoint has a run-time playback utility, but it only runs in Windows. Are there any presentation programs with DOS run-time utilities?
- Al Cocconi
A Both Freelance Graphics 2.x and Harvard Graphics 3.0 will do what you want. In Freelance Graphics, if you select the "Run screen show directly from DOS" option, Freelance copies both the presentation files and the run-time utility show.exe to the disk drive and directory you designate. To play the presentation from DOS, you move to the directory containing the demo, type show filename, and press <Enter>. The process is similar with Harvard Graphics: at the DOS prompt, you type hgplayer filename and press <Enter>.
Q When I create documents in PageMaker 5.0, I usually use smaller type (such as 11-, 10- and 9-point) rather than large (14-point and up). But when I use the Control palette to change type size, the larger choices show up first. As a result, I'm always scrolling through the list to get to the sizes I want. Is it possible to change the order of type sizes PageMaker displays so the ones I want are easier to find?
- Paul Gellman
A No, PageMaker won't let you re-sort the Control palette's choices. But don't fret - there's a faster way to change the type size for selected text. Instead of scrolling in the palette's list box, simply use the keyboard instead.
First be sure you're in layout view with the Control palette activated. Double-click the type-size edit box to highlight the default setting (typically 12-point). Then type in your desired point size - for example, type 10 - and press <Enter>. PageMaker will change the size of the highlighted text.
While you're typing in your type-size choices, here's another shortcut: if you're not sure what type size you want, press <Shift>+<Enter> after typing in the new point size. As before, PageMaker will change the highlighted text to the new point size, but it will also keep the Control palette active and the type-size edit box highlighted. This allows you to leave your hands on the keyboard, type in other sizes, and keep pressing <Shift>+<Enter> until you're satisfied with the results.
Q I'd like to use some colour bar charts I created in Harvard Graphics in a black-and-white PageMaker document. The problem is, the charts are hard to read when printed because they come out in a few shades of grey.
- K K Rama Krishnan
A Swapping files between applications is sometimes necessary and almost always quite tricky. The Harvard-to-PageMaker journey is no exception. In this case, the trick is to use a monochrome colour palette with your Harvard presentation before you export the charts. Here's how to do it:
1. Open your Harvard presentation in Slide Editor view and select Style-Edit master template.
2. Choose Style-Colour palette-Select to open the Select Colour Palette dialogue box. Make sure that you are in the Styles directory, then scroll down the Filename list, select monow.pl, and click OK.
3. Click the Back to slide button (located at the bottom of the screen) and click Yes when Harvard asks whether you want to keep your changes.
4. Back in Slide Editor view, go to the slide that contains the first chart you want to export. Select File-Export to open the Export dialogue box. Select Computer Graphics Metafile (*.cgm) as the File type, and give it a file name. Click OK, and Harvard exports the file.
5. Repeat the previous step for each chart you want to export. When finished, select File-Save as and save this monochrome version of your Harvard presentation under a new name, to keep the original colour version intact.
You can open your PageMaker document and select File-Place to import the Harvard .cgm files in the usual manner. But from now on, the different shades of grey should be much easier to read when you print your bar charts in black and white.
- Paul de Klerk
A Yes, there is. Although PowerPoint templates provide different master layouts and colour schemes - some of which may give your presentation a thoroughly different look - they don't affect the content of your presentation at all. Both text and graphics remain intact no matter how many templates you apply.
If you don't like the looks of a template-based presentation and would like to change templates, simply select Format-Presentation Template or click the Template button on the lower-right edge of the status bar. Then, in the resulting dialogue box, locate and select a new template file, and click Apply.
For the best results, don't forget to use the appropriate template for the medium you intend to use. By default, the templates are stored in three subdirectories of the PowerPoint TEMPLATE directory: SLDSHOW holds a collection of templates for 35mm colour slides and screen shows, BWOVRHD has templates for black-and-white overheads, and the CLROVRHD templates are designed for colour overheads.
Richard Jantz