Beyond powerpoint

PoleStar

Hi

I consider myself an advanced powerpoint user, however I find myself limited by the animations that can be done and trying to get that extra professional look.

This was confirmed at a talk I recently attended. The animations were beyond what I would normally associate with powerpoint.

I heard rumor that this might be achieved with adobe illustrator.

Anyone shed some light on this?

minikin

more likely to be flash

5uspect

You can easily use Illustrator graphics in Flash now since Adobe took over Macromedia.
Have a look at the new Creative suite trials on the Adobe website.

p

Could have been Keynote, the Apple software, it has nice transitions. Hard to know without seeing it.

Flash is capable of doing quite a lot, but if you're not a designer, it's going to be a challenge. Powerpoint 2007 is supposed to be quite good with more advanced tools & colour schemes that give you a lot of options to create nice presentations.

Realistically though, it's best to keep animations to a medium and just rely on clean simple slides. Most of the most professional presentations I've seen usually have just a single phrase or word on them and maybe a simple image to communicate the point.

PoleStar

Hi thanks for that guys

Probably was flash

As for animation, I am a huge fan of simple is best.

And this was simple animation, eg, a photo which had filled the whole screen slowly zoomed in to one part and then smooth transition to another, but it was not a powerpoint animation, you could tell by the way it was so smooth and knowing powerpoint inside out I know you can do it but not the way this was.

Must be flash animation Im thinking.

Will look about getting this.

p

Sounds a little bit like the "Ken Burns Effect" that's in iPhoto.

Deliverance

PoleStar wrote: »

Hi thanks for that guys

Probably was flash

As for animation, I am a huge fan of simple is best.

And this was simple animation, eg, a photo which had filled the whole screen slowly zoomed in to one part and then smooth transition to another, but it was not a powerpoint animation, you could tell by the way it was so smooth and knowing powerpoint inside out I know you can do it but not the way this was.

Must be flash animation Im thinking.

Will look about getting this.

Expensive enough but if your using it profesionally it will / could pay for itself. Flash is an excellent animation tool and more than good enough to enhance any presentation depending on how you use it.

Word of warning though: it has a fairly high learning curve and will drive you nuts, but once you master it the possibilities are almost endless.

I'd reccommend two very good dvds / online tutorials:
1.http://www.lynda.com/

2.http://www.totaltraining.com/online/subscriptions.asp

They both do the most excellent step by step tutorials and are well worth the money.

PoleStar

Thanks guys

Its probably flash.

Is there any non-adobe flash software? It seems a bit pricy for my budget?

Thanks!