The only way you’ll become a superstar is by learning to really use PowerPoint.  Here are some tutorials featured on the Rapid E-Learning Blog recently that help you learn more about PowerPoint.

PowerPoint for Rapid E-Learning

• Create interactive animated scenarios.
• Create a click and zoom effect to view images.
• Create a pan & zoom effect for your elearning scenarios.
• Working with hyperlinks in PowerPoint-based elearning.
• Create interactive scenarios in PowerPoint.
• Snapshot focus effect.
• Animated text effect to highlight key words.
• Animated effect to introduce new scenes or information.
• Lighting effects from the award winning guru course.
• Create a lightbox effect.
• Re-use animations to save time in your course design.
• Continuous animation effect for elearning.
• Why it’s a good idea to create hyperlink shapes in PowerPoint elearning courses.
• Production tip: how to view in slide show and edit the slide at the same time.
• Hide and reveal background fill and an alternative example using Tagxedo.
• Create custom email links for your elearning course.

• Use PowerPoint as an image editor.
• Tips on manipulating images in PowerPoint.
• Use hidden slides as a working canvas.
• How to create custom drop shadows.
• Easily extend a photo’s background.
• Get more out of the free images you get from Microsoft Office.
• Get more mileage out of your PowerPoint clip art.
• Two tutorials on creating depth and perspective: tutorial 1 and tutorial 2…and a bonus tutorial while we’re at it.
• Create 3D perspective using the rotation feature.
• Simulate a pop-up light box effect.
• Create a faded image.
• Use gradients to control focus on the screen.
• Creating a faded background to frame your content.
• Removing backgrounds using shape fills.
• Make text stand out by filling it with an image.
• Masking and composition effect.
• Create a spotlight effect.
• Advertising effect for visual foreshadowing.
• Visual surprise and slicing image effects in PowerPoint.
• Add contrast to characters to make them stand out.
• How to remove the background in PowerPoint 2007.
• Remove background images using shapes and clipboard fills.
• Using fill effects to enhance free notebook template
• Graphic design tip using cropping and soft edges.
• Use gradient fills to create areas of focus.
• Use background fill effect to create see though image.
• Create an animated social media-inspired menu in PowerPoint
• Use the freehand drawing tool to trace images for custom clip art.
• Modify clip art to create custom characters for elearning.
• What to do if the ungroup clip art feature doesn’t work for you.
• Ungroup clip art and apply image filters.

• Create a TV monitor.
• Create a flat screen LCD panel.
• Create a TV style frame.
• Create an iPhone or iPad graphic.
• Create an iPhone scrolling effect in PowerPoint.
• Create the front and back of an iPad; and then build the interface one and two.
• Glassy marble effect in PowerPoint
• Create an envelope graphic.
• Building a briefcase in PowerPoint
• Easy photo corners to hold images.
• Make images look like they’re magazine cutouts.
• Create transparent tape objects.
• Polaroid page curl effect
• Page curl sticker images.
• Create a stack of paper.
• Create a push-pin graphic.
• Create a calendar graphic.
• Create index card graphics.
• Create a South Park style character.
• Create a magnifying glass.
• 3D spotlight effect to go with the magnifying glass.
• Use Wordle to create silhouette graphic fills. Wordle site
• Create a whiteboard graphic.
• Create a chalkboard graphic.
• Create a picture frame.  And then create funky picture frames and more funky picture frames.
• Create a torn image effect and an alternative approach.
• Customize clip art in PowerPoint.
• Tips while working with custom clip art.
• Simple way to create silhouette characters.
• Create advanced text graphic effect.
• Create folders to use in your elearning course.

• Three ways to animate in PowerPoint.
• How to create a pivot animation.
• Create re-usable animated hands for elearning.
• Zoom effect in PowerPoint.
• Grow and shrink for animation effects
• Animating a clip art character’s head.
• Create rolling screen credits.
• Create a game show spinner.
• Animated domino effect.
• Animate your custom clip art.
• Create an Etch-a-Sketch animation.
• Polishing animation to bring content into focus.
• Create an animated table one row at a time.
• Combine animations in PowerPoint with an alternative version.
• Animated hands applied to a folder theme design.

• How to move objects on a slide.
• How to quickly swap images in PowerPoint.
• Here’s the difference between PNG and EMF images.
• How to generate random text in PowerPoint.
• How to save as a PowerPoint template.
• How to reduce file size by saving slide as a PNG.
• Duplicate objects with CTRL + drag.
• Animate with motion paths.
• Basic animation tips.
• Working with the slide master.
• Create custom image and clip art collections.
• How to minimize the ribbon.
• How to use the format painter.
• Create a transparent background.
• Edit points in PowerPoint shapes.
• How to compress images in PowerPoint.
• How to use selection pane to manage layers in PowerPoint.
• How to embed fonts in PowerPoint.
• Use slide masters to apply universal image effects.
• Understanding accent colors in PowerPoint 2007+.
• How to use the slide background fill feature.
• Controlling layers with the selection pane in PowerPoint 2007.
• Add hyperlinks to PowerPoint slide masters.
• Customize the quick access toolbar in PowerPoint 2007+.
• How to fill shapes with images.
• Use the ruler to adjusting spacing on numbered text.
• Using masters to customize the screen layout.
• Tour of Microsoft Online and how to find images.

I really like what Microsoft’s done with the new Office Online.  It’s a much better user experience.  There’s a quick screencast below, but here’s a high level overview:

• Better sorting of media types
• Selections of image sizes
• See similar images

I like the ability to quickly scan the images of similar type.

View Tutorial

A lot of people moan and groan about PowerPoint because there are so many bad PowerPoint presentations out there.  But the way I see it, PowerPoint’s just a tool.  If something done in PowerPoint is no good, tell the person who created the presentation or elearning course.  Don’t blame PowerPoint.

I heard someone say that it’s still PowerPoint’s fault because it’s so easy to use.  That’s just flat out ridiculous.  Why don’t we start blaming pens or keyboards for all of the crap that’s out there.  They’re a lot easier to use than PowerPoint and empower anyone who can type to write to produce worthless drivel.

To prove my point about the power of PowerPoint, I wrote a post for the Rapid E-Learning Blog that shows how you can use PowerPoint to build effective and viable elearning courses.  You’ll still need to start with good instructional design.  However, if all you have to sue is PowerPoint, there’s no reason why you still can’t build a decent course with it.

Below is an example of an elearning course created entirely in PowerPoint and then published with Articulate Presenter.

Click here to view the elearning course.

To learn more, check out the post on the Rapid E-Learning Blog.

While there are a lot of complaints about clip art, the reality is that we still use quite a bit of it.  In previous posts, I’ve shared how to create your own clip art and how to use the same clip art styles to maintain a consistent look.

In today’s post, we’ll explore ways to quickly find clip art using the Microsoft Office online site.   You’ll learn how to:

• Customize how many images you see and how large they are
• Use the clip art properties
• Find images of a similar style
• Search via keywords

Clip Art Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

Here’s a free site that I use quite a bit.  It lets you easily calculate the missing value for an aspect ratio.  I use this a lot when I try to figure out the size of photos or widgets that I want to embed on slides or web pages.

Let’s say you have a picture that’s 800×662 pixels wide, but you can only put a 400 pixel wide image on your blog.  So you need to scale it down, but keep the same aspect ratio.

You can see the aspect ratio calculator in action in the tutorial below.

Click here to view the aspect ratio tutorial.

So now you’re never at a loss to quickly calculate the aspect ratios for any of your multimedia projects.

Screenr is a free screencasting application that lets you make a video of  your on-screen mouse movements.  It’s great for software demos.  I’ve also seen teachers use it to teach math and other subjects.

Once you have a good video, adding it to your PowerPoint slides is as easy as 1-2-3.  View the tutorial and read the basic steps below.

Click here to view the tutorial.

Here are the basic steps:

• Find the Screenr embed code and copy it to the clipboard.
• Open the developer tab in PowerPoint.  In the control panel, you will find the shockwave properties.
• Add the movie URL in the shockwave properties. Make sure to include the unique video ID.

Screenr is a great screencasting application.  It lets you make videos of your computer screen that you can share with others.  Here’s what I like about Screenr:

• It’s free
• Doesn’t require a download
• Easy to share via Twitter or Youtube
• Looks great on the iPhone or iPod Touch

PowerPoint and Screenr are a great combination.  I like to frame the screencast border around a blank PowerPoint slide to give me a virtual whiteboard.  Then I can use all of PowerPoint’s features as I explain a topic or present a lecture.

This works really well with a tablet PC (which you can see below) because it looks more like a real whiteboard.  It’s a great way to do math lessons, for example.

Check out the screencasts below.  In the first one, I show a demo of how it looks with a tablet PC (although it that demo I used OneNote).

Example of a Virtual Whiteboard

Click here to view the Screenr demo.

Here’s another example of Screenr and PowerPoint.

How to Frame the Screenr Window

In this next example, I explain how I frame the Screenr window around the blank PowerPoint slide.

Click here to view the Screenr demo.

One other thing I really like about Screenr is that the full screen of HD view mode gives you a really clear and crisp image.  Most of those video sites give you a full screen image which tends to make the video blurry because it stretches the video to fit your screen.

Give it a try, I’m sure that you’ll find that the combination of Screenr and PowerPoint is a winner.

PS.  If you’re not familiar with OneNote, check out Microsoft’s OneNote site.  It’s one of my favorite applications.

PowerPoint’s a great authoring tool.  You get a blank screen and some pretty cool animations.  There’s no reason that you can’t mimic some of the same types of animations you see created with Flash.  On top of that, if you use a rapid elearning application, like Articulate Presenter, you can publish the PowerPoint slides and convert them to Flash. 

What Articulate Presenter does is convert each slide into its own Flash movie (.swf).  The .swf will contain the slide content, with audio narration and any animations.  These become a slide#.swf.  You can take the slide.swf from the published data folder and use it as an independent Flash movie.

I like to insert them into web pages, wikis, or even other rapid elearning applications.  In the demo below, I show you how to insert the slide.swf into an Articulate Engage interaction.

Click here to view the demo.

Here are the basic steps:

• Create a PowerPoint slide with some animation
• Sync the animation with narration using Articulate Presenter
• Publish the slide show in Articulate Presenter
• Go to the published data folder and locate the slide.swf.
• You can use the .swf elsewhere.

As soon as the font post was published, I got a bunch of emails asking how to install the fonts.  So here’s a quick tutorial that shows how to install new fonts to your PC.  You’ll see it’s pretty easy.

Click here to view the tutorial.

Here are the basic steps:

• You can right click on a font, and select install. 
• Or open your control panel.  Look for the fonts folder.  Then drag and drop the font to the folder.  It should install automatically.

The Rapid E-Learning Blog offers 10 Sure-Fire Tips for Creating Your Own Stock Photos.  In the post, you’ll learn these ten tips:

• Use enough light
• Better focus
• Capture at the highest quality
• Rule of thirds
• Take multiple shots
• Create visual interest
• Use real employees
• Don’t use real employees
• Get signed releases
• Share your photos

These are ten essential tips for those who want to shoot their own photos.  Check them out.