Here are a series of tutorials that offer some nice techniques on creating picture frames in PowerPoint.

Picture Frame Example

Bruno De Pace of Evolve Training  & Consulting has a couple of good examples of picture frames created in PowerPoint.  You can see it by itself or on a desk in a scene.

Picture Frame in Action

View the PowerPoint picture frame.

Part of the Scene

View the picture frame tutorial.

Picture Frame Tutorial 1

Stephanie Harnett of ICE offers two cool tutorials on how to create some funky picture frames.  Check out her two tutorials.

Funky Frame 1

Click here to view the tutorial.

Funky Frame 2

Click here to view the tutorial.

Picture Frame Tutorial 2

I was watching Tracy Hamilton’s tutorial on nudging objects and it made me think about a few ways to create the picture frame look she desired.  So here’s my simple picture frame tutorial.

Click here to view the tutorial.

So there you have.  A whole series of tutorials on creating picture frames in PowerPoint.

I build elearning courses with PowerPoint and publish with Articulate Presenter.  This is typically called rapid elearning.  I write about it on my work blog, The Rapid E-Learning Blog.

Traditionally, elearning courses are built in Flash or other applications.  Because of this, when people hear that courses are built in PowerPoint they’ll immediately think that it’s boring bullet point slides.  And I can understand why because there’s so much of it out there.

To show you that PowerPoint is an effective tool for building elearning courses, I recreated a course that was originally built in Flash.  For my demo, I built all of the graphics and assembled it in PowerPoint alone.  Then I published it with Articulate Presenter.

Here’s a link to my version of the course, if you want to see how it works.

And here’s a tutorial that walks through the original and how the PowerPoint version works.

PowerPoint E-Learning Demonstration

Click here to view the demonstration.

I like to use PowerPoint for most of my basic graphic design work.  First, I don’t need to leave the application and open something else.  Second, PowerPoint’s a pretty decent program for some simple graphic design.

I needed to create a stack of papers for a project recently, so I built this quick tutorial to show you what I did.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy to do.

Once you have the graphics built, just right click and save them as image files.

PowerPoint Tutorial

Click here to view the PowerPoint tutorial.

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.

Reduce Screen Clutter

Part 1: How to reduce text on my slide?

Click here to view the first tutorial.

Part 2: Replace text with graphics

Click here to view the second tutorial.

Use Progressive Reveals

By progressively revealing information you can sync your graphics and text with your narration.  Using timed animations also means you can get rid of that standard PowerPoint bullet point look.

Click here to view tutorial.

By following David’s ideas you can make your slides less text-heavy and more visually interesting.  You also dump that typical bullet point look that so many complain about.

Not sure I mentioned this or not, but I pulled some of the PowerPoint tutorials together that I’ve written for the Rapid E-Learning Blog.  Here’s a link to the resources.

You’ll find some tutorials and free templates.

• PowerPoint for E-Learning: PowerPoint-based posts
• Graphic Design Tips: I also have a bunch of posts on using PowerPoint for graphic design.  You’ll have to dig through them.

Here’s a quick tutorial that I did for a friend who wanted to know how to customize clip art characters.

Basically steps

• Select the character
• Ungroup the clip art
• Customize it
• Select all and group to make a single image
• If you like, save the character as a distinct graphic file. EMF = keeps it vector so you can scale.  If you’re using gradient colors, you might want to save as a .PNG.

Clip Art PowerPoint Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

In the tutorial he covers how to save the assets you create and use in your PowerPoint slides.  One of the benefits of creating your graphics in PowerPoint is that you can easily share the development files.

He also discusses three image formats and how they work in the slides.

PowerPoint Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

Paste Special is one of those commands that doesn’t get used a lot in PowerPoint, yet it offers a lot of extra functionality.  Let’s look at some of what you can do with the Paste Special command.

Below I added a bunch of information from the Microsoft site with a link.  If you are inclined to learn everything about Paste Special, have at it.  For those looking for the nuts and bolts, here it is.

You can copy Excel data and charts from Excel and paste that into your PowerPoint slide.  I’ll cover that in a future tutorial.  For today, we’ll focus on objects and graphics.

When you copy an object it gets placed on the clipboard.  This allows you to paste the object copied.  However, by selecting Paste Special, you can paste the object and apply some other features.

One of the reasons I use Paste Special is to create a graphic in PowerPoint and then copy and paste it as an image so that I can use the object as an image rather than as a PowerPoint object. 

A good example of this might be when I want to use the picture effects with something I created in PowerPoint.  By copying and Paste Special I can convert the PowerPoint object to an image file on the fly.  This is a big time saver.

To learn more about Paste Special, check out the quick tutorial.

PowerPoint Tutorial

Click here to view the PowerPoint tutorial.

Microsoft Office Help

Here’s some detailed information from the Microsoft site.  It explains Paste Special in detail.

You can specify formatting when you paste slides, pictures, objects, and text from other presentations, programs, or the Web into your presentation.

For example, like pictures and other objects, text in a presentation has its own formatting — such as typeface, color, and font size. When you copy text that has different formatting into your presentation, PowerPoint automatically reformats that text to match the text in your presentation. However, you can use Paste Special to maintain the original formatting.

Note   If you want to display Microsoft Office Excel data, charts, or graphs in your PowerPoint slides, see the articles, Copy Excel data or charts to PowerPoint and Use charts and graphs in your presentation.

1. Cut or copy the slide, picture, text, or object (object: A table, chart, graphic, equation, or other form of information. Objects created in one application, for example spreadsheets, and linked or embedded in another application are OLE objects.) that you want to paste.
2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow under Paste, click Paste Special, and then do one of the following:
   • To specify the format that you want to paste the slide, text, or object as, click Paste, and then use the table below to select a format from the Use this format list.

   • To add a hyperlink to a separate document or presentation, click Paste Link.

     Note   The Paste Link option is unavailable if you cut or copied content from a document that does not support the Paste Link option, or if the document that you are attempting to link to has not been saved.

To paste the content as an Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) (OLE: A program-integration technology that you can use to share information between programs. All Office programs support OLE, so you can share information through linked and embedded objects.) PowerPoint application icon (rather than pasting the actual content), select the Display as icon check box. You can click the icon to open the application, and then view the content.

Note   The Display as icon check box is only available if you use Paste Link or if you paste the content as an OLE object. You can then can change the icon for the content that you pasted.

David Anderson of Articulate shows how to create an interactive scenario in PowerPoint.  While the tutorial is focused a bit on rapid elearning, once you learn the techniques, you could use it in many contexts.

It’s also an interesting way to create a 2.5D animation in PowerPoint.

What you’ll learn:

In the tutorial you’ll learn to add motion paths to images.  By varying the timing and length of the motion path, you can create a look that simulates more of a 3D type motion.

The tutorial below is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using PowerPoint for animation.  In fact learning basic animation techniques and concepts is a good way to go if you want to get the most out of PowerPoint. 

The Complete Animation Course: The Principles, Practice and Techniques of Successful Animation provides a lot of the basics and foundational concepts for animation.

PowerPoint Animation Tutorial

Click here to view the animation tutorial.

With some practice, this could be a pretty cool effect.  How would you use an animation like this?