Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Animating Text (Level 3)

IT Services Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Animating Text (Level 3) Contents Introduction... 1 Built-in Text Animation... 1 Applying Simple Animations... 1 Custom Animation... 2 Changing and Removing Animation Effects... 4 Effect Options... 6 Dimming Text after Animation... 6 Timing Options... 8 The Timeline... 8 Introduction Built into PowerPoint are various text animation effects, several of which will be explored in this document. By using animation wisely, presentations can be made much more effective and interesting. Though animation can be both visual and audible, this document focuses on visual effects. Built-in Text Animation This first exercise offers you the opportunity to explore the various animation effects provided by PowerPoint. There are far too many effects to describe each in detail, so users are encouraged to try things out themselves, running each animation selected to see what it does. By the end of this exercise you should be reasonably familiar with the basic animation effects. Applying Simple Animations It's best to start with a brand new presentation: 1. Start up PowerPoint or, if it is already running, press <Ctrl n> for a new presentation 2. Click on Click to add title and type Text Animation as the main title for your slide 3. Move to the Animations tab 4. In the Animation group, click on the [Fade] button Note how the title changes as you choose the animation. You can repeat this by clicking on the [Preview] button on the far left of the Animations tab. Next, investigate the other effects: 1

5. Repeat step 4 but choose [Wipe] or [Fly In] in fact the animations show as you move the mouse over the different buttons 6. Turn off the animation by choosing [None] Next, animate the subtitle 7. Click on Click to add subtitle and type A Presentation By 8. Press <Enter> for a new line then type in your_own_name 9. Click on the [Fade] button in the Animation group each line fades separately 10. Next, click on [Effect Options] and choose All At Once so that both paragraphs appear together 11. Use the [Preview] button if you want to see the animation again Custom Animation The simple animation that you chose above may not be exactly what you want, so PowerPoint lets you customise the animations. To do this: 1. Firstly, click on the [Animation Pane] button in the Advanced Animation group on the Ribbon - the Animation Pane appears on the right A list of the animated elements appears in the pane. This list changes as more animations are set up (or removed). Currently, just the subtitle is shown as being animated. To animate the main title: 2. Click somewhere within the Main Title 3. Click on the [Add Animation] button to see the various types of effect available: 2

The pop-up menu shows the following groups of effects: Entrance (green stars) - applies an effect when text or an object enters the slide Emphasis (yellow stars) - adds an effect to text or an object that is already shown Exit (red stars) - applies an effect to text or an object to make it leave the slide Motion Paths (transparent stars) - makes text or an object move in a specified pattern For each of the four types, a wide range of effects is available. At the bottom there are also More... options, which open up the dialog boxes shown below: Entrance: Emphasis: Exit: Motion Paths: Try adding an extra emphasis effect to the Main Title: 4. Click on [Add Animation] and under Emphasis choose Grow/Shrink 3

Another element is added to the list of effects in the Animation Pane. New effects are always added to the bottom of the list, and then have to be moved to their required position in the animation sequence (the sequence of effects is numbered, both in the task pane and on the slide): 5. Click on the [Re-Order] button at the foot of the pane to move the animation to the top of the list 6. Click on the [Play] button at the top of the task pane to preview the effects Next, try adding some extra effects to the slide's sub-title: 7. Select the Subtitle by clicking on it 8. Click on [Add Animation] and under Motion Paths choose Lines The effect here isn t exactly what s required as the two paragraphs again move separately you ll see how to correct this later. 9. Click on [Add Animation] again and under Exit choose Fly Out There's no need to change the order this time as the effects have been added in their correct sequence. 10. Press <F5> (or click on the [Slide Show] button) to view the actual presentation (remember to click the mouse button or press <Enter> for each animation) It s annoying that the paragraphs in the subtitle always move separately. To correct this: 11. Click on [Effect Options] and under Sequence choose As One Object note the other options here 12. Click on the [Play] button to preview the changes You ll find the effect has been applied to all the animations of the subtitle. You ll see later how to change an individual effect. Further buttons, in the Timing group on the Animations tab, let you choose the speed of the effect and what triggers it: 13. Click on the Main Title then change the [Duration:] to 01:00 (ie one second) 14. Click on [Play] and note how the animation has speeded up 15. Next, in the Animation Pane, click on the last animation 16. Change [Start:] to After Previous and [Delay:] to 00:50 (half a second) 17. Press <F5> (or click on the [Slide Show] button) to view the new effects You should find that you don t need to click the mouse button for the final effect to run. Finally, add another Exit effect to the Main Title: 18. Select the Main Title by clicking on it 19. Click on [Add Animation] then choose then More Exit Effects... 20. Scroll down under Exciting select, for example, Spiral Out then click on [OK] 21. Change [Start:] to With Previous 22. Press <F5> to view the new effects only click the mouse button when you need to The Spiral Out animation probably wasn t a good choice! Using the Exciting animations can be fun but they often distract the audience from the content of your presentation. Changing and Removing Animation Effects If you decide you don't like a particular effect (or would like to change it), you simply select the required element in the Animation task pane then <Delete> it (or use the list arrow which appears on the right to make changes to the effect). Using this list arrow you can customise an individual effect. To animate your subtitle by paragraphs: 1. Click on the second element in the Animation Pane then on the list arrow on the right and choose Effect Options 4

2. Move to the Text Animation tab and set Group text: to By 1 st Level Paragraphs press <Enter> for [OK] 3. Click on [Play] to view the change Next, change the Grow/Shrink effect to the Main Title: 4. Click on the first element in the Animation Pane then on the list arrow on the right and choose Effect Options - the following dialog box appears: 5. Change Size: to Custom and type in 250% followed by <Enter> 6. Click on Size: again and choose Horizontal 7. Change Animate text: to By word press <Enter> for [OK] 8. Click on [Play] to view the new effects You ll find the Main Title stretches out horizontally but each word stretches independently and overwrites each other. Sometimes, combinations of effects just don t work as you might expect. To correct this here: 9. Repeat step 4 then reset Animate text: to All at once press <Enter> for [OK] Next, change the motion path of the subtitle. The little green triangles (on the slide) show the starting point of the path; the red triangles the end position. Try changing them: 1. Drag the lower line to the right of the slide then click on [Play] your names moves to the right 2. Next, drag its green triangle back to its original position (ie to the other line) and [Play] again 3. Carefully raise the red triangle so that the vertical position matches the end of the other line You may need to adjust this several times but you should be able to get your name following A Presentation By as though it were a single sentence. When you are happy with the result: 4. Press <F5> (or click on the [Slide Show] button) to view the changes Though it s not to be recommended, you can draw your own Motion Path for an object: 5. Click on the last item in the Animation Pane (which controls the Exit effect for the main title) 6. Now click on the arrow on the right and Remove the effect 7. Click on the Main Title placeholder on the slide to select it 8. Next, click on the [More] arrow at the foot of the scroll bar to the right of the buttons in the Animation group and (under Motion Paths at the bottom) choose Custom Path 9. Position the mouse cursor where you want the path to begin then click on the mouse button to create a node if you hold down the mouse button you can draw a path freehand (!) 10. Repeat step 9 for further nodes then double click the mouse button to end the path 11. If you drag on one of the side or corner markers, you can increase/decrease the whole path 12. Click on [Effect Options] and choose Edit Points to make individual changes to the node positions 13. Click on [Play] to view your changes Unless you have the skill, it s doubtful whether the end result is good but it s useful to see what PowerPoint offers you. 14. Use <Ctrl z> for [Undo] if you want to reverse the changes 5

Effect Options PowerPoint has a further set of options you can customise. To see these: 1. Click on the list arrow on the far right of element 2 (the second Subtitle) in the list of effects: Note that you also have access to the three Start settings and Remove via this menu. 2. Choose Effect Options... then click on the three tab headings in turn to see the options available (the details can vary slightly with different elements) 3. Move to the Text Animation tab and change Group text: to All Paragraphs at Once click on [OK] 4. Click on the [Slide Show] button or press <F5> to view the show Dimming Text after Animation Perhaps the most useful of the Effect Options is the one which dims text after animation (so that it's still visible but doesn't stand out). This is often used when you have a list of bulleted (or numbered) items to run through. Try this with a new slide: 1. Press <Ctrl m> for a new slide (or move to the Home tab and click on the [New Slide] button) 2. Click on Click to add title at the top and type Animating Lists 3. Click on Click to add text and type First then press <Enter> 4. Add two more bulleted lines of text (typing Second and Third respectively) 5. For the next bulleted line, type Fourth then press <Shift Enter> and type and Fifth - the key combination <Shift Enter> gives a new line without a bullet point 6. Press <Enter> for a final bullet point and type Last Point Now add animation: 7. Click on the Animations tab and then the [Add Animation] button and under Entrance choose Appear 8. Click on the list arrow next to the Content Placeholder element (ie the bulleted list) in the Animation Pane and choose Effect Options... 9. Set After animation: to the third coloured square (this should be a light grey colour) and click [OK] 10. Press <Shift F5> (or click on the [Slide Show] button) to run the show from the new slide 6

You should find that the bulleted lines appear one at a time, with each turning grey as the next bullet point appears. Note that Fourth and Fifth appear at the same time - this is because the text is a single paragraph even though it looks like two. Next, add an effect to the Title: 11. Click somewhere in the Title and then on [Add Animation] and under Entrance choose Float In 12. Click on the [Re-Order] button at the bottom of the Animation Pane to move the animated title to the top of the list 13. Set [Start:] to With Previous the title will then float in immediately the show starts 14. Click on the [Slide Show] button (or press <Shift F5>) to run the show Any effect can be made to dim, so for the bulleted list, try out a more exciting effect than Appear. You could also choose to dim to a different colour (the light grey colour is difficult to see): 15. Click on the Content Placeholder element in the Animation Pane to select it 16. Using the [More] arrow on the right of the buttons in the Animation group on the Ribbon, choose Zoom in the Entrance group 17. Click on the list arrow next to the Content Placeholder element in the Animation Pane, and choose Effect Options... 18. In the Zoom window, change the new Vanishing Point: option to Slide Center 19. Click on the list arrow next to the After animation, choose More Colors... and click on the Standard tab at the top of the Colors window 20. Choose a slightly darker shade of grey (or a colour, if you prefer) and press <Enter> for [OK] twice 21. Click on the [Slide Show] button (or press <Shift F5>) to run the show Note that it s not a good idea to choose colours explicitly like this, but better to use the Theme Colours (and customise your own theme). See the document PowerPoint 2010: Themes for details. The changes you have made to the animation of the bulleted list have, up until now, affected all the bullet points. You can, however, isolate a single bullet point and animate that separately. For example, it would be better if the final bullet point didn't dim at the end of the slide. The key to achieving this is to show the list of current animations in full: 22. Click on the vertical double arrow below the final element in the list in the Animation Pane on the right (when you move over it with the mouse it says Click to expand contents) 23. Click on the last element in the expanded list titled Last Point, followed by the arrow on the right and choose Effect Options... 24. Set After animation to Don't Dim - press <Enter> for [OK] 25. Press <Shift F5> or click on the [Slide Show] button to run the show The other option which can be set on the Effect tab is Animate text. Try resetting this for the Title: 26. Click on the Title element in the animation list, followed by the arrow on the right and choose Effect Options 27. Set Animate text to By letter and set the % delay between letters to 20% - press <Enter> for [OK] 28. Click on the [Slide Show] button (or press <Shift F5>) to run the show You'll find that the letters in the title unravel one at a time. Effects like this can sometimes look impressive; more often than not, however, they appear both distracting and confusing. 7

Timing Options The next exercise explores the timing options, which determine when an effect is initiated and at what speed. Effects can also be repeated, either a set number of times or until the show moves on to the next slide. 1. Move to the Home tab on the Ribbon then click on the words New Slide on the [New Slide] button and choose Duplicate Selected Slides 2. Click on the Content Placeholder item in the Animation pane, followed by the arrow on the right and choose Effect Options 3. Set After animation to Don't Dim 4. Click on the Timing tab and set Start to After Previous 5. Set Delay to 1 second and Duration to 5 seconds (Very Slow) 6. Set Repeat to Until Next Click 7. Finally, on the Text Animation tab turn on the In reverse order option 8. Press <Enter> for [OK] then click on the [Slide Show] button (or press <Shift F5>) to run the show The animation will start immediately and will continue to run without you having to click the mouse button (each animation starts 1 second after the previous one has finished). As there are five animations, and each runs for 5 seconds, the bulleted list ends up working like a clock, with one of the points animating every second. It's not the best animation but, hopefully, shows you what options can be set. 9. Click on the mouse button to end the loop and come out of the show The Timeline Sometimes, it's not always clear as to which animations are running and in which order. PowerPoint provides you with a timeline to show the timings. This is displayed at the foot of the Animation Pane and is displayed by default: 1. Click on the [Play] button and watch what happens as the seconds pass by Timelines are used extensively in audio-visual applications as they offer an easy way to alter timings. For the average PowerPoint user, it's probably better to do this via the timing options explored previously, so to see how this works: 2. Once the animation has finished playing, click on the Last Point element in the animation list (if this isn t showing then click on the vertical double arrow below the final element in the list in the Animation Pane first) 3. Move the mouse pointer over the orange bar in the Last Point element, hold down the mouse button and drag the orange bar as far to the left as it will go 4. Release the mouse button to reset the timing What you've actually done here is to start up the animation immediately after the Title animation has ended - there used to be a one second delay. You can't drag the timing any further to the left because the animation is set to take place After Previous. To verify this is what's happened: 5. Click on the arrow on the right of the Last Point element, and choose Effect Options 6. On the Timing tab, note that Delay has been set to 0 7. Press <Esc> to close the dialog box without changing any settings Trademark owned by Microsoft Corporation. Screen shot(s) reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation. Copyright 2012: The University of Reading Last Revised: April 2012 8