Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Mar 26, 2004

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One of my favorite PowerPoint add-ons is no longer being promoted by its publisher. Apreso for PowerPoint will be supported for another year, and its media server will remain intact at least until June 2006, but it's no longer a product that they will be developing for PowerPoint.

Apreso had the ability to create a streaming video file folder; it also included a Web page (that you could post or burn to DVD) that presented your PowerPoint slides along with your video in a window as you narrated and explained the show. It was great for preparation and rehearsal, and — particularly if you couldn't get to an event — as a presentation surrogate.

After all, while you can post your PowerPoint slides as a Web page or have the file downloaded, or even output slides to a movie (using Camtasia Studio 2.0), you're not really there. Even if your voice is behind the slides, a dimension of connecting with the audience is still missing.

I mentioned this to the folks at Serious Magic, and wondered aloud about them including such a feature in their new Ovation product (due this fall). They replied, "Wait a minute, you can do it in Communicator."

Egg on My Face

Sure enough, while I showed in a previous update how Communicator can work extremely well with PowerPoint by easily copying slides into its "Action Trays" (using the Paste Special command), I neglected to show another neat feature.

It turns out that you can drag and drop an entire PowerPoint presentation into an Action Tray which results in an effect very similar to what you get in Apreso.

Figure 689 g

Here I am using the teleprompter in Communicator. I have my digital camcorder inputting my image (sorry, it's Friday, and I am not that up and perky). With my desktop folder open, I just drop my entire PowerPoint presentation onto one of the Action Trays in the right panel.

Now as you can see, when I rehearse or record my production, my image (with the narration behind it) can be interspersed with the set of slides that I instantly imported.

While my picture is not in a window at all times, I can use the myriad of special effects in Communicator to alternate between my message and my slides. That really simulates an actual presentation, in just the order I want.

Figure 690

Remember that the final output here is different from Apreso. It will be a standard movie file. It could, just as easily, be a streaming WMV video file or a high quality AVI file that you can convert to MGP to burn to DVD. The result is a finished production that you can use for rehearsal, collecting feedback, or sending out to clients and customers. With the features of Communicator Pro, it is a polished video production.

Special Effects

Visual Communicator can also do everything Apreso does in its video output by using the Video Effects. "Picture in Picture" can be achieved using either Over the Shoulder (shown here) or Mega Moves special effects. What's cool is that these can be faded in and out, depending on when you want the speaker to appear in the movie and when you want only the content.

Figure 691

The New Improved Camtasia 3

It seems as though I just got through reviewing Camtasia Studio 2.0 for its ability to create PowerPoint movies, when the company sends me an evaluation copy of version 3.0.

While I'll mention some of the other new features in a moment, the key here is the ability to do PIP (Picture in Picture).

The new version comes with a similar add-in toolbar in PowerPoint, but with a new feature: a little camera icon that lets you toggle on or off the PIP feature.

There is also a utility to set up the video input, whether from a DV camcorder (as I'm using here), or from a USB Webcam or similar device.

Figure 692

The process for capturing the live movie is that same as it was before using a set of Hot Keys to begin and end capture. Only this time, the final result is dramatically different.

Now, when capture is complete, the movie that opens in the Editor's timeline is a bit different from what you had before. You can see the picture of the narrator (a bit perkier this time) superimposed on the PowerPoint slide, with the audio synchronized.

Figure 693

The new version of Camtasia is available free for registered owners of Camtasia Studio 2.1.2 who purchased the product on or after June 13, 2005.

Other new features include:

Quizzing with answers are reported back to SCORM compliant learning management systems, so you can verify mastery of the subject.
Smaller Flash Files. New JPEG compression gives you the flexibility to deliver what the company says is the best quality content at even smaller file sizes.
Easier Sharing via DVD formats, with or the company's offer of 30-day free Web hosting.
More Editing Control and Interactive callouts (great for training). Flash Hot Spots can be applied in the same step as you create callouts to more easily add interactivity.
Titling and Set Markers While Recording
Camtasia Studio 3.0 is also available as a Total Recording Kit, including a Web camera and microphone.

So technology marches on. While Apreso will remain a popular add-in for PowerPoint, users will want to try other more sophisticated production techniques to put themselves into the production.

To use a full featured productions studio and easily dissolve or use other effects in and out of slides, use Serious Magic Communicator.

For a Picture in Picture final movie which also can have interactive quizzing and hot spots, try the new Camtasia when it's released soon.

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