We’ve recently been taking some of our most popular 3D figures for PowerPoint and converting them into PowerPoint animations. The animations below are set on infinite loop, but with our new loop feature in the Animation Customizer you can change the number of time an animation loops before it stops.
Stick Figure Animation for PowerPoint
Stick Figure reading a book
These new animations are animated .GIF files but they can also be downloaded as Flash (.SWF). They can be downloaded with a white background or with a transparent or clear background. Also you can customize the background color of the animation using the customizer. Customizing the color allows you to seamlessly match the animation to your presentation background.
A businessman finishes the race first in this animated clip art
Animated 3D figure uses a sledge hammer to break through a brick wall
These PowerPoint animations were created by Judd Albrecht and Josh Doohen, co-owners and artists here at PresenterMedia. As we are the artists that create all the content on PresenterMedia, please feel free to let us know what you’d like to see on the site. In most cases we are happy to create your suggestions and add them to the site for all our subscribers to benefit from.
Adding an animated .GIF to a PowerPoint presentation can be an easy way to call attention to a point or to add a bit of life to a slide. But animated .GIFs should be used with caution. Nobody wants to view a slide with to many distractions.
Typically an animated GIF is set to loop over and over again forever and ever. After a while this can get distracting for your audience if you spend any amount of time on a slide. Wouldn’t it be great if the animation would just stop after a few moments?
With this in mind, we’ve added an new feature to our custom animation (GIF) creator in our animations section. You can now set the number of times our animations loop before they stop.
Control the number of loops in an animated .GIF
By clicking the Number of Loops area in the customizer, you can set the animation to loop one to six times or choose to let if repeat indefinitely.
I particularly like choosing one or two loops for animations in my presentations as this give just enough time to spark the slide without becoming a distraction to my message.
For now, the set number of loops only works with .GIF images created with our customizer.
We’re happy to announce that our animated PowerPoint templates are now compatible with Mac PowerPoint 2008. We have been uploading mac specific templates for several of our animated selections. Not every animated template has a mac file yet, but we are working to upload the remainder as fast as we can. If there is an existing template you need formatted to Mac PowerPoint, please let us know.
Example of animated template for Mac PowerPoint 2008.
The mac templates function by utilizing QuickTime video(.mov) instead of Windows Media Video (.wmv) required for PowerPoint 2010 and 2007 templates. Unlike the Windows templates, the Mac templates utilize externally linked video files. This means the mac templates come with an additional file or two. Using the Mac templates are easy, but please remember to keep the video files in the same directory as your finished presentations. If you don’t PowerPoint won’t be able to find the video and the animation will not work.
Some PowerPoint 2007 users may be having a problem playing videos embedded using PowerPoint 2010. This can affect our animated PowerPoint templates used with PowerPoint 2007.
Our animated templates require that you have installed updates for Office 2007 that Microsoft has provided. These updates are free from Microsoft and can be accessed through “Windows Update” on your computer.
Use Windows Update to Update PowerPoint 2007
Specifically, a PowerPoint 2007 user needs to make sure they have installed “The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2.”
Update PowerPoint 2007 to play PowerPoint 2010 video
Installing this Office 2007 update brings your version of PowerPoint 2007 up to speed and allows it to play the embedded video that is contained in our animated templates.
We’re trying out a new type of business figure illustration. PresenterMedia co- owner, Josh Doohen, has been creating a few business person silhouettes. He plans to make more business clip art images like these if there is a positive reaction to them.
Business Woman Silhouette Pointing
The will work great in PowerPoint presentations as they all have a transparent background and can be placed over any of the elements in your presentation.
Businessman Silhouette
If there are specific business actions or concepts you would like to see Josh’s new silhouettes performing, please let us know.
This blog is managed by the creative artists and owners of PresenterMedia. We'll show you how our templates work and give you reviews of new PowerPoint features and applications. We'll also share our PowerPoint knowledge through tutorials and examples.
