When we talk about the most popular multimedia tool for creating presentations, the first one that surely comes to mind is PowerPoint. This application developed by Microsoft belongs to the Office suite, in any of its versions. When it comes to making a slideshow with it, we must not only focus on having an entertaining and interesting content, but it is also essential that we manage to keep the attention of the people who are going to listen to us.
This is something that we can achieve more easily since this application has functions related to design, which will allow us to create more striking projects. For this we will have the help of animation or transition effects of the images that are included to complete the information, giving a more attractive appearance on it.
Through PowerPoint animation effects we will be able to make fluid visual transitions between slides, as well as move objects around the canvas. The movement of these manages to attract a greater attraction to the human eye, causing greater attention. That is why we thus achieve a more attractive and dynamic visual experience.
What are they and how many types of animation are there
When we talk about animation we refer to a series of visual effects that we can apply to the objects that are part of our presentation made in PowerPoint. Using them we can move different embedded elements such as text, images, graphics or objects in and out of the slide. In this way, a more attractive visual effect is achieved for the people to whom it is directed.
Within these effects we find entry and exit effects. An inlet serves to draw something onto the slide while an outlet will move it out. In this way they can complement each other so that we can make an object enter, exit or move between different points on the slide. We also find emphasis effects that allow you to highlight important details to attract attention, as well as moving paths with which you can move text along a set route.
Of course, this option should not distract us from the main objective of the presentation, so the first thing we must always do is make all the content with the idea we want to convey. Once completed, this is where these effects and animations come into play, as they will help us to create a much more attractive aspect of the subject at hand.
Add and remove animation effects
To start, we need to add the object that we need to animate to our presentation. To do this with the application open, click on the “Insert” tab. From here we can add shapes, icons, graphics, 3D models, etc. For example, click on “Shapes” and select the desired one to add it to the slide.
Later we click on the “Animations” tab that we find in the navigation ribbon. Later we click on the “Add animation” button. This will bring up a menu with input, output, and emphasis animations.
We proceed to choose an effect from the list, and it is even possible to apply more than one effect at the same time. For this, it will always be necessary that we carry out the operation from the “Add animation” button, because if we do it in another way, what it will do is replace one effect with another.
Manage the order in which they are displayed
It is also possible to manage these animations, so that we can organize how they are started. This is something we can do from the “Animation Panel”. If we click on the down arrow, we have the option to start on click, which causes it to start when the slide is clicked. Also, there is the option to “Start with previous”, so that it plays at the same time as the previous animation. And finally, we can “Start after the previous one”, so that it starts just after the previous one ends.
In this way, it allows us to play with the order in which the animated objects will occur throughout the slide. Likewise, from the “Intervals” section, we can configure both the duration and the delay, so that it always goes in line with our exposure rhythm.
Delete an animation
Maybe when the time comes we decide that an effect that we have introduced is no longer necessary or simply introduce another in its place we can delete it. If we want to remove an effect, we must also use the “Animation Panel” button in the “Advanced animation” section. This will open a panel on the right side in which we must select the animation effect that we want to remove. Later we click on the down arrow, which will open a drop-down menu, and click on “Remove”.
Create animation paths in PowerPoint
PowerPoint allows us to create animation paths to an object, allowing us to move objects within a sequence that we can use to tell a story. It can be applied to objects, such as shapes, text and images. To do this, we must start by clicking on the object that we want to animate on the slide. Subsequently, we click on the “Animation” tab and then, in the “Advanced animation” section, we click on “Add animation”.
Within the menu that opens we move to the bottom where we find the “Animation Trajectories” section and select one of them. If we choose the custom route, we can draw ourselves the movement that the object makes to our liking, which will be drawn in the form of lines. To finish drawing we press the ESC key and we will check the movement that we have created.
We can also add more animation paths. To do this, click on “Add animation” and then at the bottom we click on “More animation paths” . This will open a new panel where we can choose new animations, organized in “Basic” (square, heart, rhombus, etc), “Lines and curves” (arc up, arc down, curves to the right, etc) and ” Special “(peanut, bean, cross, etc). We select the desired one and click on “OK”. Now by clicking on the “Preview” button that we find on the left side of the toolbar, we can check how the effect is applied.
From the “Effects options” section that we find within the “Advanced animation” group, we can change the direction of the movement path, edit it or block it so other users cannot change or unlock the animation. If we want to delete an established route we can do it from the “Animation Panel” tab. Here, we choose the animation and click on it. Later we click on the triangle downwards and from the list we select the option “Remove”.
