Having free clip art is a big deal for those of us on fixed budgets and with limited access to stock images and clip art to use in our elearning courses, presentations, and training programs. So last week’s news that Microsoft is bringing back free clip art was a breath of fresh, kind of.

About two years ago, Microsoft got rid of clip art. Because of this many of you have been using the free stock images sites, the free images in the community, and downloading the free vector images which you can edit in PowerPoint. This works fine, but it sure is handy having quicker access to the right images while you’re building the slide.

Free Clip Art via Pickit

The good news is Microsoft has formed a partnership with Pickit which offers a pretty big library of images. However, while Pickit offers some free images that you can access via PowerPoint, it doesn’t really work the same way it used to with the old clip art gallery.

Below, I’ll show how to install it and then a few tips on using it for your courses. To get started, I recommend creating an account with Pickit.

How to Install Pickit for Free Clip Art

This part was a little tricky because the instructions aren’t quite that clear.

• You’ll need to download the Pickit add-in from the Office store.
• Click the green “add” button. This should install Pickit. However, this is where I found the instructions to be a bit confusing.

Here are the instructions that Microsoft provides:

• Make sure you’re signed in to Office. Open any Office application and, in the top right corner, click Sign in. Type the email address and password you use with Office.
• If you’re using Word, Excel or PowerPoint, press Insert > My Add-ins. In the Add-ins for Office box, find your add-in.
• If you don’t see it, verify that you’re signed into Office. Press Refresh to update the list.
• If the add-in still doesn’t show up in the add-ins for Office list, it might have been hidden. You can use the My Add-ins for Office and SharePoint page to retrieve it.
• Double-click the add-in to start it.

Those instructions didn’t work for me. First off, my version of PowerPoint 2013 doesn’t have an Insert>My Add-ins option. Instead it’s Insert>My Apps. However, I don’t see the Pickit app in the list.

Here’s how to install the Pickit app if you have the same issue as I do.

• Make sure you’re signed into your Office account because the app is part of your account.
• Go to Insert>My Apps and click on the See All link. That will show all of your apps.
• Select the Pickit app and click on Insert. This will install the app.

Here’s a video that shows how to install Pickit in PowerPoint.

How to Use Pickit for Free Clip Art & Stock Images

I’m using PowerPoint 2013 so I’m not sure if the app works different for newer versions. Here are a few key features and considerations when using Pickit:

• The app opens a side panel where you can search for images. In the image above, I searched for “meeting.” The search produced three options: 1) free images, 2) pay per photo, and 3) request an image. Pay images are provided by Shutterstock at about $5/image. I’m not sure how it works if you already have a Shutterstock account, though.
• You can upload images and manage them (and purchased images) via the “your images” tab.
• The “request a photo” feature is pretty cool and allows you to ask someone to create or share an image you require.

• Based on their tutorial video, Pickit is supposed to add an icon to your toolbar. This didn’t happen for me. You’re also supposed to be able to select a word on the slide, right click, and search for an image. However, that wasn’t working for me, either. I’m not sure why, but I was too lazy to research it. If someone figures it out, add a note in the comments.

My impressions:

• It’s free and the available images are viable (although, it’s not really like the clip art Microsoft offered before).
• It does help people not bootleg images from Google that may cause copyright issues something that Bing kind of made a bit fuzzy when they dropped the free clip art.
• You can’t sort illustrated from photographic images. Also, the illustrations come in as .JPG which means they can’t be ungrouped like the earlier clip art. To edit them in PowerPoint you are limited but can use the tips offered in this tutorial post.
• It would be nice if the image details were tied to specific keywords for better searching.
• I love the idea of people uploading and sharing their free images.
• I’m not a fan of the pink branding. I’d prefer more contrast and a less bright color. But it’s free, so I’ll live with it.
• You can always find inexpensive stock photo subscriptions. In fact Graphic Stock (which has a good selection) regularly runs a $99/year subscription with unlimited downloads.

Are you using Pickit for free clip art? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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In this post we’ll look at an easy way to customize illustration in PowerPoint, since it’s a tool most of us have and it’s easy to do.

Most illustrations are vector images that are saved in a format such as. EPS or .AI that allows you to edit them. However, what happens when you have an illustration in a bitmap version such as .JPG or .PNG but you don’t have the source file to edit it?

This is an issue I run into quite a bit because I get some of my graphics from those low cost (or free) stock image sites and often they only provide a .PNG version of the file. In fact, I ran into this issue in a previous post on getting an elearning job. I’ll explain what I started with and how I made the modifications I needed.

Finding the Right Illustrations in PowerPoint & E-Learning

I found an illustration style that I liked. Then I clicked to see what else the illustrator created. This is a great way to find multiple images of the same style.

Production Tips:

• Stick with the same illustrator to have a consistent look.
• Review all of the illustrations from the illustrator.
• Don’t spend too much time trying to find the perfect illustration. Instead, identify elements of the illustration that you may extract to create your own custom illustration. For example, in the images above, the backgrounds would be perfect for elearning scenarios.

How to Edit Vector Illustrations in PowerPoint

Many of the illustrations you purchase will be in one of these formats: .EPS, .AI, .PNG, or .JPG. The first two are compiled illustrations which can be ungrouped and edited. Unfortunately, this may mean you need to learn how to work with an illustration app like Inkscape.

However, if that’s not something you feel comfortable doing, you can always edit .EPS vector images in PowerPoint. This is something I covered in this blog post on how to edit free vector illustrations. It’s not always perfect, but it works well most of the time.

Production Tips:

• Vector illustrations can be ungrouped and edited. Usually you need an illustration app.
• .EPS files can be ungrouped and modified in PowerPoint.
• Here’s a bonus tip on how to edit the illustrated characters that come with Articulate software.

How to Edit Non-Vector Illustrations in PowerPoint

Here’s the real challenge. You have a great image, but all you have is the bitmap version or it (and you’re not that great of a graphic designer). How do you modify characters to meet your needs?

That’s exactly what I ran into with the blog post I mentioned earlier. All I had was the .PNG files. I liked the illustration style, but the images only had men in it and I wanted to add a female character. Here’s how I made the modifications. It’s pretty simple.

Here’s a video that walks through the production process in more detail.

Click here to view the video tutorial.

The image above shows the before after versions. I didn’t need make significant edits.

• I selected the easiest character to modify.
• I changed the hairstyle by adding some ovals.
• I used the color picker and matched the oval fill color with the hair.
• I added a yellow oval to the ear lobe and color picked from the guy’s tie.

As you can see, the results are OK. The key is simplicity and not trying to add too much detail. I also, needed more room for text, so I added a white oval over the smaller chat bubble.

This next image was a little bit more involved. I modified the face and blouse using custom shapes.

• I added an oval for the hair.
• I rounded the face a little using the curve tool and color picked from the wall to cover up the jaw line.
• I added color to the lips and softened the color by making the shapes a bit transparent.
• I used the curve tool to modify the blouse and filled with the blouse color.
• You probably can’t see it, but I added some eye liner.

Again, watch the video above to see more detail on how to make the modifications. This isn’t a perfect solution, but when you’re stuck with bitmap images (and can’t easily edit them in a graphics tool) you can still meet your needs modifying the images in PowerPoint. The good thing is that these flat illustrations are easily covered with custom shapes and filled with matching colors.

Here’s a bonus challenge for you, assuming you only had the .PNG and could only work in PowerPoint, how would you change the skin tone?

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Here’s an easy way to turn a single image into an interactive image. This tip comes in handy if you use collage images for interactive stories or have a great illustration but no way to break it into separate pieces. That’s what I ran into with this recent demo I built for the blog post on simplifying variables for e-learning.

Click here to view demo.

I had a great image of multiple characters, but all I had was a single .png file. I needed a separate image for each character to create my interaction. In my example, I wanted the individual people to have a hover effect. Since I couldn’t separate them into individual images, I used the crop tool to isolate the characters and create a simple interaction.

E-Learning Tutorial Step-By-Step

Learn more by following the steps of the e-learning tutorial below and then watch the video for more detail.

• Insert the image and duplicate it. Make sure the duplicate is on top of the original and perfectly aligned. I also recommend naming all of the assets you place in your slide. I like to lock the original image so I don’t accidentally nudge it out of place.

• Create a state for each character. Add a new state for each character on the duplicate image. Then crop each state to isolate the character. You’ll want to make the state visually different so that when you switch to a character state there’s some sort of contrast to the original. Some people like to add glows or resize the new state.

• Insert a hotspot over each character. Since you only have a single image, you’ll need multiple hotspots on top of it to simulate the interaction and change the large image to the isolated character states.

• Add a trigger to the hotspot. Each hotspot triggers a state change to a specific character. Add the first one, and then duplicate it to speed up production. For this demo, I’m using on mouseover, but you can use any action appropriate to your interaction.

Now you have an interactive image built from a single image. It didn’t require you to break the image into smaller pieces or manipulate an illustrated vector.

E-Learning Tutorial Video

Here’s a video that shows the steps in a bit more detail.

Click here to view the e-learning tutorial.

This is a great technique when you’re stuck using an image that you can’t edit. And as you can see, it doesn’t take long to convert the static image into something a bit more interactive.

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As you know, we have all sorts of free templates to download for your elearning courses and PowerPoint presentations. The challenge sometimes is figuring out when and how to use the templates for your own projects.

At a recent conference I was chatting with someone who wanted to make her software training look better. Her training was mostly a series of quick video tutorials. She wanted a nice way to present the tutorials. I recommended that she start with one of the free templates and use it as a way to package the tutorials.

Here’s a quick mock up I created for her using a template I gave away in a recent blog post.

Click here to view the demo.

You’ll notice that the free template is a little different than the final product. That’s because the free template is just the starting point. You don’t want the template design to dictate how you’ll build your course. So feel free to make the modifications that help you meet your project objectives.

• In this particular template I got rid of the different sized boxes and created the same size box for each video title.
• I also covered up the connectors lines that were a little busy-looking and possibly distracting.
• The slide layers were also cleaned out to accommodate the videos and playbar. These videos work fine in the preset size. Otherwise I would have set the player to scale up so the end user could make the videos larger.

Here’s a quick video tutorial where I show some of the changes I made to the template so that it worked for my demo. Hopefully that’ll give you some ideas on making your own modifications.

Click here to view the tutorial video.

For the most part, software training centers on explainer videos. In those cases, the template is a frame to hold the videos. What I look for is a good starting page that can serve as a menu or sorts and then space to hold the individual videos.

Here are some other templates I think would work great for software training.

• I like the bookshelf metaphor. The shelves can represent sections and the books are smaller teaching chunks. Each book cover would link to a video.

• Any tabs interaction would work well. The tabs are the menu and they link to the videos. Tabs also make efficient use of the screen space.

• Here’s another example of the free template, Business Circles, modified to add some gamified mechanics for a new hire orientation.

There are all sorts of great templates to use for your elearning courses and software training. Find a template and use it to create your next software training.

If you do, be sure to tell us how it went. Any particular template that you’d use for your software training?

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Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

Let’s face it, we’re not all graphic designers and it can be a chore to get the right look for your slides. This is especially true if your slide is a little light on content leaving a lot of white space. And when this happens, we feel obligated to fill it with something like decorative clip art.

The following visual design tip is a great way to fill the space and maintain some context. It adds texture, looks nice, and is really easy to implement.

Examples of the Visual Design Tip

I’m not sure if there’s a formal name for this visual design tip but I like to call it the transparent echo technique. You’ll notice that the main image is repeated, like an echo. It’s still present but it’s softer and subtle. Here are some good examples of it in action.

As you can see the transparent echo technique works with objects, characters, and even illustrations. It’s a good visual design tip to have in your tool chest.

Step to Create the Transparent Echo Technique

Essentially you copy and paste the primary object and use it as a background image.

• Duplicate the main image and place on the background.
• Scale the background image up and crop it or move it a little off screen. There’s no right or wrong way to align it. Just do what looks good.
• Subdue the image. There are a few ways to do this. You can make the image semi-transparent or use the recolor image feature in PowerPoint and Storyline. Another option is to cover the background with a white shape that is semi-transparent. That gives you an easy way to play adjust the level of transparency.

Here’s a video tutorial that walks through the process.

Click here to view YouTube video.

As you can see it’s pretty simple to implement and it’s repeatable with different images throughout the course. Thus you can have slides with different objects, but using the transparent echo technique allows the slides and visual design to remain consistent throughout the course. This technique works great for start screens and menus.

Here are some additional production tips and considerations:

• Remove the color from the background image. I find that gray images blend better as they are made transparent.
• Make sure to be consistent in the transparency setting if you use the effect on multiple slides.
• Colorize the overlay shape. Pick a color from the main image and tint a semi-transparent shape that sits over the background image.
• Cut out images work best. You can remove backgrounds from the image in a graphics editor or PowerPoint.
• Play around with the scaling of the image and how it’s framed on the slide.
• Use derivatives of the same image. Look at the doctor image above. Same character but different poses.

The transparent echo technique is an easy way to dress up slides without plastering it with clip art or decorative images. You maintain context and get a nice graphic with minimal effort. If you try your hand at it, I’d love to see what you do.

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Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

As noted in an earlier post, an easy way to build interactive elearning modules is by choosing a single image and adding interactive elements to it. This is a great solution for those who don’t have graphic design skills or access to a graphic designer. The key is finding a single image that has a few potential content buckets.

Finding images is relatively easy today. I look for images like the ones below. They need to have some visual interest, a consistent context, and potential content areas that can be clicked on or zoomed into.

Interactive Image Example

In a previous post, I shared this interactive image demo and had lots of questions about the zoom effect I used and how it was built. To help you out, I recorded a few tutorials that go through the basics. I used a different image for the tutorials and included a new free template for you to download.

Here’s the new template in action:

Click here to view the demo.

Interactive Image Tutorials

Here are some tutorials that walk through how I created the zoom in and out effect in this elearning template.

• Tutorial 1: Lay the foundation by setting up the slides and links.
• Tutorial 2: Create the zoom in and out effect (this is the main tutorial).
• Tutorial 3: Shortcuts and production tips to save time.

Free Interactive Image Templates

I’ve included the source file for the original demo and a new template based on the image I used in the video tutorials. As a bonus, I used the same image to create a free PowerPoint template.

• Zoom Office template (Storyline 2). I fleshed out the template a bit and added variables to track completion. But you can use it anyway you wish.
• Interactive Office template (PowerPoint).
• Original source file.

• The templates also include a slide of individual characters. Create additional slides in the template and add the characters.

So now it’s up to you—find some images, watch the tutorials above, and create your own interactive image templates.

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Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

Most of us are scrambling to find free assets to use in our presentations and elearning courses. The good news is that there are more than enough free stock images available, such as these three earlier posts where I shared 80 free stock photos, 45 free stock photos, and 60 more free stock photos.

The challenge with all of these free stock photos is that it’s not always easy using them for your presentations or elearning courses as they are. The characters are easy enough to figure out. But whatr about the various background images? Here are some tips to help customize free stock photos to work with your courses.

If you’re not inclined to use the free images, you can always find inexpensive stock photo subscriptions. In fact Graphic Stock (which has a good selection) regularly runs a $99/year subscription with unlimited downloads. They also have a video  and audio service that is reasonably priced.

7 Ways to Overlay Text & Customize Free Stock Photos

One of the biggest issues is that while the image looks great, it’s too busy for your content. So you need to find some ways to add contrast. Nicole shared some good tips on how to overlay text on images. These should come in handy for many of your presentations and courses.

Apply a Blur to Customize Free Stock Photos

An easy fix is to blur the image (or add other effects). This gives you some texture and visual interest without the image being too distracting. Also, our eyes are naturally drawn to the text (and other objects) that are in focus. So that’s a great way to direct the viewer’s eyes to the content.

Most graphics editing applications have blur filters. Even PowerPoint has a blur feature. So that should be easy to accomplish.

Make a Content Area as You Customize Free Stock Photos

Sometimes the image is great and you don’t want to add a blur or overlay text. But what you do need is room for your text and other objects. Here’s an example from a presentation I recently delivered on interactive video.

As you can see in the image below, the original photo I used was too narrow for the slide since the image was 4:3 and the slide was 16:9. And the image is so busy that there’s no room to place any content over it. I liked the image but need some free space.

Usually what I try to do is crop the image in a way where I end up with space for the content. In this particular case cropping the image wasn’t a viable solution.

• So I cropped the image to show what I wanted (the three boxes).
• And then to fill in the blank area, I duplicated the image and cropped a sliver from one end and stretched it across the slide. This only works if the sliver is mostly solid. It wouldn’t have worked if I had used the other side of the image (which has a blur of colors). The colors would cause streaking.
• To cover any artifacts from stretching (stretch marks?) I applied a blur to the sliver image. This softens it and lets in blend in.

As you can see, the end result worked well. And all of this was done right in PowerPoint so I didn’t need to use an image editor. If you want to learn more, I created a quick PowerPoint tutorial.

Click here to view the PowerPoint tutorial.

If you need to customize the free stock photos then this tip should come in handy. While it doesn’t work for every image, it does work for quite a few. Give it a try and see what you can do to customize the free stock photos you get online.

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EDITOR’S NOTE:

Unfortunately this is no longer possible in PowerPoint. However, here’s a post where you can learn to edit EPS files for free.

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In this post we’ll explore how to edit free vector images in PowerPoint. You’ll be able to use them in your presentations and online training courses.

There are hundreds of sites to download free vector images that can be used for your presentations and online training courses. The challenge is that to edit most of the free vector images requires an illustration application like Illustrator or Inkscape (free). However, if you get them in .EPS format you may be able to edit the free vector images in PowerPoint.

Formats to Edit Free Vector Images

Vector images are not like bitmap images that are based on pixels. Vector images use a mathematical formula to draw the images onscreen. That’s why they always look nice and crisp when scaled.

Generally speaking they’re made up of a bunch of shapes that when combined represent the image. Because of this, they can be ungrouped and the individual shapes can be edited.

Whether you purchase the vector images or get them for free, they are typically in one of two formats: .AI or .EPS and can be edited in an illustration program. If the free vector image is in .EPS format you may be able to edit it in PowerPoint.

How to Edit Free Vector Images in PowerPoint

This process works the same way as if you were ungrouping clip art in PowerPoint. Here’s how:

• Locate a vector image in .EPS format and insert it on the PowerPoint slide. You’ll notice that initially it may look a bit jagged. That’s OK, it’ll change when we do the next step.
• Ungroup the .EPS file. Right-click on the image and select “Ungroup.” Vector images are often made up of multiple groups of shapes so you may have to ungroup the groups a few times.
• Edit the image as if it were any other shape in PowerPoint. Change colors, position, etc.
• Group the image when you’re done editing it. Select it, right-click, and select “Group.” That’s it.

Bonus Tips to Edit Free Vector Images

• Speed up your grouping and ungrouping using keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint. CTRL+G groups selected shapes and CTRL+Shift+G ungroups them.
• Save the image to use in other applications like Storyline or elsewhere. Right-click and select “Save As Picture.” I usually save as .PNG. I also save the PowerPoint file in case I want to make additional changes down the road.

Potential Issues If You Edit Free Vector Images

For the most part, ungrouping .EPS files in PowerPoint works well. However, it does break down if the shapes are made of gradients and not solid colors. The image below shows the before and after of an ungrouped file in PowerPoint. Ungrouping that image creates about 8500 individual shapes. In that case it’s probably not worth messing with it.

Also, some of the colors and shapes may change, too. Compare the before and after images below. You’ll notice that the original colors were softer and the lines a bit thinner.

Here’s a video tutorial that shows how to edit free vector images in PowerPoint. I also add a few extra production tips.

Click here to watch the video tutorial at YouTube.

Microsoft may have gotten rid of clip art for PowerPoint, but there’s no reason why you can’t edit free vector images and get what you need for your presentations and elearning courses. It just takes a little bit of practice.

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Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

[UPDATE: This tutorial is specific to Storyline2. Storyline 360/3 both have closed captioning as a feature.]

In a previous post we learned how to create closed captions text for your online courses. Now we’ll learn to use that text in Articulate Storyline.

Before we get started, let’s do a quick review of your closed captions source file. Regardless of the application you used to create the closed captions file, you’ll end up with the timing and the text for the captions. It should look similar to the image below.

Display Closed Captions in Storyline

Displaying the closed captions in Storyline 2 is a very straightforward process. All we need is a single text variable that is triggered to change to new text based on the timeline.

Here’s a video where I explain how easy it is to create the closed captions in Storyline 2.

Click here to view the closed captions YouTube tutorial.

Here are the basic steps to create the captions in Storyline 2:

• Create a text variable titled “Caption.”

• Insert a text reference of the “Caption” variable so that the caption is visible on the slide. The caption displays the variable which will change at different points on the timeline.

• Add a trigger to the slide that changes the value of the “Caption” variable at a specific time. The value and specific time come from the SRT file. The value is the text and the time is the starting time for each line. Storyline 1 doesn’t have the timeline trigger. The workaround is to add simple shapes (and move them offscreen) to represent the timing. And then trigger to the start of those shapes on the timeline).

• Copy and paste the trigger and then add the new values and timing by copying the text from the .SRT files.

As you can see, adding closed captions and syncing them to the timeline is pretty easy. Here are a few general tips when working with closed captions:

• Show or hide the closed captions by adding a button that sets a variable to turn captions on and off.
• Use a legible text, none of those fancy curly ones. A clean san serif font like Open Sans works well.
• Come up with a format that is consistent. Because the screen content is constantly changing you want to ensure enough contrast so that people can read the captions. I prefer a semi-transparent black box with white or yellow text.
• Create a uniform size. The text box that contains the closed captions is dynamic and will change based on the characters (that’s the nature of text variables). That means the font size may increase or decrease based on the character count. Do a test and create a box that accommodates the most text you’ll have at any given time. Then set the font size to that and it should look right as the character count changes.

That’s about it. With a single variable and one trigger you can quickly create as many captions as you need when using Articulate Storyline to build your online training.

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Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

PowerPoint is probably the single best multimedia application available because of its versatility. You can create presentations, rapid elearning courses, illustrations, videos, mobile learning and even books for publishing.

PowerPoint also offers ease of entry. That means someone with no experience can open the application and get started. And the person with lots of experience is given all sorts of capability.

The main challenge with PowerPoint is that many people don’t fully understand the features and usually do very basic work with PowerPoint. And of course a lot of the negativity surrounding PowerPoint comes not from the tool, but instead from sitting through tedious PowerPoint-driven lectures and presentations.

I was asked recently about my favorite PowerPoint tips and tricks. I have a lot that I like, but here are a few of the ones I use quite a bit and find the most valuable.

PowerPoint Tip 1: Step Away from the PowerPoint Template

Templates are good, especially for new developers and those who want to save time. However, your project should guide the template and not the opposite. Unfortunately most people tend to start with the default PowerPoint templates and layouts. So everything has a distinct PowerPoint look.

My advice? Put the bullet points down and step away from the template. Start with a blank screen and be intentional about what you build. If you do build a template, build it specific to your project’s needs.

PowerPoint Tip 2: Control Layers with the Selection Pane

The selection pane displays the objects on the slide. Here is what you can do with the selection pane:

• Name objects
• Change the stacking order
• Show and hide objects

PowerPoint Tip 3: Combine Shapes to Create Custom Shapes

Starting with PowerPoint 2010 you can combine shapes to create custom shapes. Most of the time I use this feature to create custom callouts. I also use it to punch out parts of a shape I don’t need. Combine that with the edit points feature and you can create any shape you want. You can also use the fragment feature to convert text and wingding type into vector images which we looked at earlier. This is perfect for creating your own icons.

PowerPoint Tip 4: Layering Objects to Create Custom Graphics

We can stack objects in PowerPoint and control them with the selection pane. We can also make objects transparent. That means we can stack transparent objects to create custom images. Group the objects, right click, and save as an image file. I usually save as .png to retain transparency.

PowerPoint Tip 5: Customizing Clip Art & Vector Graphics

I have a ton of posts on this, which you can find below. Essentially most clip art in PowerPoint is .wmf or .emf. That means they are comprised of grouped vector shapes which can be ungrouped and modified and then regrouped.

Unfortunately, Microsoft is dumping the Office.com and clip art site. So I’m not sure how much longer you’ll have to work with these types of files without buying your own. But in the meantime, take advantage of the free resources and create your own graphics.

PowerPoint Tip 7: Apply Custom Formatting with the Format Painter

The format painter is an underutilized feature in PowerPoint. Essentially any object’s formatting can be applied to another. I use it create quick styles for the objects in my courses. Then I can apply that to the other objects on the slide.

This comes in handy when you get one of those junky PowerPoint files from a subject matter expert where there’s no rhyme or reason to the visual design. Create a quick style guide and then use the format painter to apply it.

PowerPoint Tip 8: Apply Animations to Multiple Objects Using the Animation Painter

The animation painter is very similar to the format painter. The only difference is that instead of applying an object’s format you apply the object’s animations. This comes in really handy if you have an object with multiple animations and need to duplicate those animations to other objects. In the past, you had the tedious process of rebuilding the animations onto each object. Today, that can be done in seconds using the animation painter.

Here’s a quick video that shows how it works.

Click here to view the YouTube video.

PowerPoint Tip 9: Save PowerPoint Presentations as Video

This is one of my favorite features because anything you build in PowerPoint with animations, narration, and multiple slides can be saved as a single video file.

Here’s a PowerPoint presentation that was saved as an .mp4 video and then inserted into the Storyline player. Try to create something similar with a video editing application. Trust me, it’s not that easy (especially without more advanced skills). But it’s really easy to do in PowerPoint.

Click here to play video.

In PowerPoint 2010 files are saved as .wmv and need to be converted to .mp4. I like to use Handbrake because they have pre-determined settings. In PowerPoint 2013 you can save as .mp4 so that saves a few steps.

The videos you create can be combined with your other elearning development. Here’s a good example where the sidebar video was created in PowerPoint and then inserted into a rapid elearning course.

Click here to view the PowerPoint video demo.

PowerPoint Tip 10: Remove Image Backgrounds

One of the most common reasons elearning developers use image editors like Paint.net and Photoshop Elements is to remove backgrounds from stock images. And they work fine for that. But you can do the same thing in PowerPoint starting with PowerPoint 2010.

It’s real easy to do. Double-click on your image and select remove background. Then determine what you want to keep and what you want to remove. Easy as that.

Bonus tip: Use PowerPoint to Create Interactive E-Learning Courses

PowerPoint is a tool most people have and as you can see, is a very capable application. Combine that with Articulate Studio and you have a very easy way to create interactive elearning.

What you build in PowerPoint is converted to Flash or HTML5 to meet your elearning needs. While applications like Storyline add more interactive capabilities, PowerPoint is still an easy entry point for the person just getting started with elearning design.

Here are some simple examples of PowerPoint-based interactions:

• Interactive screenshot
• Diabetes training
• Side tabs interaction
• Psyched in 10
• Upper tabs Interaction

Other PowerPoint Tips & Tricks

There are literally hundreds of PowerPoint tips and tutorials in the blog. Here are some links from previous posts:

• Want to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro? Then Check Out All of These PowerPoint Tips

• More Than 100 PowerPoint Tutorials & a Free Template

• 7 Reasons Why PowerPoint Doesn’t Suck

• More Than 30 PowerPoint Tips from the PowerPoint Pros!

• How to Create Your Own Illustrated Characters in PowerPoint

• How to Create Your Own Illustrated Graphics in PowerPoint

• Here’s How to Find Free Stock Photos & Clip Art for PowerPoint

• Here’s How to Create Your Own E-Learning Template in PowerPoint

• How to Use PowerPoint to Create Custom Stock Images

• 3 PowerPoint Shortcuts I Always Have at My Finger Tips

• Clean Up Your Client’s PowerPoint Slides with This Time-Saving Tip

• Over 40 Rapid E-Learning Posts with Free PowerPoint Templates & E-Learning Assets

• How to Create a Rapid E-Learning Tab in PowerPoint

• How to Create an Interactive PowerPoint Elearning Module

• A Simple PowerPoint Technique to Make Your E-Learning Courses Look Good

• How to Find Free PowerPoint E-Learning Templates

• 5 Must-Know PowerPoint Tips That Will Save You Time

• The Hidden PowerPoint Shortcut Everyone Should Know

• How to Create Color Schemes in PowerPoint to Match Your Brand

• Here’s a Simple Way to Save Time When Working with Graphics in PowerPoint

• 3 Tutorials to Help You Get More Out of PowerPoint’s Image Editing

• 5 PowerPoint E-Learning Tips & A Free Template

So those are some of my favorite PowerPoint tips. If you could add one tip, what would it be?

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

In today’s post we’ll look at a few ways to create custom shapes in PowerPoint.

I’ve shown this tip a few times in the past such as how to create custom callouts and chat bubbles. In PowerPoint 2010, you had to find the features I am showing today and then create your own ribbon tab to display them. But in PowerPoint 2013, they added the features to the format toolbar and included a new option to fragment the shapes.

How to Create Custom Shapes in PowerPoint

Here’s a quick tutorial that walks through the process of creating custom shapes. We’ll build a simple callout but you’ll learn how the feature works. Once you understand it, you can modify any shape and basically create whatever you want. This makes PowerPoint a great illustration tool.

Click here to view the tutorial.

How to Convert Text into Custom Shapes in PowerPoint

A side benefit of creating custom shapes is that when you include a text box in the process and use fragment you can convert the text into a vector shape that you can fill and size to meet your needs. I like to pull elements out of the various type faces.

This is also great if you want to create your own icons in PowerPoint. There are all sorts of facefonts, wingdings, and dingbat fonts you can use to do this. Make sure you have commercial right, though. Not all fonts are available for commercial use.

Click here to view the tutorial.

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

PowerPoint is a versatile application. You can use it for all sorts of things from presentations to online training programs. In previous posts I’ve shown you how to customize clip art and create your own graphics.

Today’s tip comes courtesy of blog reader, Daniel Albarrán. He sent me an email stating that once he understood the versatility of PowerPoint it opened his eyes to all sorts of possibilities—one of them being the ability to create illustrated characters.

How to Create Illustrated Characters in PowerPoint

Here are some of the graphics he created in PowerPoint.

As you can see, PowerPoint’s a capable application. Pretty cool, huh?

Tips When Creating Illustrated Characters in PowerPoint

Want to create your own illustrated characters? I created a couple of more tutorials with a few extra tips to add to what Daniel started. You can view the tutorials below.

Part 1: Working with PowerPoint’s curve shape.

Click here to watch the PowerPoint tutorial.

Part 2: Working with the custom shapes.

Click here to watch the PowerPoint tutorial.

Here’s a roundup of the PowerPoint tips:

• Practice using the Curve tool so that you can control the curve and not create too many points. The fewer the points, the easier it is to edit.
• Edit the shape. Right click on the shape to access the Edit Points feature. From there you can move the points and make adjustments and small tweaks.
• Show & hide shapes using the Selection Pane.
• Name the shapes in the Selection Pane for easier management of the image.
• Use the Shape Union feature to merge the shapes. You can also group them if you want editing control in the future.
• Right click to save the image. Select .png format to retain the transparency.
• Don’t worry about being perfect. Also, the less detail the easier it is.
• Practice, practice, practice. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll never want for the right image. Play around with the gradients and layered objects to create more texture and richness.

Here’s the character I created for the tutorials and the one Daniel shared with me. Feel free to look at how they were created.

Now it’s up to you. Do a practice character and see how it goes.

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.