What's covered
Overview
PowerPoint design issues
This document can help you resolve errors, design issues and resolve unexpected behavior while using Microsoft PowerPoint files within Ovation.
Overview
Ovation is specifically designed to make PowerPoint presentations look better while saving time in preparation. The process starts with stripping nearly all formatting and customization from the content that is contained within the PowerPoint file and applying the PowerLook. The Powerlook takes control of the layout of each slide; the text treatment, the animation by which content appears, and the transition from slide to slide. If a slide's contents does not fit into any of Ovation's templates, then it will be displayed with its original layout, typeface, and font size from PowerPoint. Having relinquished control over the layout of the slide's content, Ovation removes some elements of certain PowerLooks as well as the user-assigned logo in order to avoid potential layout conflicts. In order to automate this process Ovation makes certain assumptions as it interprets the content of each slide. The more complicated a slide is, the more assumptions Ovation must make. Ovation can work for more complicated slides as well, but works best with slides that are relatively simple in design.
To get the most from Ovation it is important to understand the conditions that trigger this automatic process. Once you know what to expect from Ovation you can begin creating slides in PowerPoint with Ovation's capabilities in mind and get the best results that Ovation has to offer.
See Ovation Help: Contents: "Designing in PowerPoint for the Best Results in Ovation" for more detailed information about designing slides for Ovation
PowerPoint design issues
Reducing load times of PowerPoint slideshows
Since Ovation must remove much of the PowerPoint formating, the more complex a ppt file is the longer and harder Ovation has to work to make the conversion. By switching to the default template in PowerPoint you can relieve Ovation from much of the conversion tasks. Note: To keep your PowerPoint slideshow intact make a copy of the slideshow and only work in Ovation with the new copy.
To reset the template:
1. Open your PowerPoint slideshow in PowerPoint
2. Choose "File>Save As..." and save the file with a new name (you should now be working on the copy)
3. Go to Format>Slide Design and choose the "default template" from the slide design panel (this should be the first one on the list).
4. Right click on the default template in the "Use in This Presentation" preview window and choose "Apply to all slides".
5. Open the slideshow in Ovation
Note: Although this may drastically change how PowerPoint displays the slides Ovation will load the slideshow faster and with fewer problems.
PowerPoint slideshow not in the right order in Ovation
Ovation starts slideshows at slide 1, whereas PowerPoint can potentially start slide numbering at slide 0. Although Ovation will import a slideshow that starts with slide 0 it will renumber the slides to begin with slide one causing the slideshow to be 1 slide off from the PowerPoint slideshow. To syncronize the slideshows renumber the PowerPoint slideshow to start at slide 1 instead of slide 0.
To renumber the PowerPoint slideshow:
1. In PowerPoint choose File > Page Setup.
2. Change "Number Slides From" to 1 (instead of 0).
3. Open the slideshow in Ovation.
Some PowerPoint slides are missing in Ovation
Ovation reads each of the PowerPoint slides as it imports. If a slide is set to not show in PowerPoint, then Ovation will skip the slide. In order to import all the PowerPoint slides you must set the PowerPoint slideshow to show all slides.
To show all slides in PowerPoint:
1. Choose Slide Show > Set Up Show.
2. Choose "All" in the Show Slides section and select OK.
3. Save the Slide Show and Open in Ovaiton.
Text that fit on a slide in PowerPoint does not fit after importing into Ovation
Each of the Ovaiton Powerlooks has an associtated PowerPoint template that can be used to help design your slide show. In order to preview how Ovation will affect your PowerPoint slideshow, open the PowerPoint template that goes with the corresponding Powerlook and adjust the text and slide layout accordingly.
To preview the Powerlook in Ovation:
1. Open your PowerPoint slideshow in PowerPoint.
2. Choose Format > Slide Design.
3. Click "Browse..." at the bottom of the Slide Design pane.
4. Navigate to the Ovation Folder (if the shortcut is not present go to C:\Program Files\Serious Magic\Ovation\1.0\Content\Templates).
5. Select the Power Look you want to use in your presentation and make adjustments to the .ppt file as needed.
6. Save the Slide Show and Open in Ovation.
Mixing Ovation and PowerPoint layout together
The PowerLooks modify layout of content on each slide, the font, font size and color as well as the background. Depending on a slide's content, Ovation may automatically revert to the original layout, text settings, and font. If you prefer some aspect of the original PowerPoint treatment, you can revert the Layout, Text Typeface, Text Colors, or Background on either show-wide or on a slide-by-slide basis.
You can find Ovation Treatment for a Show under the Tools option of the interface. This option allows you to adjust the layout and treatment of text as well as the background shown for the whole presentation. To revert one of these aspects of the treatment for an individual slide, right-click its thumbnail on the Navigation Bar and select the desired option.
Somethings to keep in mind when changing the slide "treatment":
- Ovation does not make any change to the text contained within tables, charts, or AutoShapes. Instead, it treats these three types of content as images. To alter the appearance of the text in these types of content, make the necessary changes within PowerPoint. Ovation does not support most Power Points animations, hyperlinks, footers or headers, or Power Plugs.
- Ovation currently supports only animation that causes content to appear ("Entrance animation"). Exit, Emphasis, and Motion Path custom animation is not supported.
- While Ovation takes its cue from PowerPoint as far as which bullets, etc. are animated, it does not mimic the exact animation style used in PowerPoint. Instead, each family of PowerLooks has its own distinctive way of bringing content into view.
- PowerLooks also control transitions from slide to slide.
See Ovation Help: Advanced Features and Options: " Reverting from the Ovation Treatment to the Original Slide Des ign " for more detailed information about changing the slide treatment in Ovation.
Creating Animated Fade-In Bullets with PowerPoint
A common effect that is not by default available in Ovaiton is the Fade-in of separate bullet point text. To do so, create the fade effects in PowerPoint and import the results into Ovation.
Create a Fade-in in PowerPoint:
1. Open your PowerPoint slideshow in PowerPoint and locate the bulleted text you want to animate.
2. Go to "Slide Show>Custom Animation".
3. Select the text of the first bullet and choose "Add Effect" from the Custom Animation pane.
4. Choose "Entrance>More Effects... and choose fade from the list.
5. For each bullet point select the text and repeat steps 3 and 4.
6. Save the Slide Show and Open in Ovation.
