SL Questions
Nov 11, 2012
Two Questions if anyone knows...
1. I am importing some old Presenter files into SL for future use and updating When they come in, two things are happening. one, they don't come in the exactly the same. The biggest example is text boxes don't fit in the same space and they come in as pictures instead of text so I can't edit them. I know SL doesn't support some PPT actions etc which I know I have to edit, but its the size of things and the inability to edit text that is hurting me and I have a lot to convert.
2. Do any designers out there have some tips for PNG's. I know how to edit JPEGS but was wondering if i wanted to take some shots of people, plates of food, kitchen utensils etc. (like measuring cups, spoons etc.). What is the best way to shoot the raw picture so they can easily be turned into PNG's for future use.I want to be able to use them similar to the characters in SL, Want to drop them on top of a scene etc.
Thanks
4 Replies
HI Jeff, I find the import of ppt files to be painful and find it easier and quicker to rebuild the course from scratch in storyline.
With reference to creating pngs the best way is to ensure it is a solid colour background, even using a makeshift greenscreen can help
I agree with Phil for the most part about importing PPT projects if you're looking for a one to one conversion with no editing- not gonna happen. However, I do find that importing PPT projects into a separate scene and using it as a close-by reference is very helpful. There are some slides you can clone nearly perfectly, while others can be very messy and time consuming to fool with. On slides where there is not much action and some bulleted text and/or simple images, I simply pull the slide into my SL project, move the imported text off to the side and place a new SL textbox or 'quickstyled' shape, copy the imported text (or modify as required), delete the imported stuff, and forge ahead. As far as the PNG issue, I do use a lot of rich greenscreen as Phil suggests- it works quite well and with a black or other dark background compliment, it can be pretty impressive. Dunno if that helps you or not, but my 2C. Good luck!
Hi Jeff,
SL1 lets you import slides from PPT, yet this import isn't very seamless. I recently imported a 450 pptx-slide course which I was planning to cut-up in little eatable chucks (scenes)
After the import, all textboxes were resized (auto-resize is always on), some pictures were imported as placeholders with no picture in it, others were imported an had hyperlinks attached to them.
I abandoned the idea of bulk importing slides from PPT and started from scratch.
As the course was already developed in PPT, you do not have to re-invent your course again. By building it from scratch you can use all of SL-features to their full!
I support Phils idea on the green screen, check out this http://www.mediacollege.com/video/special-effects/green-screen/
Cheers
Geert
Geert,
Thanks for the greenscreen link- I see that I've somewhat missed the point on that one. I have no argument at all with your PPT import comments- I know it can be a problematic process. For me, it just depends and I've had some success with bulk imports depending upon what my goals are. Most of the stuff I've imported has been relatively trouble free, but many times I find myself just using the import as a submat guide for a scratch SL build.
Take care and thanks for the feedback.
Jeff
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.