Importing vector graphics

Hi everyone,

I know this thread is old. I signed up just to comment. I may be late but here's how I managed to work-around importing vector into AS2 without raster conversion or compromising the quality of my vector images. This will not allow me to manipulate the shapes and colors after I've brought it into AS2, however. This will only preserve the integrity of my image regardless of how much I scaled it within AS2.

Note: You will need Illustrator, Powerpoint, and Articulate Storyline 2. This was done on a Mac with AI installed native on OSX, PPT on Windows 7 of Bootcamp, and AS2 on Windows 7 of Bootcamp. You may find better or different results depending on your rig. There is a possibility this method may not work if you are running both AI and PPT native on OSX, though. Just a theory I haven't the luxury to test out. Chances are, however, if it works on mine, it should definitely work on yours.

1. Design your shape (or even your entire scene/slide) in illustrator with as many art boards needed. Each artboard will represent different slides if you choose to do the majority of the designing in illustrator. Avoid clipping masks if possible... you'll thank me later. Save your work as AI (for backup).
2. Save your art boards as EPS. Be sure to check the size of your slide (art board) and convert your pixel measurements to inches before saving it to EPS. This will save you some headaches later when jumping into Powerpoint.
3. This step may take awhile for the app to process. Import your EPS file to a Powerpoint slide via drag and drop (be sure to adjust the size of your slide to match the measurement of your art board). You will notice that your images will look a bit jagged. That's just how Powerpoint is interpreting your file.
4. Size up your image to the desired dimension. If done correctly to this point you should only just need to center your image to fit snuggly into your slide (give or take a few hundredth of an inch).
5. Select your image, right-click, and choose "edit image". A warning appears telling you Powerpoint will convert the image to something more native than EPS. Accept it and you should now see the wonderfully clean vector-type image you had been expecting.
6. Select your image, ungroup, clean up bounding boxes accordingly. You should be able to adjust fills, strokes, and whatever else within the constraints of Powerpoint to each and every object you ungrouped.
7. Group any objects you will want AS2 to interpret as a single object such as logos and outlined text. Repeat steps 3-7 for each art board you want on their respective slides.
8. Save your work as a Powerpoint presentation (.PPT).
9. Start a new project in AS2 and adjust your dimensions accordingly.
10. Click on the INSERT tab, click New Slide, click the Import tab, click on the Powerpoint logo, select your PPT file, click Open, click Select All, and finally click Import.
11. Grab a beer. It may take awhile to load. Once it's in you'll see you have objects stacked up on your timeline ready to be triggered and sized to your liking without worrying about image quality.

There you go. I hope this was helpful and I hope I didn't explain anything that was already mentioned. As far as importing actual text/font is concerned... you're on your own and I'm definitely all ears. Anyone else see the irony in having to learn so much about an eLearning software?

Cheers