Kathy's Practical PowerPoint Tips
~~Kathryn
Jacobs, PowerPointAnswers
Holiday AutoShapes in PowerPoint
Are you one of those people who
can't draw worth a darn, but wants to create a personalized, interesting,
interactive holiday mailing? Join the club! I can't draw a straight line,
even using a ruler. However, using the AutoShape tools and some basic
imagination, even I can create this unique holiday greeting to share with
family and friends... Click the picture below for a full screen
version and a download link to get a zipped copy of the actual presentation.
The Basic Idea
PowerPoint's AutoShapes allow
you to use pre-built shapes to create new and interesting pictures. The
AutoShape toolbar is found on the Drawing toolbar. The Drawing toolbar is
located at the bottom of your screen when you are in Normal view. (If you
don't see it, go to your View menu and choose Toolbars>Drawing.) This
toolbar allows you to create, rotate, color, and format lines, shapes,
WordArt, pictures and clipart. For our holiday card, we are going to
concentrate on the AutoShapes. (We will make a short side trip into WordArt
at the end, so that you can create a nice Happy Holidays header for your
greeting.)
Greeting Components
The front page of our greeting
contains a graphic of a simple Christmas tree with presents, three linked
buttons, and our heading. All of the elements of the front page are made out
of AutoShapes, with the exception of the heading which is a WordArt element.
The remainder of the
presentation shell is three other slides, placeholders for the following:
- Our Year in Text
- Our Year in Pictures
- Our Wishes for You
Make these placeholder slides
right away, as you will need to reference them when you create the active
buttons in the next to last step of preparing your holiday greeting.
The Tree
The tree is made up of four
types of AutoShapes:
- The main part of the tree is three isosceles triangles
- The trunk is an upside down parallelogram
- The ornaments are circles
- The star is a sun
To make the main section of the
tree, I created a small isosceles triangle and copied it two times. The
first triangle was placed so that it was the top of the tree. The next
triangle was made slightly bigger by using the corners to lengthen and widen
the triangle. It was then placed so that its top point was centered in the
first triangle. The process was repeated with the third triangle, centering
it in the middle triangle. Next, I arranged and colored the three triangles
so that they looked like a tree. I selected the middle triangle, right
clicked, and using the "order" option, sent it to back. This is repeated
with the third triangle, so that it goes clear to the back. Finally, using
the "Format AutoShape" option on the right click menu, I colored the three
triangles as follows:
- Fill for each triangle is a vertical, two color gradient with two
different greens
- Line for each is set to no line
The trunk of the tree is a
small parallelogram, flipped upside down. Color on this is set to a plain
brown, with no line. Once it is flipped and colored, it was moved to the
bottom of the tree and sent to back.
Next up were the ornaments.
First, I created a small circle and colored it. The color used for these is
the preset gradation called "Gold II" with no line. Once the circle was
colored, I copied and pasted it to make about 20 ornaments. I placed these
at random locations on the tree.
The final step of creating the
tree was the star on top. For it, I use the sun AutoShape. This creates a
small sun. However, that sun doesn't look much like a treetop star. To
correct this, I clicked on the sun. A small yellow diamond appears on the
bottom of the shape. Clicking and dragging this diamond changes the
appearance of the AutoShape. In our case, we want to drag it towards the
center of the sun so that it turns into a star. Fill color for this shape is
set to the preset gradation "Silver" with no line. Drag the star to the top
of the tree.
Now that the tree is created,
you will want to make sure that the pieces don't move around as you create
the rest of the greeting. To do this, you need to group all of the parts
together. Using the select tool (the default arrow), draw a large rectangle
which encompasses the entire tree shape. All of the handles for the various
shapes will appear, indicating they are selected. Right click on one of the
shapes, select the "Grouping" option and slide over to "Group". Now the
entire tree is one shape, and you can move it to the center of the page.
The Presents
Now that you are becoming
comfortable with basic AutoShapes, it is time to make the presents. First,
you make the basic present box with the rectangle AutoShape tool. Fill color
on the boxes is the "White Marble" texture, with no line.
Unlike the tree which gets its
body feel from the ornaments and coloring, the 3D effect on the presents is
applied using the 3D button on the draw toolbar. (The 3D button is the far
right one on the tool bar.) To use this tool, select the box you just made
and click on the 3D toolbar. Slide up to the 3D 2 shape. With the shape
still selected, use the "3D options" button to adjust the lighting and angle
to the way you want the boxes to look. The final step on the packages is to
add the ribbons. These are short lines running from one side to the other of
the box, crossing in the middle. Once the present is created, move it under
the tree.
Now, I don't know about you,
but my tree looks pretty bare with only one present. So, copy and paste the
present as many times as you need. Spread them around under the tree until
it looks the way you want.
I recommend repeating the
grouping step you did above, so that the presents are connected to the tree
and the whole graphic moves as one.
The Buttons
Each button is created using
the bevel AutoShape, which is found in the middle of the "Basic Shapes"
list. The fill on the buttons is the gradient "Mahogany", but with a
transparency twist. After you set the fill color, adjust the transparency
bar to a setting of 60%.
To add the text, right click on
the shape and choose "Add Text". Once the text is added, color it with the
default color (white or green works best). Copy, paste, and edit the text
for a total of three buttons. Place them to either side of the tree and
below the tree.
The final step in creating the
buttons is to link them to the appropriate slide. With the button selected,
go to the "Slide Show" menu and select "Action Settings". On the window that
appears, select the radio button for "Hyperlink to". From the drop down,
select "Slide". On the pop up, select the slide with the same title as the
text in the box. Repeat this process with each of the other two buttons and
slides.
The Header
The header on this slide is the
only element on the slide that is not an AutoAhape. Instead, it is created
using the WordArt tool. WordArt elements are created using the button that
looks like a slanted capitol letter "A". When you click the button, you will
get a window with a wide variety of WordArt designs. Selection of one brings
up a screen where you can type in the text you wish used ("Happy Holidays"
in our case). From there, adjustment of the color, style, and angle of the
text is done just as you did with the AutoShapes.
Conclusion
I hope that you enjoyed this
holiday tour of the AutoShape tool. It is a powerful tool, especially for
those of us who don't freehand draw very well. I hope this little lesson
helps your holiday go a little easier!
Kathryn Jacobs,
Microsoft MVP, PowerPoint and OneNote
Get PowerPoint answers at
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Cook anything outdoors with
http://www.outdoorcook.com
Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, parent, and whatever else there is
time for.
I believe life is meant to be lived. But, if we live without
making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived.
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