Techknowledgy Newsletter February 2006

	Techknowledgy Newsletter Ralph Tolbert e-Mail: Tolbert@wneo.org February 2006 Downsize Me! Techknowledgy Newsletter Articles

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Santa left a you new digital camera and you want to create a PowerPoint show featuring student activities. Follow the steps below to create a presentation that isn't bogged down with large file sizes.
In PowerPoint, select the Insert Menu and choose: Picture > From File if you have already transferred the images from your camera to the hard drive or Picture > From Scanner or Camera if you have the camera connected to PC.
The image appears and fills the entire slide and more because you set the camera to shoot at the highest resolution (1024 up to 2272 pixels wide). This is good since you should always use the highest quality setting when you take a picture; you can always downsize an image without losing quality, but upsizing a small photo creates pixilated images.
The hard way is to click-drag on the image until one of the resize handles appear, then push in to make the image smaller. The easy way to resize the image so it fits on the slide is to right-click on the image and select Format Picture, then select the Size Tab. Return to Top of Page
Choose the image size by actual dimensions for either height or width or enter a per cent for scale ( Be sure to check the Lock Aspect Ratio box so the image is scaled proportionally), and preview, click OK. The resized image can be repositioned on the slide by dragging it to the position you want on the slide. PowerPoint should be in slide view, rather than slide Arrange or Presentation View. You can also specify a rotation for the photo in this window.
Click on the photo to select the image and under the View Menu, be sure the Picture Toolbar is checked. The next steps will use two tools from the Picture Toolbar.
Click the tool for Cropping pictures if there are areas of the photo that can be cropped or thrown away. Cropping also emphasizes the important areas of the image. Return to Top of Page
Click the tool to Compress pictures, the square with four arrows pointing inward. Resizing an image does not make the filesize smaller only the screen size. Compressing an image will reduce the filesize.
To make the file size smaller, change the resolution to Web/Screen (96 DPI) if slides are not going to be printed. Under Options, select both Compress pictures and Delete cropped areas. Now your presentations will not be bogged down by images with large file sizes. You can apply this compression to Selected pictures or All pictures in your Document (presentation).
The first time you compress an image you will be notified that the quality of your photo may be reduced, Click Apply. The screen resolution is not affected only the print quality of your slides. Cancel only if you want a better print quality.

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Windows Movie Maker users can gain added features by installing Windows Service Pack 2, then search Microsoft.com for Movie Maker Creativity Pack.

www.sounddogs.com free samples of sound clips and a variety that can be purchased.

www.dvcamerarigs.com shows how to build camera dollies and more.