2/9/2009 5:32:57 PM

I have some ideas for slide shows which require that text be accurately positioned from one slide to another. Guide/grid lines would be the answer, but I don't think they're available in SSB. Presently, I add a grid PNG with transparent background, position the text, then delete the PNG. Anyone have a better method?

2/9/2009 5:57:36 PM

If you want it in the same position, I start with a clone or copy the object to the new slide.

2/9/2009 8:45:04 PM

Yeh, that works unless you are positioning one word out of a sentence. Then when you remove the excess from the clone, the word you want moves -- I want to place it exactly over the previous location. I don't know whether guidelines and grid lines has been a wish item or not. I searched but didn't come up with anything.

2/10/2009 7:06:57 AM

Is this some sort of fill in the blank? Or something more dramatic?

2/10/2009 7:25:38 AM

Have you tried making that word a separate text object? Getting everything to line up the first time could be tricky but once you have your template nade it should work.

2/10/2009 7:43:08 AM

It is a series of about 10 promises in scripture. Each slide begins with a word or two representing the entire scripture. This initial phrase is bold and a little larger than the rest of the text (which follows). After a few seconds the rest of the scripture fades in around the representative phrase and all zoom in slightly (maybe 10%). Finally all the text disintegrates.
Example text, 1 Cor. 12:27. Each one of you is part of
Christ's body.
So "Christ's body" would be first on screen and then the rest would fill in around that. The initial and final locations of "Christ's body" must be very close to avoid a distracting jump in the presentation. I find this a very effective method in a number of situations.

2/10/2009 8:34:16 AM

Sounds great.

I've had problems doing things like that with Powerpoint, with grids and such. It's just not that exact.

I end up using a solid color background behind the text and putting the text I don't want to see in the background color initially, then copy the object and have it show up in a contrasting color when I want it to appear. That way the spacing of the original visible text was set correctly.

I'm not sure how I'd do it with the 10% zoom and all that. Sound like you need Adobe After Effects.

2/10/2009 12:53:35 PM

Joel, I can do what I want, but it's messy. I made a couple of grids (one white and one black) on transparent backgrounds. I add one of those to the slide with all the text and then clone it and remove the unwanted text. Next, I position the 2nd slide (with all the text) so that the outstanding word(s) is on convenient grids marks. Then go to the first slide (with just the key word) and position it exactly as on the 2nd slide. I can then delete the grids and add motions, etc. In order to get the text to dissolve, I add a separate text box with a single letter which I make transparent. There's a lot of stuff along these lines I wish for --- but all in good time?

2/10/2009 6:23:13 PM

The best I can tell you is to use the object properties to set the top and bottom of each object to the same level, layer each word (in its own object) under the word in the full phrase, and tweak the left a little at a time - as you check the live display. It takes a while but it is how I created this.
http://www.iamgap.com/welcome.ssppak

2/10/2009 6:53:17 PM

iamgap,
Thanks for the suggestions and the example. I find that the use of an over-laying grid is very helpful and eliminates a lot of going back and forth trying to get the locations just right. That's especially true in my case where the word on the first slide must exactly match the position of the word on the next slide. If SSB had grid-lines it would be even better since there would be no chance of the grid itself moving from one slide to another.

2/11/2009 4:10:56 PM

Unfortunately, I have found that a grid doesn't always work. If the Screen resolution changes, it somehow changes how SSB displays the object. When I changed my output from 800x600, to match the resolution settings of the video switch, it changed the alignment of the words. I then had to go back and tweak the alignment. Also... If you copy the slide I attached to a new SSB, the alignment is all off again.

I don't know if the is a product of SSB now using percentages or not, but I don't remeber having this problem when you could actually set pixel locations for object positions.

2/11/2009 4:23:49 PM

iamgap, unfortunately you are exactly right. When took my accurately positioned text slides to the projection computer, they were no longer registered correctly -- close, but not good enough. It is strange (to me) that when a slide is cloned, changed slightly, and then registered with the original that it would be "un-registered" on another machine.

4/7/2009 8:01:42 AM

I submitted a wish about this, but it is waiting for updated software in "wish heaven," so I thought I would show an example of what I would like to do in hopes that someone might have a way to get it done with the present edition.

I saw this at my daughter's church and am guessing it was done with AfterEffects, but not sure. This is just one clip from about a dozen or so -- I thought is was a very effective technique with music playing in the background. I can get everything done (up to the exploding text), but can't find a way to register the text accurately.
Any suggestions??

CLIP

4/7/2009 8:15:50 AM

I'd bet that is AfterEffects, although you can do some of that with Flash.

SwishMax is a low cost Flash animator with some interesting effects and a free trial.

And SSP will show flash animations (SWF) with the flash module installed.

4/7/2009 9:55:05 AM

It looks like $100 to me .... that's past my "low cost" limit.

4/7/2009 10:14:44 AM

Sure enough. It was the upgrade that was only $30. The bare bones version used to be $35 or so, but I guess that was years ago.

And back then, $35 was beyond my definition of "low cost"

4/7/2009 12:05:28 PM

I'm working on doing it with BluffTitler, but it would be so much easier in SSB if only we could count on the positioning to be accurate when fading in one image over another. I was hoping someone had discovered the "magic" of doing that.

5/1/2009 11:13:24 AM

Just installed the trial version of "Atrise Golden Section", turned it to a standard grid, and set transparency.  It looks like it will work great in laying out items.  It's shareware ($19.95 I think).

www.atrise.com

5/1/2009 12:05:07 PM

Ffunky, thanks for info. Will this work with SSB? I'm going to look into it myself.

5/1/2009 12:17:21 PM

I just looked over (briefly) this software. It looks like it is nice for positioning items on one page, but my problem is positioning the same text on two (or more) pages so that the text doesn't "move" from page to page. I can position text perfectly with my own grid system, but when it is projected, there are small, but very noticeable, shifts in the text position from slide to slide. It seems to be something to do with SSB/SSP. As an example, you can put a dot or period at the very same location on two slides which have other text and/or backgrounds and when they are shown, one after the other, the period will be in slightly different locations.