Wednesday, August 20, 2008

iSpring Free 3.5 -- Review Score

We just did a review on iSpring Free 3.5 on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:

Product	iSpring Free 3.5
Evaluation Date	August 21st 2008

Feature	Score	Maximum
Bullets and Bullet Levels	5	5
Animated Bullets	5	5
Pictures (and Picture Rotation)	5	5
Animated Picture	5	5
Picture with Alpha Channel	5	5
Linked Picture	5	5
Clip Art and Clip Art, Recolored	5	5
Clip Art, Animated and Rotated	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines without transparency	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with transparency	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with entry animations	5	5
Overlapping text boxes with transparency	5	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of shapes, arrows and text boxes	5	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of slide objects - alignment	5	5
Text formatting	5	5
Animations and transitions	4	5
Embedded Flash movie	5	5
Linked movie clip	5	5
Background music and transition sounds	3	5
Narration	3	5

Other Scores	Score	Maximum
Interface	7	10
PowerPoint 2007 Support	8	10
Help and Support	6	10
Output	4	10
Price	10	10

Total	130	150
Percentage	86.6	100

Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, ispring, powerpoint, review, score

Friday, August 1, 2008

iSpring Pro 3.5 -- Review Score

We just did a review on iSpring Pro 3.5 on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:

Product	iSpring Pro 3.5
Evaluation Date	August 1st 2008

Feature	Score	Maximum
Bullets and Bullet Levels	5	5
Animated Bullets	5	5
Pictures (and Picture Rotation)		5
Animated Picture	5	5
Picture with Alpha Channel	5	5
Linked Picture	5	5
Clip Art and Clip Art, Recolored	5	5
Clip Art, Animated and Rotated	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines without transparency	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with transparency	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with entry animations	5	5
Overlapping text boxes with transparency	5	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of shapes, arrows and text boxes	5	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of slide objects - alignment	5	5
Text formatting	5	5
Animations and transitions	5	5
Embedded Flash movie	5	5
Linked movie clip	5	5
Background music and transition sounds	3	5
Narration	3	5

Other Scores	Score	Maximum
Interface	9	10
PowerPoint 2007 Support	8	10
Help and Support	7	10
Output	8	10
Price	7	10

Total	135	150
Percentage	90	100

Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, ispring, powerpoint, review, score

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

FlashPoint Pro -- Review Score

Last September, we did a review on FlashPoint Professional on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:

Product	FlashPoint Professional 2.81
Evaluation Date	September 28th 2007

Feature	Score	Maximum
Bullets and Bullet Levels	4	5
Animated Bullets	4	5
Pictures (and Picture Rotation)	4	5
Animated Picture	4	5
Picture with Alpha Channel	3	5
Linked Picture	4	5
Clip Art and Clip Art, Recolored	4	5
Clip Art, Animated and Rotated	4	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines without transparency	4	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with transparency	4	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with entry animations	4	5
Overlapping text boxes with transparency	4	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of shapes, arrows and text boxes	3	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of slide objects - alignment	4	5
Text formatting	4	5
Animations and transitions	3.5	5
Embedded Flash movie	2.5	5
Linked movie clip	5	5
Background music and transition sounds	5	5
Narration	5	5

Other Scores	Score	Maximum
Interface	8	10
PowerPoint 2007 Support	6	10
Help and Support	2	10
Output	8	10
Price	7	10

Total	110	150
Percentage	73.3	100

Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, flashdemo, flashpoint, powerpoint, review, score

FlashPoint -- Review Score

Last September, we did a review on FlashPoint on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:

Product	FlashPoint 2.81
Evaluation Date	September 28th 2007

Feature	Score	Maximum
Bullets and Bullet Levels	4	5
Animated Bullets	4	5
Pictures (and Picture Rotation)	4	5
Animated Picture	4	5
Picture with Alpha Channel	3	5
Linked Picture	4	5
Clip Art and Clip Art, Recolored	4	5
Clip Art, Animated and Rotated	4	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines without transparency	4	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with transparency	4	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with entry animations	4	5
Overlapping text boxes with transparency	4	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of shapes, arrows and text boxes	3	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of slide objects - alignment	4	5
Text formatting	4	5
Animations and transitions	3.5	5
Embedded Flash movie	0	5
Linked movie clip	0	5
Background music and transition sounds	5	5
Narration	5	5

Other Scores	Score	Maximum
Interface	8	10
PowerPoint 2007 Support	6	10
Help and Support	2	10
Output	8	10
Price	9	10

Total	104.5	150
Percentage	69.6	100

Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, flashdemo, flashpoint, powerpoint, review, score

Wondershare PPT2Flash Professional -- Review Score

We recently did a review on Wondershare PPT2Flash Professional on Indezine.com.

This review was based on the FlashPPT Evaluate benchmark presentation -- here are the individual scores:

Product	Wondershare PPT2Flash Professional 5.0.0.14
Review Date	July 10th 2008

Feature	Score	Maximum
Bullets and Bullet Levels	5	5
Animated Bullets	5	5
Pictures (and Picture Rotation)	5	5
Animated Picture	5	5
Picture with Alpha Channel	5	5
Linked Picture	5	5
Clip Art and Clip Art, Recolored	5	5
Clip Art, Animated and Rotated	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines without transparency	4	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with transparency	5	5
Shapes, Fills, and Lines with entry animations	3	5
Overlapping text boxes with transparency	5	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of shapes, arrows and text boxes	5	5
Geometry and mutual positioning of slide objects - alignment	5	5
Text formatting	5	5
Animations and transitions	2	5
Embedded Flash movie	3	5
Linked movie clip	4	5
Background music and transition sounds	5	5
Narration	5	5

Other Scores	Score	Maximum
Interface	7	10
PowerPoint 2007 Support	7	10
Help and Support	3	10
Output	7	10
Price	6	10

Total	118	150
Percentage	78.6	100

Note: All scores are provided by the Indezine test team, and are the opinion of the individual tester -- all results are double-checked and the reviews go through a QC process.

Labels: add-in, evaluate, flash, powerpoint, ppt2flash, review, score, wondershare

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Benchmark Presentation for PowerPoint to Flash Conversion

There are scores of PowerPoint to Flash converters out there, and they all do some things right, and they all have their problem areas. In such a scenario, it's difficult to rank them all. So I decided on a points system, and created a benchmark presentation. This benchmark presentation has 24 slides, and I provide 5 points for each slide for a total of 120 points.

And then I provide another 80 points for:

Program interface (10 points)
Support options (10 points)
Output (10 points)
LMS options (10 points)
Integration with quizzing features (10 points)
Output to a non-Flash format (5 points)
Output to Flash based screen savers and EXEs (5 points)
PowerPoint 2007 compatibility (10 points)
Pricing (10 points)

This gets me the score for the product -- anything up to 200 points. Then I convert this score to percentage points. Watch out soon to see how the different converter products score.

And the benchmark presentation is not available as a free download now, although you can request access through the feedback form...

Labels: add-in, flash, powerpoint

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Converting PowerPoint to Flash with Third Party Products

There are many reasons to attain various ends that people go on the path of converting PowerPoint to Flash. And almost a decade after this started, I have to say that I have found no perfect automated solution!

Many products claim to do this, and some do come quite close to perfection. But if they are suitable for one presentation style or purpose, they may not work out as well in another scenario.

And so the search continues!

On this site, I'm going to explore all these products and share my opinions. And your opinions count even more -- so feel free to comment on all these products. Maybe, we'll find the perfect product!

Watch this blog, and keep commenting.

Labels: add-in, convert, flash, powerpoint

Using FlashBack

In a previous post, I introduced FlashBack -- a PowerPoint add-in that rewinds (and replays) Flash movies in PowerPoint slides.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on using the add-in:

First download FlashBack from here... Next you'll want to install the add-in. Here are detailed step-by-step instructions...
Once you install FlashBack, you'll find a new option in the Tools menu within the PowerPoint interface (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: FlashBack shows in the Tools menu in PowerPoint.
Now place a Flash movie inside PowerPoint, or open a presentation that has an inserted Flash movie that needs the rewinding.
Now choose Tools | FlashBack | Initialize FlashBack (refer to Figure 1 above).
This brings up the Initialize FlashBack dialog box that you can see in Figure 2.

Figure 1: FlashBack options.
Choose one or both of the options provided:

Rewind and play the movie: If you want to just rewind the movie, leave this option unchecked. More often than not, you'll want to leave this checked. Remember, all your Flash movies in all presentations you play get rewound automatically as long as FlashBack is installed. If you don't want that behavior to happen, you'll have to disable FlashBack altogether. Instructions on how you can disable FlashBack can be found here...

Eliminate 'residual' image flashing: The last frame in a Flash movie may provide a flicker when it is rewound. This flicker or flashing may happen when you revisit the slide that contains the Flash movie. If you want a solution for this behavior, check this option.
Click the Initialize button to get back to PowerPoint.

Remember that FlashBack is a machine specific solution, not a presentation specific one. If you want a presentation specific solution, you'll have to use the manual VBA route...

If you use the VBA route, you must first disable FlashBack...

Labels: add-in, flash, flashback, insert, powerpoint

Install and Disable FlashBack

This post will show you how you can download, install, and disable FlashBack, a free PowerPoint add-in that automatically rewinds inserted Flash movies in PowerPoint slides.

First download FlashBack from Shyam Pillai's site...
Next unzip/extract the downloaded files to a location on your computer. Make sure this is not on your Desktop, or any location where you may move or delete files often. Make a note of the location where you extracted the files. Within the folder created, you'll find a file called FlashBack.ppa (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Extracted FlashBack files.
Now launch PowerPoint, and choose Tools | Macros | Security to bring up the Security dialog box that you can see in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Change Security Level to Medium.
If your Security Level is set to High or Very High, change it to Medium. Don't worry about demoting the security level now because you can set the security level higher once you have installed FlashBack.

And if your Security dialog box does not show the Very High option, don't worry -- all versions of PowerPoint don't provide that option.

Click OK to get back to PowerPoint.
Choose Tools | Add-ins to bring up the Add-ins dialog box that you can see in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Your Add-ins dialog box may not be as crowded as mine, but that's not an issue!
Click the Add New... button to bring up the Add New PowerPoint Add-in dialog box that you can see in Figure 4. Navigate to where the FlashBack.ppa file is saved on your computer, select it, and click OK.

Figure 4: Find FlashBack.ppa, and select it.
You might now see a Security Warning dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: The Security Warning box looks a little scary!
Click Enable Macros to get back to the Add-ins dialog box (refer to Figure 3). Click the Close button on this dialog box to get back to PowerPoint.
You should now see the FlashBack option in the Tools menu within PowerPoint (see Figure 6).

Figure 6: FlashBack shows in the Tools menu in PowerPoint.

Note: You may want to change your Macro Security Level back to High or Very High once you finish installing FlashBack.

To see how you can use FlashBack, look here...

Disable FlashBack

You might want to disable FlashBack for a while, especially if you want to rewind your Flash movies manually using VBA. To do that, choose Tools | Add-ins, and uncheck the FlashBack option in the resulting dialog box. Click Close to get back to PowerPoint.

Labels: add-in, flash, flashback, insert, powerpoint

What is FlashBack?

FlashBack is a free PowerPoint add-in from Shyam Pillai, a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP that rewinds a Flash movie so that it plays from the starting frame when shown again in the same presentation. You can learn more about why rewinding is required here...

FlashBack automates a lengthy process that requires some coding in a VBA environment. You can download a free copy of FlashBack from Shyam's site...

Remember though that FlashBack is machine specific, not presentation specific. If you need to add the rewinding code to a presentation that will be distributed, you should use the VBA route...

Learn how to install and disable FlashBack...

And here's information on how you can use FlashBack...

Labels: add-in, flash, flashback, insert, powerpoint, rewind

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