The tips are back! After a long hiatus, we're pleased to offer our Impatica Tips once again. In this edition, we outline the method for adding sound and narration to PowerPoint presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint XP/2003 and offer some useful tips for ensuring your presentations convert smoothly and play faithfully. These are very exciting times here at Impatica. With our new products out on the market, the ideas for future editions of Impatica Tips are coming fast and furious! Stay tuned! Volume 02-01 April 17, 2006 Want to review our previous editions of Impatica Tips? Please visit our archive.   Receive Impatica Tips in your Inbox! You can subscribe and get Impatica Tips monthly.   Your feedback is very important to us! Send your ideas for future editions of Impatica Tips to Impatica Customer Support   Ask the Expert! Do you have a question that's got you stumped? Send your presentation creation and impaticization questions to our resident Impatica experts. Your questions may be featured in a future edition of the tips! Adding Sound to Your Presentation Using Microsoft PowerPoint XP/2003 There are several ways to include narration or other sounds in your PowerPoint presentation. This tip will focus on the method for doing so in a PowerPoint XP/2003 environment. To include sound in your presentation, you can use the following methods: Using the PowerPoint "Record Narration" feature The most popular way to narrate a PowerPoint presentation is to use the Record Narration feature within PowerPoint. This feature is a convenient audio recording tool that does not require additional software. To access this feature, choose the "Slide Show" menu and select "Record Narration". From the Record Narration dialog box, you can set your microphone levels and adjust quality settings. Inserting external sound files on slide transition An effective way to narrate your presentation is to add pre-recorded narration under the "Slide Transition" settings. This is a simple process and is therefore highly recommended. To insert sound within the Slide Transition settings simply click the "Slide Show" menu and select "Slide Transition". click on the "Sound" drop down menu. Select the "Other Sound" option located at the bottom of the list. This will launch the "Add Sound" dialog box, from which you can browse for your pre-recorded sound file on your computer. Inserting external sound files within an animated object An effective way to insert sound into your presentation is to incorporate a pre-recorded sound file within an animated object. Adding a sound file to an animation is a useful tool for easy timing of narration with a specific slide event. Open the "Slide Show" menu, and select "Custom Animation". This will launch the "Custom Animation" setting panel on the right of the PowerPoint slide area. Select the first object that you would like to animate.and click the "Add Effect" button and choose an effect for the selected object from those available in the drop-down box. Once you have chosen an effect, the animated object appears in the Custom Animation timeline area. Right-click the object you wish to add sound to and select the "Effect Options" menu item. This will launch the Effect Options dialog box for the effect that has been applied to the selected object. Select the "Effect" tab. Within the "Effect" tab, you will see a "Sound:" drop-down box which will read "[No Sound]". Click on the drop-down box and select "Other Sound" from the list. This will launch the "Add Sound" dialog box. Inserting external sound files as a media object on the slide A common method for inserting sound in your presentation is to add a pre-recorded sound file as a media object on the slide. This option will result in a speaker icon appearing on each slide. When inserting a sound as a media object, the process is as follows. On the "Insert" menu select "Movies and Sounds" and then "Sound from File". This will launch the "Insert Sound" dialog box. Once you have selected the file from its location, click "OK". The media object sound icon will appear on your slide and a dialog box will read: "How do you want the sound to start in the slide show?" You can answer "Automatically" if you would like the sound file to play automatically when it is animated, or you can answer "When Clicked" if you only want the sound to play when the speaker icon is clicked on by the viewer. Once you have inserted sound into your presentation, there is no need to worry about timing in PowerPoint to get perfectly synchronized presentations. In Impatica for PowerPoint, just use the "Wait for Sound" options on the Media tab to specify exactly how your presentation should be synchronized. Use Wait for Sound "at end of slide" to have slides advance only once the entire sound has been played. Use Wait for Sound "at end of animation" to perfectly synchronize narration inserted on animation effects (i.e. using method #3 above). For more detailed, step-by-step instructions please see our tutorials for adding sound which are available on our website. Reuse Objects In order to facilitate smooth streaming of your presentation, where possible, reuse objects within your PowerPoint file. Impatica for PowerPoint checks for duplicate objects when creating the streaming media file. If exact duplicate objects are detected, the second object is simply replaced by a reference to the first object. However if objects are merely similar, but not exact duplicates, the substitution cannot be made and both objects will be placed in the streaming media file. Converting Unsupported Elements to Pictures This release of Impatica for PowerPoint supports most of the features that are supported by PowerPoint. There are, however, a few formats and features that are not currently supported such as 3D effects. In most cases, these unsupported features can still be used within your impaticized presentation with only a modest amount of additional effort. All you have to do is to convert the unsupported element to a picture prior to conversion. Caution: Make certain that you save a copy of your PowerPoint presentation prior to converting unsupported objects to pictures. Once the objects are converted, you will not be able to make any revisions to the original objects. Here are the steps: Click on the object to select it. From the Edit menu, choose Copy. From the Edit Menu, choose Paste Special. In the Paste Special dialog box, select Picture. Reposition the new Picture on top of the original object. Right click on the new picture to display the Shortcut Menu and choose Order. Select Send to Back. Even though the new picture in now "behind" the original object, it is still selected and visible. Click elsewhere on the slide to de-select the new picture. Click on the picture to select it. This time you will select the original object (the one on "top"). Press Delete. Repeat this process for each unsupported text or graphics format that you wish to incorporate in your impaticized presentation. Then, impaticize your presentation in the normal manner. Alternatively, you could follow the above procedure using Cut from the edit menu instead of Copy. This would allow you to skip steps 6 through 10 above. You would simply reposition your new picture where you want it to appear on the slide. Other useful elements to use this feature with are: 3-D shadows and effects on autoshapes; objects with drop shadows; some WordArt; some stylized lines and arrows. Please refer to the Impatica for PowerPoint User's Manual for a complete list of supported and unsupported items.