Power Point in Video

[Mike Cornett]

I work in government video and we all know what their favorite communication tool is...POWER POINT!

There are so many techniques to properly convert these images to video. I would like to briefly explain some of my techniques so far. I believe there has to be other easier ways to accomplish this.

1- Use a scan converter.
2- Export all images as jpegs then tweak in photoshop (safe area and image color levels, i.e. 255 white to 235 white/0 black to 15 black).
3- Use photoshop to make an action and batch all the files.
4- Actually re-tweak within power point application. Change color level and safe area. Then export as jpeg.

I would love to learn a more efficient and productive way to convert power point presentations. Please throw in your two cents!
-Mike Cornett

[Boyd Ostroff]

Welcome to DVinfo Mike. You might find the following interesting: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=57946

[Mike Cornett]

Well, I tried the the trail version and was impressed. I don't think it will save me any time though. Typically, we are given 30 plus slides that have to be inserted over the final project.

The PPT-100 just captures the screen (beautifully)...meaning I would then have to digitize the captured video and then insert that.

This app would be great for training videos of other applications such as After Effects, Photoshop, etc.

Also, the whites were pushed down to 100, but the blacks were still at 0. That would cause problems since we cablecast.

My computer wasn't beefy enough to get it to run at 30 fps either. So the transitions looked chunky at 5 fps.

I did get another tip. This could be used as a Photoshop action to batch a PPT project.

Start by exporting then from PPT and then import the images into Photoshop, add a motion blur at 90 degrees/2 pixels wide (this increases the 1 pixel thin lines so the graph lines don't jitter), pick the background color (hopefully it's a solid color), then increase the canvas size by half an inch or more (depending on how far they went to the edge), adjust the image levels output to 235 white and 15 black, and save.

In Avid, you can choose to resize the image to fit. So by increasing the canvas size and then import it "to fit"...you create a safe area.

This method would seem to be the winner for inserting many slides at specfic points within the project. It provides a safe image level, creates a safe area for TV, and you can automate it and take that needed Coffee/Mt. Dew break.

Although, we were impressed with the PPT-100 and may purchase to use for training and non- NLE projects in our studio.

Thanks for the tip, I really appreciate it. I would still love to learn other techniques, so keep em comin'.
-Mike

[Nick Jushchyshyn]

Perhaps you could use a computer based screen recorder like Camtasia?
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp