PowerPoint Tips & Tutorials

The Magic of False Backgrounds

Glen Millar, of Glen Millar Communications, introduced this animation/graphics technique at the PowerPoint Live conference. He called it the False Background. It isn't really a false background, but uses the technique of giving an AutoShape (shape, in 2007) the same background as the slide. You can then animate the AutoShape/shape, or layer it, for some stunning results. Follow these steps to set up this technique:

1. Start with a blank layout on an empty slide.
2. To specify a background image, right-click the slide and choose Background. (In PowerPoint 2007, choose Format Background.)
3. Click the drop-down arrow and choose Fill Effect. Click the Picture tab. (In 2007, click the Picture or Texture Fill option.)
4. Click Select Picture, and specify an image for the background. (In 2007, click the File button to specify an image.)
5. Click Apply. (In 2007, click Close.)
6. On the Drawing toolbar, click AutoShapes and insert one of the AutoShapes. (In 2007, click the Insert tab, click Shapes, and insert one of the shapes.)
7. Right-click the AutoShape (shape, in 2007), and choose Format AutoShape (Format Shape in 2007).
8. In the Line section, click the Color drop-down list and choose No Line, to remove the outline. (In 2007, click the Line Color item on the left, and choose No Line.)
9. In the Fill section, click the Color drop-down list and choose Background. (In 2007, click the Fill item on the cleft and choose Slide Background Fill.) This sets the fill of the AutoShape (shape) to the background of the slide. This is the very essence of this technique.
10. Click OK. (In 2007, click Close.) The AutoShape all but disappears, except that it's still selected, so that you can see the handles. Look at the lower-left side of the left slide below for the handles. (In 2007, shown on the right, the shape is clearer, because you also see a bounding box.)

Now, you need to animate the AutoShape (shape) to create the result that you want. Or you can layer it without animation. Here are some ideas. You can probably come up with others.

Technique 1: Zoom In

In this technique, you use the Zoom In emphasis animation to zoom in to a section of the image.

1. In Step 6 above, insert a circle or ellipse and center it over the area of the image that you want to emphasize.
2. Continue with the rest of the steps above.
3. After Step 10 above, with the AutoShape/shape still selected, choose Slide Show> Custom Animation. (In 2007, click the Animations tab and choose Custom Animation.)
4. Choose Add Effect> Emphasis> Grow/Shrink. Leave the default of 150% or choose another option.

Play the animation! You'll see a section zoom in and magnify the image.

See the animation. (Note that capturing the video makes it jerky. It looks a lot smoother in PowerPoint.)

Technique 2: Crop an Object

By layering AutoShapes (shapes), you can create a cropping effect. This effect can be static or animated. This is one of the effects that Glen showed at PowerPoint Live.

1. Before Step 6 above, insert a rectangle that covers the entire slide. It can be opaque, or partially transparent. Remove the outline and choose an appropriate fill color.
2. In Step 6 above, insert the shape that you want to use for the cropping. I used a rounded rectangle. Center it over the area of the image that you want to display. By doing these steps in this order, you'll ensure that the smaller shape is on top of the larger one.
3. If you want, you can animate an entrance for the larger shape covering the entire slide. Here, I used a Fade entrance animation.
4. Continue the rest of the steps to fill the top shape with the background.

See the animation. (Again, in PowerPoint, it looks much smoother.)

Technique 3: Mix Grayscale with Color

Like the previous technique, this one layers shapes. The outside area is grayscale, and the area inside the shape is in color. Glen showed this technique, too. I've left it unanimated.

1. Before Step 6 above, choose Insert> Picture> From File and insert the same image you used for the background. (In 2007, click the Insert tab, and choose Picture.) If necessary, resize it to cover the entire slide.
2. If the Picture toolbar isn't displayed, right-click any toolbar and choose Picture. Click the Color button and choose Grayscale. (In 2007, click the Format tab that appears. In the Adjust group, click Recolor and choose Grayscale in the Color Modes section.)
3. In Step 6 above, insert the shape that you want to use for the cropping. I used a rounded rectangle. Center it over the area of the image that you want to display. By doing these steps in this order, you'll ensure that the smaller shape is on top of the larger image.
4. Continue the rest of the steps to fill the top shape with the background.

Technique 4: Fly In the Image

Glen showed this animation as well. The image is broken up into 4 pieces which fly in and build the image, like a jigsaw puzzle. You can vary the animation effect in any way that you want. You can also add thick outlines around the 4 shapes.

1. For Step 6 above, insert 4 rectangles that together completely cover the slide. Here you see the rectangles with thick outlines to help you see their borders. I then removed the outlines.

3. Continue through the rest of the steps above for eachof the 4 rectangles.
4. Select each rectangle in turn and add the following animation.

• Top-Left rectangle: Fly In from Bottom-Right, On Click. I used the Medium speed.
• Top-Right rectangle: Fly In from Bottom-Left, With Previous, same speed as before
• Bottom-Left rectangle: Fly In from Top-Right, With Previous, same speed
• Bottom-Right rectangle: Fly In from Top-Left, With Previous, same speed

See the animation. Remember that it looks better in PowerPoint. You might expect the rectangles to always display the part of the image that they cover, but they remember their "final home" location, and display that.

Click here to send me a 1-slide presentation using this technique and I'll send you a free e-booklet, "7 Steps to Great Images," from one of my seminars.

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