Introduction

When you want to add objects to your presentations, you can use Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 as a drawing package. PowerPoint offers a wide range of predesigned shapes, line options or freeform tools that allow you to draw, size, and format your own shapes and forms.

You can add three types of drawing objects to your PowerPoint presentationsshapes, lines, and freeforms. Shapes are preset objects, such as stars, circles, or ovals. Lines are simply the straight or curved lines (arcs) that can connect two points or are used as arrows. Freeforms are irregular curves or polygons that you can create as a freehand drawing.

Once you create a drawing object, you can move, resize, nudge, copy or delete it on your slides. You can also change its style, by adding color, creating a fill pattern, rotating it, applying a shadow, or 3-D effect. Take a simple shape and by the time you are done adding various effects, it could become an attractive piece of graphic art for your presentation. If you'd like to use it later, you can save it to the Clip Organizer.

Object placement on your slides is a key factor to all of your hard work. Multiple objects should be grouped if they are to be considered one larger object. Grouping helps you make changes later on, or copy your objects to another slide. PowerPoint has the ability to line up your objects with precisionrulers and guides are part of the alignment process to help you. By grouping and aligning, you are assured that your drawing objects will be accurately placed.