Using Custom Animation

Custom animation gives you full control over how the objects on your slides are animated. You can not only choose from the full range of animation effects for each object, but you can also specify in what order the objects appear and what sound is associated with their appearance.

Custom Animation: A First Look

A good way to learn about custom animation is to start with an animation preset and analyze it in the Custom Animation pane to see how it works. The following example looks at one of the By First Level Paragraphs presets:

1. Select a slide that contains a title and at least two bullet points.

2. Open the Animate drop-down list on the Animations tab and choose By 1 ^st Level Paragraphs under any of the headings.

3. Click the Custom Animation button on the Animations tab to display the Custom Animation pane, as shown in Figure 18.7.

   
   Figure 18.7: You can view an animation in the Custom Animation pane.

In Figure 18.7, each of the animated items on the slide is numbered in the order in which they will be animated. This animation uses a top-down order; however, you can use the Re-Order arrow buttons at the bottom of the pane to move items around.

In Figure 18.7, the 1 animation is selected in the Custom Animation pane; this represents the first bullet point. From the pane, you can gather the following information:

• The effect is currently set to Modify: Fade.

• The effect will start when you click (On Click). You can tell this both from the value in the Start text box and also from the mouse icon that appears next to it on the list.

• The animation speed is set to Medium.

• There are more animations for the additional bullet points beneath this one, as shown by the double-down arrow in the bar below it.

You can click this double-down arrow to expand the list, as shown in Figure 18.8. Notice that each of the other bullet points has identical animation settings to the first one (because they are all first- level bullet points). To change these settings for only one of the bullet points, leave the list expanded. If you want to change these settings for all of the bullet points, then you must collapse the list first.

Figure 18.8: You can expand the animations list to show the animations for bullet points 1, 2, and 3 individually.

Applying a Custom Animation Effect

Now that you have seen an example of some custom animation, we can assign some animation to a regular slide. You can first create a new slide with a title and a few bullets, or you can remove the animation from an existing slide. The easiest way to remove all of the animation from a slide is to select everything in the Custom Animation task pane and press the Delete key.

Follow these steps to create a new custom animation:

1. Display a slide that currently has no animation.

2. On the Animations tab, click Custom Animation to open the Custom Animation pane.

3. Click the object that you want to animate. This can be the title, a text box containing a bulleted list, a graphic, or any object that you can select.

4. In the pane, click Add Effect. A menu appears, containing four categories of effects: Entrance, Emphasis, Exit, or Motion Paths. This example uses an Entrance effect.

5. A submenu appears, containing effects for that category. Select one of these effects, as shown in Figure 18.9, and then skip to step 7.

   OR Choose More Effects to open the Add Effect dialog box, as shown in Figure 18-10. The exact name of the dialog box depends on the category that you choose. In Figure 18-10, the selected category is Add Entrance Effect.

   Note 

   The menus shown in Figure 18.9 are usage-sensitive; they remember what you chose. If you choose an effect from the dialog box in Figure 18.10, the next time you open the menu in Figure 18.9, the selected effect will appear on the list.

   
   Figure 18.9: You can apply an effect from the Add Effect drop-down menu.

   
   Figure 18.10: When you choose More Effects from the Add Effects submenu in Figure 18.9, the Add Effects dialog box appears, displaying additional choices.

6. If you opened the dialog box in step 5, then make your selection and click OK. The effects are divided into categories according to how dramatic they are, and these categories range from Basic to Exciting. If you select the Preview Effect check box in the dialog box, the effect appears on the slide behind the dialog box.

7. In the Custom Animation pane, open the Start drop-down list and choose when you want the animation to start, as shown in Figure 18.11. You can select one of the following start settings:

   • With Previous: Runs the animation simultaneously with any previous animations on the slide. For example, you can set up two different objects to animate at the same time by setting the second of the two objects to With Previous.

   • After Previous: Runs the animation immediately after the previous animation that is on the slide ends. If there is no previous animation, PowerPoint treats the appearance of the slide as the previous event and runs the animation immediately after the slide appears.

   • With Previous: Runs the animation concurrently with the previous animation, or if there is no previous animation, concurrently with the slide's initial appearance.

   • On Click: Runs the animation when a user clicks the mouse. This is useful when you want to build a slide item-by-item with each click, or for an exit effect.

8. Some animation effects have extra properties that you can set. If the effect that you choose has an extra property, this property appears directly beneath the Start text box. For example, in Figure 18.11, the property is Direction. Make a selection here, if appropriate. If no properties are available, then the Property box is grayed out.

9. Open the Speed drop-down list and choose a speed for the animation.

Figure 18.11: Use the Custom Animation pane's drop-down lists to fine-tune the selected animation.

These steps showed you how to create a simple custom animation. If you want to, feel free to experiment with the custom settings on your own. However, if you still need some more help and ideas, keep reading.

Types of Custom Animation

As mentioned in the preceding steps, there are four categories of custom animation effects. Each effect has a specific purpose, as well as a different icon color:

• Entrance (green): The item's appearance on the slide is animated. Either it does not appear right away when the rest of the slide appears, or it appears in some unusual way (such as flying or fading), or both.

• Emphasis (yellow): The item is already on the slide, and is modified in some way. For example, it may shrink, grow, wiggle, or change color.

• Exit (red): The item disappears from the slide before the slide itself disappears, and you can specify that it does so in some unusual way.

• Motion Paths (gray): The item moves on the slide according to a preset path. Motion paths are discussed later in the chapter.

Within each of these broad categories are a multitude of animations. Although the appearance of the icons may vary, the colors always match the category. For example, Figure 18.10 shows some of the different icons for Entrance effects.

Other effect categories have other choices. For example, the Emphasis category, in addition to motion effects, also has effects that change the color, background, or other attributes of the object. Figure 18.12 shows some of these choices. You may want to try some of them on your own to find out what they do.

Figure 18.12: Emphasis effects have some choices that do not involve motion.

Changing to a Different Animation Effect

If you change your mind about an animation for an object, you do not have to remove the animation and reapply it; you can simply change it. To change to a different animation for an object, do the following:

1. Display the Custom Animation pane.

2. Select the animation effect from the pane-not on the slide-and then click the Change button. The same menus appear as when you originally applied the effect.

3. Select a different animation. You can either choose from the menus or select More Effects to display the dialog box that contains the full selection of effects.

Besides choosing a different animation effect, you can also fine-tune its settings at any time, such as changing its speed or other properties.

Removing an Animation Effect

You can remove the animation for a specific object, or remove all of the animation for the entire slide. When an object is not animated, it simply appears when the slide appears, with no delay. For example, if the title is not animated, the slide background and the title appear first, after which any animation executes for the remaining objects. To remove animation from a specific object, do the following:

1. Display the Custom Animation pane.

2. If the object is part of a group, such as a bulleted list, then expand or collapse the list, depending on the effect that you want to remove. For example, to remove an effect from an entire text box, you must first collapse the list. To remove an effect from only a single paragraph, such as a bulleted item, you must first expand the list.

3. Select the animation effect from the pane, and then click the Remove button or right-click and choose Remove. PowerPoint removes the animation and then renumbers any remaining animation effects.

Assigning Multiple Animation Effects to a Single Object

Some objects might need more than one animation effect. For example, you may want an object to have an Entrance and an Exit effect, or you may want a bulleted list to enter one way and then emphasize each point in a different way.

To assign a new animation effect to an object that is already animated, do the following:

1. On the slide, click the object to which you want to assign the animation. The Custom Animation pane should contain an Add Effect button. If it shows a Change button instead, or if the Add Effect button is unavailable, this means that you have not clicked the object on the slide.

2. Click Add Effect, and then create the new effect just as you did earlier in the section "Applying a Custom Animation Effect."

Note 

Keep in mind that the numbers that appear next to the objects on the slides in Custom Animation do not refer to the objects themselves-they refer to the animations. If an object does not have any animation assigned to it, then it does not have a number. Conversely, if an object has more than one animation effect assigned to it, then it has two or more numbers.

Reordering Animation Effects

By default, animation effects are numbered in the order that you created them. To change this order, do the following:

1. On the Custom Animation pane, click the effect whose position you want to change.

2. Click the Re-Order up- or down-arrow buttons at the bottom of the pane to move the position of the animation in the list.

You can also drag-and-drop items in the animations list to rearrange them. Position the mouse pointer over an object, so that the pointer turns into a double-headed up or down arrow, and then drag the object up or down in the list.

Figure 18.13 shows the same slide as before, but now the bullets are set to animate in reverse order-from the bottom up.

Figure 18.13: You can rearrange animations on the animations list in the Custom Animation pane by dragging them or by using the Re-Order arrow buttons.

Special Animation Options for Text

When you are animating the text in a text box, some extra options become available. For example, in the preceding section, you saw one way to animate the text in reverse-from the bottom up. However, there is a special Reverse option that you can set for a text box that will do this automatically.

You can also choose the grouping that you want to animate. For example, suppose that you have three levels of bullets in the text box, and you want them to be animated with each second-level bullet appearing separately. You can specify the second level as the animation grouping, so that all third-level bullets appear as a group, along with their associated second-level bullet.

To access the text options for an animation effect, do the following:

1. From the Custom Animation pane, click the animation that you want to work with. A down arrow appears to the right of the animation.

2. Click the down arrow and choose Effect Options. A dialog box appears with the name of the animation. For example, Figure 18.14 shows the Fly In dialog box.

   
   Figure 18.14: You can control how text in a text box is animated.

3. Click the Text Animation tab. The Text Animation controls appear, as shown in Figure 18.14.

4. Open the Group Text drop-down list and choose how you want to group the animation. The default setting is By 1st Level Paragraphs.

5. (Optional ) If you want the bullet and its associated bullets to appear automatically, without having to click the mouse again, select the Automatically After check box and then type a delay time in seconds.

6. (Optional) Select the In Reverse Order check box if you want PowerPoint to build the list from the bottom up.

7. Click OK.

Setting Animation Timing

You can adjust the timing settings for an animation. Timing refers to the speed of the effect, the delay before it starts, and how many times it should repeat, if any.

To set timing for a custom animation effect, do the following:

1. On the Custom Animation pane, click the effect whose timing you want to set. A down arrow appears to the right of the effect.

2. Click the down arrow and choose Timing. A dialog box appears, with the Timing tab displayed, as shown in Figure 18.15.

   
   Figure 18.15: You can control the timing of an animation effect in the Timing tab.

3. You can choose from the following settings to control the animation timing:

   • Start is the same as the Start setting in the Custom Animation pane.

   • Delay refers to the amount of delay between the beginning or end of the previous animation and the start of the current animation. For example, if you set the animation effect to After Previous, the delay is the number of seconds between the end of the previous event and the beginning of the animation. If you set the animation effect to With Previous, the delay is the number of seconds between the beginning of the previous event and the beginning of the animation. By default, the delay is set to zero.

   • Speed is the overall speed of the animation. This is the same setting as in the Speed drop-down list in the Custom Animation pane. The choices range from Very Fast (0.5 seconds) to Very Slow (5 seconds). Unlike in the Custom Animation pane, the number of seconds associated with each choice appears on the Timing tab, as shown in Figure 18-15.

   • Repeat is the number of times that the animation should repeat. The default setting is None. You would rarely set a text animation to repeat because this makes it harder for the audience to read (although this effect is useful when you want a graphic to flash until the end of the slide).

     EXPERT TIP 

     You can type any number you want into the Delay, Speed, and Repeat boxes in the dialog box. This is one advantage of using the dialog box rather than the task pane.

   • Rewind when done playing pertains mostly to video clips; this setting is available for animation effects, but you will not see much difference between the on and off settings.

   • Triggers enables you to set up an animation to occur when the user clicks a particular object. This object does not necessarily have to be the object that is being animated. Triggers are discussed in the next section.

4. Click OK when you are done. Then test the new animation settings by clicking Play or Slide Show in the Custom Animation pane.

Setting Animation Event Triggers

Animation event triggers tell PowerPoint when to execute an animation. By default, an animation occurs as part of the normal animation sequence, using whatever settings you have assigned to it, such as On Click, With Previous, or After Previous.

When you set an animation to On Click, the click being referred to is any click. The mouse does not need to be pointing at anything in particular. In fact, pressing a key on the keyboard can serve the same purpose.

If you want an animation effect to occur only when you click something in particular, you can use a trigger to specify this condition. For example, you may have three bullet points on a list, and three photos. If you want each bullet point to appear when you click its corresponding photo, you can animate each bullet point with the graphic object as its trigger.

Caution 

There is a small complication in the preceding example: you can have only one trigger for each object, and in this case, object means the entire text placeholder. Therefore, if you want to animate bullet points separately with separate triggers, then you need to place each of them in a separate text box.

To set up a trigger, do the following:

1. On the Custom Animation pane, click the effect whose timing you want to set. A down arrow appears to the right of the effect name.

2. Open the menu for this effect, as you did in the preceding steps, and choose Timing. The Timing tab appears.

3. Click the Triggers button. The controls for setting up a trigger appear on the Timing tab, as shown in Figure 18.16.

   
   Figure 18.16: You can set a trigger for an animation.

4. Select the Start Effect on Click Of option, and then open the drop-down list and select an object. All of the objects on the slide appear in this list.

5. Click OK.

Caution 

Do not trigger the entrance of an object on click of itself, or there will be no way to make it appear.

Associating Sounds with Animations

You learned about sounds in Chapter 16, including how to associate a sound with an object. However, associating a sound with an animation effect is different because the sound plays when the animation occurs, not necessarily when the object appears or is clicked. By default, animation effects do not have sounds assigned, but you can assign a sound by doing the following:

1. In the Custom Animation pane, select the animation effect to which you want to assign a sound. Then open the drop-down list for the effect, and choose Effect Options.

2. On the Effect tab (Figure 18-17), open the Sound drop-down list and choose a sound. You can choose any of the sounds in the list, or you can choose Other Sound to select a sound file from another location.

   OR

   To make a previously playing sound stop when this animation occurs, choose Stop Previous Sound from the Sound drop-down list.

   Caution 

   The Volume button next to the Sound list appears to let you set a volume for the sound, but it does not work with WAV files, the only type of sound that can be added in this manner, so it is essentially useless. See http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/818226/en-us for more information.

   
   Figure 18.17: You can adjust the volume for an animation in relation to the general volume of the presentation.

3. (Optional) If you want the object to change color or to hide after its animation, then open the After Animation drop-down list and choose one of the following options, as shown in Figure 18.18:

   • A scheme color: You can choose one of the colored squares, which represent each of the current scheme colors.

   • More Colors: Click here to choose a specific color, just as you would for any object.

     For example, you can set text to gray to make it appear dimmed.

   • Don't Dim: This is the default setting; it specifies that PowerPoint should do nothing to the object after animation.

   • Hide After Animation: This setting makes the object disappear immediately after the animation finishes.

   • Hide on Next Mouse Click: This setting makes the object disappear when you click the mouse after the animation has completed. For example, this is useful for showing and then hiding individual bullet points.

   
   Figure 18.18: You can choose a color for the object after animation, or specify that it should be hidden afterwards.

4. If the object contains text, set the Animate Text setting to indicate how the text should be animated. The default setting is All at Once, which makes each paragraph appear as a whole. The alternatives are By Letter or By Word.

   Note 

   The Animate Text setting in step 4 is notthe setting that allows you to specify which bullet points should appear separately on the slide and which should appear as a group. To do this, you can use the Text Animation tab, which is discussed earlier in "Special Animation Options for Text."

5. If you chose By Letter or By Word in step 4, an additional text box appears beneath the first text box. You can type a percentage delay between letters or words. The higher the percentage, the more time between words or letters.

6. Click OK.

Working with Motion Paths

Motion paths enable you to make an object fly onto or off of the slide, and also make it fly around on the slide in a particular motion path! For example, suppose you are showing a map on a slide, and you want to graphically illustrate the route that you took when traveling in that country. You could create a little square, circle, or other AutoShape to represent yourself, and then set up a custom motion path for the shape that traces your route on the map.

Using a Preset Motion Path

PowerPoint comes with dozens of motion paths, in every shape that you can imagine. To choose one of them for an object, follow these steps:

1. Display the Custom Animation pane.

2. Click the object that you want to animate, and then click the Add Effect button. On the menu that appears, choose Motion Path, and then either click one of the paths on the list or choose More Motion Paths.

3. If you choose More Motion Paths, the Add Motion Path dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 18.19. Click the path that you want.

   
   Figure 18.19: You can select a motion path.

   If you select the Preview Effect check box, the effect previews on the slide behind the dialog box; you can drag the dialog box to the side to see the preview more clearly.

4. Click OK. The motion path appears on the slide, adjacent to the object. A green arrow shows where the object will begin, and a dotted line shows the path that it will take, as shown in Figure 18.20. A red arrow shows where the path ends. If it's a closed path you will only see the green arrow.

   
   Figure 18.20: The motion path appears on the slide.

5. (Optional) To change the starting point for the motion path, drag the green arrow. To change the ending point, drag the red arrow.

6. (Optional) You can change any of the settings for the motion path, just as you would for any other custom animation:

   • Change the Speed setting. The default is Medium.

   • Change the Start setting. The default is On Click.

   • Change the path's timing or effects.

7. (Optional) Open the Path drop-down list on the Custom Animation pane and choose any of the following options:

   • Unlocked/Locked: If the path is unlocked and you move the animated object on the slide, the path repositions itself with the object; if the path is locked, then it stays in the same place, even when you move the object on the slide. You can toggle these two options.

   • Edit Points: This option enables you to change the motion path, and is discussed in the next section, Editing a Motion Path.

   • Reverse Path Direction: This option does just what it says: it makes the animation run in the opposite direction.

8. (Optional) Resize or reshape the motion path by dragging its selection handles (the circles around its frame); this is just like resizing any other object.

9. (Optional) Rotate the motion path by dragging the green circle at the top of the path; this is just like rotating any other object.

10. (Optional) Move the motion path by dragging it, or by nudging it with the arrow keys, as you would any object.

Editing a Motion Path

A motion path consists of anchor points with straight lines or curves between them. These points are normally invisible, but you can also display them and change them. To edit a motion path, follow these steps:

1. Select the motion path on the slide (not the object itself).

2. In the Custom Animation pane, open the Path drop-down list and choose Edit Points. (You can also right-click and choose Edit Points.) Small black squares appear around the path.

3. Click one of the black squares; a slightly larger white square appears near it. A line with white squares on either end of the segment is a curve. These white squares are handles that you can drag to modify the point. You can also drag the black square itself; either way will work, although each method affects the path differently. For example, dragging the black square moves the point itself, whereas dragging the handle repositions the curve and leaves the point in place.

4. Drag a square to change the path, as in Figure 18.21.

   
   Figure 18.21: You can edit a motion path by dragging the black or white squares that represent its anchor points.

5. When you are finished editing the path, open the Path drop-down list and choose Edit Points again to turn the editing feature off.

Drawing a Custom Motion Path

If none of the motion paths suit your needs, or if you cannot easily edit them to the way you want, you can create your own motion path. A motion path can be a straight line, a curve, a closed loop, or a freeform scribble.

To draw a custom motion path for an object, follow these steps:

1. With the Custom Animation pane displayed, select the object that you want to move on the slide.

2. Choose Add Effect Motion Paths Draw Custom Path, and then choose the type of path that you want: Line, Curve, Freeform, or Scribble.

3. Drag to draw the path on the slide. Here are some hints:

   • For a Line, drag from the start point to the end point. The start point will have a green arrow, and the end point will have a red one.

   • For a Curve, click at the beginning of the line, and then move the mouse a little and click again to anchor the next point. Keep creating points like this until you have completely defined the curve. Don't draw the entire curve before you click-you need to create interim anchor points along the way. Double-click when you are finished.

   • For a Freeform path, click for each anchor point that you want; straight lines will appear between the anchor points. You can also click and drag to create non-straight lines too. Double-click when you are finished.

   • For a Scribble, the pointer changes to a pencil. Draw on the slide with the mouse button held down. Double-click when you are finished.

4. After drawing the path, edit and fine-tune it as you would any other motion path.

Animating Parts of a Chart

If you create a chart using PowerPoint's charting tool, then you can display the chart all at once or apply a custom animation effect to it. For example, you can make the chart appear by series (divided by legend entries), by category (divided by X-axis points), or by individual element in a series or category. Figures 18.22 and 18.23 show progressions based on series and category.

Figure 18.22: In this progression, the chart is appearing by series.

Figure 18.23: Here, the chart is appearing by category.

Along with making various parts of the chart appear at different times, you can also make them appear using any of the animated techniques that you have already learned, such as flying in, dropping in, fading in, and so on. You can also associate sounds with the parts, and dim them or change them to various colors when the animation is finished.

Note 

When you add an animation effect to a chart, you might notice that a new category appears on the Add Effect menu: Object Actions. Ignore it for the moment and choose a normal animation, such as an Entrance effect. I will explain Object Actions in the section "Layering Animated Objects."

To animate a chart, you must first set up the entire chart to be animated, just as you would any other object on a slide. Then, to set up the chart so that different parts of it are animated separately, do the following:

1. In the Custom Animation pane, select the animation that you want for the chart, and open its menu. Choose Effect Options from the menu.

2. Click the Chart Animation tab. Then open the Group Chart drop-down list and choose an animation option: As One Object, By Series, By Category, By Element in Series, or By Element in Category. An element is an individual data point such as a data bar or slice, as shown in Figure 18.24. Depending on the type of chart and animation effect that you are working with, you may not have all of these options available.

   
   Figure 18.24: You can animate the chart by series, by category, or by individual data points.

3. (Optional) If you also want to animate the grid and legend, select the Start Animation by Drawing the Chart Background check box. If you do not select this option, these items will appear immediately on the slide, and the data bars, slices, or other chart elements will appear separately from them.

4. Click OK to accept the settings. You can then test them.

EXPERT TIP 

You do not have to use the same animation effect for each category or each series of the chart. After you set up the chart to animate each piece individually, individual entries appear for each piece on the list in the Custom Animation pane. You can expand this list and then apply individual settings to each piece. For example, you could have some data bars on a chart fly in from one direction, and other data bars fly in from another direction. You can also reorder the pieces so that the data points build in a different order from the default order.

Controlling Animation Timing with the Advanced Timeline

The animation timeline is a graphical representation of how animated content will appear on the slide. The timeline is covered in Chapter 16, in the discussion about sounds and soundtracks. To turn on the timeline, open the menu for any animation in the Custom Animation pane and choose Show Advanced Timeline. For example, Figure 18.25 shows a timeline for a chart that is animated by category. The timeline is useful because it can tell you the total time involved in all of the animations that you have set up, including any delays that you have built in.

Figure 18.25: The advanced timeline shows how much time is allotted to each animated element on the slide.

You can also use the timeline to create delays between animations and to increase the duration of individual animations. To increase the duration of an item, drag the right side of the red bar representing its length in the Custom Animation pane, as shown in Figure 18.26. Drag the left side of the bar to create a delay between animations. When you drag the bar for an item that is set to After Previous, the other bars also move. However, when you drag the bar for an item that is set to With Previous, PowerPoint allows an overlap.

Figure 18.26: Drag a bar on the timeline to increase or decrease the duration of an individual animation.

Animation Tips

Here are some tips for using animation in your own work:

• Try to use the same animation effect for each slide in a related series of slides. If you want to differentiate one section of the presentation from another, use a different animation effect for the text in each different section.

• If you want to discuss only one bullet point at a time on a slide, set the others to dim or change to a lighter color after animation.

• If you want to obscure an element but you cannot make the animation settings do it the way you want, consider using an AutoShape that is set to the same color fill as your background color and that has no outside border. This shape will appear "invisible" but will obscure whatever is behind it.

• Animate a chart based on the way you want to lead your audience through the data. For example, if each series on your chart shows the sales for a different division and you want to compare one division to another, you can animate by series. If you want to talk about the results of that chart over time rather than by division, you can animate by category, instead.

• If you want to create your own moving graphic but you do not have access to a program that creates animated GIFs, you can build a very simple animation on a slide. Simply create the frames of the animation-three or more drawings that you want to progress through in quick succession. Then, lay them one on top of another on the slide and set the timings so that they play in order. You can adjust the delays and repeats as needed.