Applying Slide Transitions

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Slide transitions are a good way to add visual interest when you change slides. They also serve as a cue for the audience to reinforce the fact that you are changing slides; if someone isn't paying particularly close attention, that flash of motion will often help them refocus on your slideshow.

All slide transitions involve an animated effect where the first, old slide (which I will refer to in this chapter as Slide A) is replaced by the second, new slide (you guessed it, Slide B). Keynote provides 23 built-in transition styles, plus None. Eighteen of them are 2-D transitions, where one slide replaces another in the same plane. For example, Slide A can dissolve into Slide B. Five of the transitions are 3-D transitions, where Slide A is replaced by Slide B with an effect that appears to occur out of the plane of the slides. An example of this is the Flip effect, where the slide spins 180 degrees on its vertical or horizontal axis, revealing the next slide. All of the transitions are detailed in Table 9.1 .

Table 9.1. Slide Transition Styles

T RANSITION

T RANSITION TYPE

D ESCRIPTION NAME

 

None

The default choice; Slide A switches to Slide B with no intervening effect.

3-D

Cube

Slides appear to be the sides of a rotating cube. Slide A turns off screen as Slide B turns onto the screen.

Flip

Slide A spins on its vertical or horizontal axis, revealing Slide B on the "back" side.

Mosaic Large

Like Flip, but built of many smaller tiles that flip over, revealing Slide B. The effect sweeps over the slide.

Mosaic Small

A version of Mosaic Large, using smaller tiles.

Page Flip

Slide A appears to peel away from Slide B, turning like a page in a book.

2-D

Burn

Slide A appears to burn away, revealing Slide B.

Dissolve

A cross-dissolve to Slide B. Slide A fades out as Slice B fades in.

Drop

Slide B drops in over Slide A, with a bounce effect.

Droplet

Slide A dissolves to Slide B, with a watery rippling effect from the center of the screen.

Fade through Black

The screen fades to black over Slide A, then comes up from black to show Slide B.

Falling Tiles

Slide A breaks into square tiles, which fly off-screen , revealing Slide B.

Flash

A bright light flashes from screen center, fading to reveal Slide B.

Grid

Slide A recedes, showing a black grid with slides, then pans and zooms into Slide B.

Iris

A soft-edged circle wipe from Slide A to B.

Motion Dissolve

Slide A gets bigger, appearing to zoom off the screen and fade away, as Slide B zooms onto the screen and fades in.

Move In

Slide B slides over to cover Slide A.

Pivot

Slide B pivots from one of the slide's corners to cover Slide A.

Push

Slide B enters and appears to push Slide A off of the screen.

Radial

Think of a radar screen's sweep.

Reveal

Slide A slides off the screen, revealing Slide B underneath.

Scale

Similar to Motion Dissolve, this transition zooms only one of the slides as it fades between the two.

Twirl

Like the spinning newspaper effect in old movies. Slide A spins around its center and recedes into a black background, then is replaced by a spinning Slide B that zooms to fill the screen.

Wipe

Slide B sweeps over Slide A, with a soft edge.


You apply transitions using the Slide Navigator and the Transition tab of the Slide Inspector ( Figure 9.1 ). You can set a transition between any two or more slides (they must be contiguous in the Slide Navigator, of course). Many transitions have options that you can set to adjust the look of the effect. For example, you can set a wipe transition to move from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, or bottom to top. You can also control (to a point) the speed of a transition.

Figure 9.1. The Slide Inspector is where you'll set transitions between slides. You can set the type of transition, its direction, and its speed.


To apply a slide transition

1.
If necessary, display the Slide Navigator by choosing View > Navigator.

The Slide Navigator appears.

2.
If the Inspector window isn't open , click the Inspector button in the toolbar, then click the Slide button in the Inspector's button bar to display the Slide Inspector. Then click the Transition tab.

3.
Click a slide in the Slide Navigator to select it.

(Optional) If you want to apply the transition to more than one slide, after you click the first slide, hold down the Shift key and click the last slide. All of the selected slides will highlight in the Slide Navigator.

4.
From the Transition pop-up menu in the Slide Inspector ( Figure 9.2 ), choose the transition style you want.

Figure 9.2. Choose the transition style you want from the Transition pop-up menu, which is split into 3-D and 2-D transitions.


After you choose a transition, Keynote displays a thumbnail preview of the transition in the Slide Inspector's preview area.

5.
Some transitions can be set to move in a direction that you specify. If the transition you have selected allows you to do this, choose a direction from the Direction pop-up menu ( Figure 9.3 ).

Figure 9.3. The Direction pop-up menu lets you choose which way the slide transition will move (for those transitions that support direction).


The directions listed in this pop-up menu will change, depending on the transition style you have selected. If the style doesn't support a direction, the menu will be inactive.

6.
Enter how long the transition takes in seconds in the Duration field.

Slides with transitions appear in the Slide Navigator with a small blue triangle in the lower-right corner, as in Figure 9.4 .

Figure 9.4. You can tell which slides have transitions in the Slide Navigator by the little blue triangle in the slide thumbnail's lower-right corner.


7.
From the Start Transition pop-up menu, choose On Click if you want to trigger the transition manually while running the presentation.

or

Choose Automatically if you want the transition to occur by itself. You must also set the Delay in seconds; this specifies how long the slide will stay on the screen before triggering the transition.

Tips

  • You can use slide transitions to communicate different types of information or to denote sections in your presentation. For example, you can use a transition to signify that you're moving to an entirely different topic in your presentation. Let's say that you have a presentation with three distinct sections. You can use no transitions between the slides in each section, and use transitions only between slides at the end of one section and the beginning of the next.

  • You can set a transition duration to take as long as 60 seconds.

  • The maximum delay for an automatic transition is 600 seconds (10 minutes, which would make for a pretty languid slideshow).

  • Keynote doesn't allow you to create your own transition styles. You are limited to the ones that come with the program. Perhaps future versions of Keynote will allow third-party developers to produce custom transitions, such as those developed for iMovie.


Less Really Is More

When it comes to slide transitions, restraint really should be the order of the day. Chances are you've seen presentations where presenters used way too many transitions and animated effects. Did you like them? No? That's what I thought.

Too-busy slide transitions and animations of objects on the slide can easily distract the audience from the content of your presentation. Make sure not to overdo them, or you might find your audience slipping out of the room before your talk is over—which is not the sign of a successful presentation. Too much swooping and spinning can even make some audience members nauseous!


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Keynote 2 for Mac OS X. Visual QuickStart Guide
Keynote 2 for Mac OS X. Visual QuickStart Guide
ISBN: 321197755
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 179

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