Fix for Viewer to Show PPT 2007 SmartArt Animations? Add-in?

[BillyZ]

I've created dozens of SmarArt-filled, animated presentations for my classes
and now I've discovered that...

The Viewer rejects all animations within PowerPoint 2007's SmartArt!
Since sequentially revealing elements of SmartArt is one of the most awesome
features in 2007, that is a serious shortcoming!

Microsoft tech support does not seem aware of any real workaround.
You have to abandon all point-by-point sequential animations and just do one
big ugly omnibus reveal of the entire SmartArt. (Article ID : 925892).

Does anybody know of a genuine workaround that does not involve manually
creating thousands of new slides? Or is that an add-in available for
purchase?

Thanks!

 

[Lucy Thomson]

Hi Billy

When you view a 2007 show using an older version or the viewer powerpoint
converts you're smart art to a picture and thus it loses any animation -
very frustrating I know. Especially as you don't find out until it's too
late...

One fix is to copy the object and paste special as an emf onto another slide
then ungroup. You can then animate the individual parts. You can also hide
the original slide so you still have the original smart art in case you want
to make changes to it.

An alternative method is to cover parts of the smart art with autoshapes
with a background fill and give these exit animations.

Neither are ideal I know, but it's better than having no animation at all.

Hope that helps,

Lucy

 

[BillyZ]

Lucy, the ungrouped emf option is an interesting one.
Hate to spend hours dumbing down all these 2007
slides and this find that by September, Microsoft will
have fixed/improved the Viewer so that it can handle
SmartArt animation. Thanks again!

 

[Lucy Thomson]

Hi Billy

I don't work for MS so can't give you a definitive answer but I doubt there
will be a new viewer by September....

Just a thought, but you may want to have a look at animation carbon, a
little add-in that allows you to copy animation from one object to another
and build a library of animations - I find it a real time-saver:
http://skp.mvps.org/ac/index.html

Lucy

 

[BillyZ]

Lucy, LOL, I left out the word "IF"! I'd meant to write that I'd hate
to spend those hours IF Microsoft is going to fix it anytime soon, like
by September. But you are definitely right. I won't hold my breath.

Thanks for the addition tip on the animation library! I'm a weirdo who
never used PowerPoint prior to getting into the 2007 version over the
past month. I'm an old WordPerfect junkie and used WP Presentations.
But I love PPT 2007!

Thanks again, Bill

 

[BillyZ]

Looks like "Animation Carbon" does not yet work with PPT 2007.

 

[Lucy Thomson]

Bummer! Sorry, I use multiple version so often get confused about stuff

Lucy

--
Lucy Thomson
PowerPoint MVP
MOS Master Instructor
www.aneasiertomorrow.com.au

Looks like "Animation Carbon" does not yet work with PPT 2007.

 

[phtar]

I've created dozens of SmarArt-filled, animated presentations for my classes
and now I've discovered that...

The Viewer rejects all animations within PowerPoint 2007's SmartArt!
Since sequentially revealing elements of SmartArt is one of the most awesome
features in 2007, that is a serious shortcoming!

Microsoft tech support does not seem aware of any real workaround.
You have to abandon all point-by-point sequential animations and just do one
big ugly omnibus reveal of the entire SmartArt.  (Article ID : 925892).

Does anybody know of a genuine workaround that does not involve manually
creating thousands of new slides?  Or is that an add-in available for
purchase?

Thanks!

Hi BillyZ,

SmartArt is really the most awesome features in 2007. If you want to
view it you'd better use 2007 version, other older verions are not
support SmartArt. You can download the latest PowerPoint viewer to
view it. If this cannot help you, you can try other add-in such as
PPT2Flash standard (http://www.sameshow.com/powerpoint-to-flash.html)
to convert your presentation to Flash.

The converted Flash will retain all the effects in your presentation,
of course, SmartArt will also be retained. So, you can show the
interactive Flash in your class.

 

[BillyZ]

Thanks for trying to help but your recommendation was entirely wrong.
PPT2Flash Standard does NOT save animations within SmartArt!
Instead, it freezes when confronted with animations within SmartArt.
Maybe it can handle SmartArt that moves as a whole but definitely
not its animated components.