Why can't I zoom in and zoom out in PowerPoint - old or new?

[bobrowen]

With all due respect to the OfficeOne Zoom add-in, that's not it at all
!!

What's needed and obvious, I think, is the simply ability, during a
PowerPoint presentation, to put the cursor arrow over any part of a
graphic or map and click (probably on the scroll wheel) and have the
screen zoom in on that area - then the scroll wheel would control
zooming in or out, and another click would return the view to normal.

I don't get it:

***I went to an Adobe presentation done with a MAC and this kind of
zooming was used with great effect thruout. Hundreds present.

***I saw a West Point officer's presentation on a PC and he did it -
but I believe thru some complex motion paths / animation / effects.
Every search I've done that showed how to create even a klutzy zoom was
bafflingly complicated.

***I downloaded the PowerPoint 2007 beta thinking an easy zoom-in /
zoom-out solution would certainly be there. Can't find it!

The MAC does it. Photodex's CompupicPro does it in Windows. The Army
can do it.

Doesn't that get anyone's juices at Microsoft flowing?

 

[Patrick Schmid]

There is a custom animation called "Grow/Shrink" (Emphasis effect). In
your presentation, click the ones you want to grow on mouse click, and
add that custom animation. Then, when you run the presentation, the
mouse-click will trigger the effect.

What's needed and obvious, I think, is the simply ability, during a
PowerPoint presentation, to put the cursor arrow over any part of a
graphic or map and click (probably on the scroll wheel) and have the
screen zoom in on that area - then the scroll wheel would control
zooming in or out, and another click would return the view to normal.

Use the custom animation. You should know before your presentation which
things you want to show bigger.
If you really need a tool to magnify anything anywhere on the screen
while giving a presentation, look into accessibility tools that provide
magnification.

***I went to an Adobe presentation done with a MAC and this kind of
zooming was used with great effect thruout. Hundreds present.

***I saw a West Point officer's presentation on a PC and he did it -
but I believe thru some complex motion paths / animation / effects.
Every search I've done that showed how to create even a klutzy zoom was
bafflingly complicated.

Sure. They use the custom animation mentioned above and had planned
beforehand exactly which elements to show bigger. Or do you really think
a West Pointer would go into a presentation not having planned it all
out?


Patrick Schmid

 

[bobrowen]

Hi Patrick -

Love your remark about "do you really think a West Pointer would go into a
presentation not having planned it all out?" Actually, most of these are
top-notch men and women, many I found to have (quietly while in uniform)
reservations about others' pre-planning. See my website http://nymas.org and
the article "Breaking Ranks" http://nymas.org/raykimballadvocacy.html by a
prof there.

More to the point about zooming. I played lots with grow / shrink; remember
I said you need to put your cursor arrow over any part of a graphic or map
and click (probably on the scroll wheel) and have the screen zoom in on that
area, not just to the center of the picture.

I gather you can do something like that if you add to your list of steps
layers, motion paths, etc., but then it's like the Photoshop Syndrome: 17
Easy Steps to.... If it's 17 steps, it ain't easy!

You say "You should know before your presentation which things you want to
show bigger." We use PowerPoint 40 times a year and half of each session is
allotted to audience Q&A so we don't know in advance. The point-and-shoot
zooming I was trying to describe is the key to the regular and dramatically
effective use of this feature on the MAC and on Compupic.

 

[Patrick Schmid]

Love your remark about "do you really think a West Pointer would go
into a

presentation not having planned it all out?" Actually, most of these are
top-notch men and women, many I found to have (quietly while in uniform)
reservations about others' pre-planning. See my website http://nymas.org and
the article "Breaking Ranks" http://nymas.org/raykimballadvocacy.html by a
prof there.

Very interesting. I had a chance to visit West Point once for a day and
was thoroughly impressed by the institution, the faculty and the cadets.

You say "You should know before your presentation which things you want to
show bigger." We use PowerPoint 40 times a year and half of each session is
allotted to audience Q&A so we don't know in advance. The point-and-shoot
zooming I was trying to describe is the key to the regular and dramatically
effective use of this feature on the MAC and on Compupic.

Accessible users often need the ability to magnify any part of the
screen so that they can read it. Hence, magnifiers written for such
users might just exactly be what you are looking for. Take a look at the
following magnifiers:
http://www.magnifiers.org/links/Download_Software/Screen_Magnifiers/Windows_Freeware_and_shareware/

Maybe there is one in there that can help you?

Patrick Schmid

 

[bobrowen]

Hi Patrick,

Many thanks for your interest and the follow-ups!

And thanks for the magnifier suggestions: I had already tried several
including the zoom on my new Microsoft Optical Mouse 3000; actually I thought
Power Pointer (http://www.kibase.com/) was the best...but its $30 bucks.

And none of these really do it.

I'm sure everyone who goes to Microsoft with an "improvement" idea is
convinced of the rightness of their suggestion. And I'm afraid I am.

This is so simple, direct and intuitive – and already in the MAC and
elsewhere – I think it would be the most popular and most used feature if
added to PowerPoint 2007. In CompupicPro, you point, scrollmouse click, it
zooms in where you pointed (with some extra image smoothing, I believe);
then, if you move the mouse, it pans around on your graphic, if you scroll it
smoothly zooms in or out; if you touch the left mouse key, all returns to
normal.

What a speaker’s and ppt designer’s dream.

Thanks again for your responses.

Bob Rowen