J
John Wilmet
Based on feedback from the group, here are some more details regarding my
use of OfficeFX last week.
Hardware:
This is something that several posters have brought up: OfficeFX will only
run well on some systems, and if yours qualifies, you'll like the results.
If your hardware is below what OfficeFX needs, it will either not run at
all, or will look totally lame.
For the presentation last week, we were using a desktop system with an ATI
graphics card (sorry, don't remember which, and I'm not on site right now).
That ran really well. I developed most of the presentation on a new
notebook with a Core Duo processor and Intel graphics. That worked OK, but
was definitely not as fast or as smooth as the desktop system.
For completeness, I tried running OfficeFX on an older notebook
(Centrino-based, with Intel graphics) and the result was useless. On the
flip side, a co-worker has powerful notebook with Nvidia graphics and
OfficeFX looked great (and I was jealous).
So, clearly your mileage will vary based on your hardware, and if you plan
to present using a different machine (like a shared machine at a
multi-speaker conference), you'd better make sure the presentation computer
has the required power ahead of time.
Software:
Sorry if this seems superficial, but OfficeFX is a bit odd in the following
way: Even though the presentation graphics look fabulous, and it's clearly
"leading edge" in many ways, the authoring UI looks very dated and the
juxtaposition took some getting used to. That said, once I got used to
using OfficeFX, I found the UI and workflow were pretty simple, quick, and
efficient.
Basically, you use PowerPoint to add content, build animations, and add
timings, as usual. You then bring up the OfficeFX dialog to add 3D moving
backgrounds, TV-like transitions, and more advanced things like 3D objects
and interactive 3D video display (with the Pro version). When you save your
PPT file, all OfficeFX data is preserved. There are no other files to
manage, and your PPT file continues to work in ordinary PowerPoint the same
as it worked before. Someone told me their PPT file got larger, and I
suppose mine did too (since the extra data has to take up some space), but I
didn't notice any big difference.
OfficeFX follows most of PowerPoint's animation, timings, layouts etc. (The
docs have a complete list of what's supported and what isn't.) You can
choose to have OfficeFX use the colors you chose in PPT, or use its own
colors (for text, etc) based on the moving background that is selected.
Text can appear in 3D (like block letters) or 2D. 3D seems good for
emphasis, but I preferred to just stick with 2D text.
Since I was a newbie at OfficeFX, I think I went a bit overboard with the
backgrounds and transitions. Someone on this group suggested (I'm
paraphrasing) that I use them more as a spice than as the main course.
That's good advice. In fact, I've been in e-mail with another OfficeFX user
who said she often just uses her standard Slide Masters for backgrounds
(meaning no 3D moving backgrounds) but then uses OfficeFX for transitions
and 3D video across slides. I just played with this idea and it worked
great, so I think I may do that next time around. (Trick: you can put a
partially transparent PNG file on your slide master to so that the
underlying 3D effects pop through subtly only in specified regions. That
makes OfficeFX look like many cable news channels.)
OK, this is getting too long. Perhaps it would be better on the OfficeFX
forum (once that is up and running), since this may not have general appeal.
(Note to other OfficeFX users: please feel free to ask me more detailed
questions or offer more tips and advice, either in this group or privately.
Thanks.)
John
use of OfficeFX last week.
Hardware:
This is something that several posters have brought up: OfficeFX will only
run well on some systems, and if yours qualifies, you'll like the results.
If your hardware is below what OfficeFX needs, it will either not run at
all, or will look totally lame.
For the presentation last week, we were using a desktop system with an ATI
graphics card (sorry, don't remember which, and I'm not on site right now).
That ran really well. I developed most of the presentation on a new
notebook with a Core Duo processor and Intel graphics. That worked OK, but
was definitely not as fast or as smooth as the desktop system.
For completeness, I tried running OfficeFX on an older notebook
(Centrino-based, with Intel graphics) and the result was useless. On the
flip side, a co-worker has powerful notebook with Nvidia graphics and
OfficeFX looked great (and I was jealous).
So, clearly your mileage will vary based on your hardware, and if you plan
to present using a different machine (like a shared machine at a
multi-speaker conference), you'd better make sure the presentation computer
has the required power ahead of time.
Software:
Sorry if this seems superficial, but OfficeFX is a bit odd in the following
way: Even though the presentation graphics look fabulous, and it's clearly
"leading edge" in many ways, the authoring UI looks very dated and the
juxtaposition took some getting used to. That said, once I got used to
using OfficeFX, I found the UI and workflow were pretty simple, quick, and
efficient.
Basically, you use PowerPoint to add content, build animations, and add
timings, as usual. You then bring up the OfficeFX dialog to add 3D moving
backgrounds, TV-like transitions, and more advanced things like 3D objects
and interactive 3D video display (with the Pro version). When you save your
PPT file, all OfficeFX data is preserved. There are no other files to
manage, and your PPT file continues to work in ordinary PowerPoint the same
as it worked before. Someone told me their PPT file got larger, and I
suppose mine did too (since the extra data has to take up some space), but I
didn't notice any big difference.
OfficeFX follows most of PowerPoint's animation, timings, layouts etc. (The
docs have a complete list of what's supported and what isn't.) You can
choose to have OfficeFX use the colors you chose in PPT, or use its own
colors (for text, etc) based on the moving background that is selected.
Text can appear in 3D (like block letters) or 2D. 3D seems good for
emphasis, but I preferred to just stick with 2D text.
Since I was a newbie at OfficeFX, I think I went a bit overboard with the
backgrounds and transitions. Someone on this group suggested (I'm
paraphrasing) that I use them more as a spice than as the main course.
That's good advice. In fact, I've been in e-mail with another OfficeFX user
who said she often just uses her standard Slide Masters for backgrounds
(meaning no 3D moving backgrounds) but then uses OfficeFX for transitions
and 3D video across slides. I just played with this idea and it worked
great, so I think I may do that next time around. (Trick: you can put a
partially transparent PNG file on your slide master to so that the
underlying 3D effects pop through subtly only in specified regions. That
makes OfficeFX look like many cable news channels.)
OK, this is getting too long. Perhaps it would be better on the OfficeFX
forum (once that is up and running), since this may not have general appeal.
(Note to other OfficeFX users: please feel free to ask me more detailed
questions or offer more tips and advice, either in this group or privately.
Thanks.)
John