Articles Slide Show:
1) Library
of Congress 85
2) S.F. Examiner MacQuality 85
3) MACazine 85
5) MacGuide 87
With Punch
Macintosh Presentations
Producing a presentation involves the Mac in two ways. First, you can use
it to create charts, illustrations, and other materials with software such
as MacPaint and Microsoft Chart. Second, you can use the machine for the presentation
itself, either by printing out the graphics on paper or acetate or by showing
the graphics interactively on the Mac screen. Self-running "slide show"
programs, such as Slide Show Magician, turn the Macintosh into an electronic
slide projector, flashing picture after picture on the screen. In fact, the
U.S. Library of Congress uses such a setup for a visitor information center.
Show and Tell
The best way to get an audience involved in your presentation is to run it
on the Macintosh. Its high-resolution screen and interactive capabilities
make it a natural show-and-tell performer. Slide Show Magician, from Magnum
Software, allows you to simulate a slide show by displaying MacPaint documents
in sequence.
The program offers a number of Hollywood-style transitions, including fades
and wipes, to vary the way the MacPaint pictures come on screen. For example,
a wipe makes an image enter from one side, filling the screen when it reaches
the other side. A line chart that appears gradually on screen suggests to
the audience that the trends shown developed slowly and not immediately.
You specify the type of transition when you "script" the presentation,
telling the program which MacPaint documents to show and in what order (see
Figure). You can also control how long each picture remains on screen. Your
specifications are stored in a script that you later play back along with
the MacPaint pictures, using the program's Projector application.
Slide Show Magician also helps keep people involved by giving the audience
some control over the show. When you design a presentation, you can add buttons
to the screen that affect slide-projector controls. In addition, the program
lets viewers manipulate the Mac's screen. This feature might add drama to
a presentation that you run for a small audience, but it has limited value
in a self-running presentation.
Magnum's Slide Show Magician lets you control the transitions between MacPaint images. You have a choice of arrow- head, window shade, barndoor, iris, checkerboard, jaws, and Venetian blind wipes, as well as fades and dissolves. You can control the speed of the transitions and the length of time pictures remain on screen.
Slide Show Magician can even run a presentation without you, You can prepare
a disk that, when inserted into the Mac at startup, makes the presentation
automatically, loading and starting any script document that has run at the
end of its name. You must also set the Projector program as the startup application
and make sure the disk has a System file.
When you create a self-running presentation, you may want to grab the audience's
attention the second the computer is turned on. A public-domain program called
Screen Maker, available from most Mac user groups, can be used to change the
"Welcome to Macintosh" message to a MacPaint picture of your choice.
Screen Maker works with Slide Show Magician or any other startup disk.
. . . . . . . . . .. Gordon McComb is a Contributing Editor of Macworld.
To contact us send eMail. ScottMcTyre@MCFIII.COM
