Impress

Prepared by Colin Charles

byte@aeon.com.my

http://www.bytebot.net/

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Full legal license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/legalcode

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If you would like to use this for commercial purposes, please write to Colin Charles, at

byte@aeon.com.my or at PO BOX 8188, Monash University LPO, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia.

Quick Start

File -> New -> Presentation

AutoPilot starts

Tools -> Options

Configure Presentations

measurement units, grid setup

Tools -> Configure

whats on the status/function bar

Getting around Impress

Slide

View

Master

View

Layer

View

Slide

navigation

Presentation

menu to to

common tasks

quickly

Start

Slide show

Handout view

Notes view

Slide view

Outline view

Drawing view

Drag & drop between presentations

Quick jump

to slides

Access to all

currently

open Impress

documents

Using a Writer document

Creates simple no-frills presentations

Must apply Styles to Writer document

File -> Send -> Outline to Presentation

File -> Send -> AutoAbstract to Presentation

more control, including levels of styles

Appears in Outline View – change to Drawing to edit

Templates

Keeps consistency within presentations

File -> Save As (Presentation Template)

Naming a template:

File -> Properties

Give it a name under the Description tab

File -> Templates

Effective Master View usage

View -> Master -> Drawing

Add logos, text, etc... that will appear on each and every slide

View -> Master -> Notes

Input notes; control size of printable notes

View -> Master -> Handout

2/4/6-up handout views, as well as applying page settings (for print-outs)

Layers

In Drawing view, View -> Layer

Right click the blank area, then insert Layer

Slide view

Layer view

Rolling a presentation

Insert Slide gives options for layouts

Showing/Hiding slides

Be in Slide View; right click slide and the option is Show/Hide Slide

Summary slides

Insert -> Summary Slide

Promoting/demoting is done from the toolbar

Promote/Demote

Move Up/Down

Jazzing it up

Use FontWorks (covered in Draw)

Change fonts to your preference (Master View, for both drawing & notes)

Add charts, objects, video, etc...!

Various Insert menu

options (remote left being

the Gnome icon set, while

the other is the “normal”

OpenOffice.org icon set.

Effects: Bullet Points (one-by-one)

Click at the first bullet point

Click the Effects icon

Select Other, then click as in diagram

Then tick the green tick

Tick to apply

changes

Effects: Slide Transition

Effects

Text Effects

Extras

Order

Preview

Many available

pre-selectable

events

Execution

speed

Custom Presentations

Slide Show -> Custom Slide Show

Give it a name, select slides & order

Show it via the Custom Slide Show pop-up

Notes & Handouts

Notes View

Handout View

Flash & Others

Can give a web presentation – so you don't even need Impress

File -> Export

Click to select Macromedia Flash (SWF)

Automatic Presentation Timing – Slide Show -> Rehearse Timings

Control how a presentation is done

Slide Show -> Slide Show Settings

Printing

Handouts...for printing

If exporting to PDF's, the PDF Converter is necessary

Printing in gray scale is probably more economical

File -> Print -> Options

Thank You!

Colin Charles

byte@aeon.com.my

http://www.bytebot.net/

Screenshot © Erwin Tenhumberg,erwin.tenhumberg@Sun.COM

You are free:

to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work

to make derivative works

And...

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.

Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the author.

File Format Compatibility

StarImpress and PowerPoint are the two basic file formats supported (reading/writing).

Exporting to a web presentation in HTML, PDF's, or even a Macromedia Flash presentation.

If dealing with PowerPoint files (extension .ppt), save it as an Impress file first; some of the options aren't available if it isn't in its native format.

Exercise: Use the AutoPilot presentation

Since the AutoPilot starts when you start Impress (by default), make use of it an create your first presentation.

Use one of the existing templates (its limited, yes!).

Add effects if you must, insert the relevant data that the template asks for (like company name, etc...), and watch your presentation being created!

Change bullet style – Format -> Numbering/Bullets.

Change the font – Format -> Character.

Make slide titles a certain color and bold them (or apply a standard style) – Click the Master View and make your edits there.

Modify slide layout – Format -> Modify Layout

The Navigator is rather interesting isn't it? It allows importing of slides from presentation to presentation (drag & drop between files). It also allows you to move from slide to slide, or jump within slides in the presentation. If each slide is titled properly, things become so much more convenient.

Views

Drawing View – default when you start Impress. Most of your time is spent here!

Outline View – shows an outline of how the presentation looks. Can expand and contract heading levels.

Slide View – shows a bird's eye view of the presentation, basically to change, add, or delete slides, or how progress is made from one slide to the other.

Notes View – Speaker notes can be added here, and they can be printed as well.

Layers within slides come in handy for creating organization charts (separate the student body from the staff body for instance).

You can't delete or rename the default layers, but you can hide them. Every layer is included in all slides, there are no slide specific layers.

When inserting a new slide, giving it a name is always a good idea (rather than it being Slide <number>).

Notice that a description is also provided for each AutoLayout.

For summary slides, you need to be in Drawing view.

Summary Slides are useful sometimes, but they end up being so large (i.e. They can't fit within the slide itself!), they don't seem to be all that great. You can't update a summary slide, so you have to recreate it. It's always placed at the end of your slide show. Try it!

Items you can insert:

Charts

Formulas (from Math)

Floating Frames

OLE Objects (mainly different components of OpenOffice.org in Linux, but in Windows, this is greatly different)

Plugin's

Java applets (yes, even with its speed – you need Java in your path for this)

Calc spreadsheets

Files

Graphics

Sound

Video, needs macro control on Linux boxes.

Exercise: Inserting items

Surf the Internet, an insert something! Be it video, images, a sound file, or even a Java applet if you're adventurous.

A note about linking: linking may make file sizes smaller, but really, they're not all that good! If the file moves location, there goes a broken link and your presentation will not look as planned.

Exercise: Perform slide transition effects

Switch to Slide view.

Select the slide you want to have effects.

Slide Show -> Slide Transition.

Choose an effect. You can choose an appropriate sound to accompany the effect.

Apply it by clicking the green tick.

Preview it (if you want) – View -> Preview.

You have now created a slide transition!

With Effects, you can add sound files among other interesting things.

Text Effects themselves show if text needs to fly-in and their appropriate directions, and so forth.

Order comes in handy so you know the order of your effects.

Ticking Use custom slide show enables a custom slide show to run.

You can have many custom slide shows, and is great when you make a “huge” presentation.

To create notes, switch to Notes view, make sure the point size is correct (Format -> Character works), and enter your notes.

These are not like a “Speaker's Notes” feature – they do not appear while you're giving the presentation.

For handouts, use the Handout view. To configure the number of slides per page, Format -> Modify Layout will allow you to have many choices.

Format -> Page will allow you to change from landscape printing (default) to portrait printing.

If you're looking for what PowerPoint tends to have, a portrait based page, with 3-slides on the left hand column, and just plain lines on the right hand column, Impress does not have this feature. There are however, workarounds, including drawing the lines.

File -> Export allows you to export the presentation as a HTML document, PDF file, or even a Flash file.

Colin Charles

2004-02-22T21:28:58

Colin Charles