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background color in a presentation



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 20th, 2009, 10:03 AM
Neron Neron is offline
Experienced Member
 
First recorded activity by OfficeFrustration: Jul 2005
Posts: 34
Default background color in a presentation

Hi all,

I was wondering...
Is it possible to change the background color per slide of a presentation?
For exemple: the backgroundcolor of the first slide needs to be black, the background color of the last slide needs to be white.
Thus, the slides in between should have a "gradient" change from dark to light, but the number of slides can vary, so I don't know the exact color of the background per slide.
If there anyone who can help me on this one?

Greetz,

Bert
  #2  
Old January 20th, 2009, 11:57 AM posted to microsoft.public.powerpoint
Ute Simon
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 159
Default background color in a presentation

I was wondering...
Is it possible to change the background color per slide of a
presentation?
For exemple: the backgroundcolor of the first slide needs to be black,
the background color of the last slide needs to be white.
Thus, the slides in between should have a "gradient" change from dark
to light, but the number of slides can vary, so I don't know the exact
color of the background per slide.
If there anyone who can help me on this one?


Hi Bert,

there is no automatic setting for this. If you do not want to do it manually
for every slide, you will need a VBA macro to calculate and change the
colors. Are you able to do any programming yourself?

If I imagine myself sitting in the audience of this presentation, I think I
would be irritated by changing colors. You must have a very good reason to
do that.

Best regards,
Ute


  #3  
Old January 20th, 2009, 12:01 PM posted to microsoft.public.powerpoint
Bill Dilworth
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,455
Default background color in a presentation

This could be done with a simple VBA routine to "count" the slides, then
adjust the color scale for each RGB value to the fraction of the
presentation, then apply it to the slide background (not the template).

You would just need to run the routine whenever the number or location of
slides changed.

Do you code? Do you code VBA? Do you code PowerPoint VBA?

Bill Dilworth


"Neron" wrote in message
...

Hi all,

I was wondering...
Is it possible to change the background color per slide of a
presentation?
For exemple: the backgroundcolor of the first slide needs to be black,
the background color of the last slide needs to be white.
Thus, the slides in between should have a "gradient" change from dark
to light, but the number of slides can vary, so I don't know the exact
color of the background per slide.
If there anyone who can help me on this one?

Greetz,

Bert




--
Neron



  #4  
Old January 21st, 2009, 09:31 AM
Neron Neron is offline
Experienced Member
 
First recorded activity by OfficeFrustration: Jul 2005
Posts: 34
Default

I've come as far as:


For i = 1 To nSlides
With ActivePresentation.Slides(i)
.FollowMasterBackground = msoFalse
.DisplayMasterShapes = msoTrue
With .Background
.Fill.Visible = msoTrue
.Fill.ForeColor.RGB = RGB(cRed, cGreen, cBlue)
.Fill.Transparency = 0#
.Fill.Solid
End With
End With
cRed = cRed + ((txtRedLast.Value - txtRedFirst.Value) / (nSlides - 1))
cGreen = cGreen + ((txtGreenLast.Value - txtGreenFirst.Value) / (nSlides - 1))
cBlue = cBlue + ((txtBlueLast.Value - txtBlueFirst.Value) / (nSlides - 1))
Next


But is there any way to "smooth" the gradient?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Dilworth View Post
This could be done with a simple VBA routine to "count" the slides, then
adjust the color scale for each RGB value to the fraction of the
presentation, then apply it to the slide background (not the template).

You would just need to run the routine whenever the number or location of
slides changed.

Do you code? Do you code VBA? Do you code PowerPoint VBA?

Bill Dilworth

[/i][/color]
  #5  
Old January 21st, 2009, 05:32 PM posted to microsoft.public.powerpoint
Steve Rindsberg
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9,366
Default background color in a presentation

[snipsnop]

But is there any way to "smooth" the gradient?


I'm sure this is obvious to you, but the more slides there are in the
presentation (or the higher the value for nslides), the smoother the
gradient will be. More gradient steps -- smoother gradient.

But there's also the problem of how the computer display reacts. It's not
linear ... the change from 0/0/0 to 10/10/10 probably won't be visible; the
change from 128/128/128 to 138/138/138 will be quite obvious.

And to make it even more interesting, the effect changes from one output
device to another.

One way to deal with it is passing your values through lookup tables (LUTs
as we used to call 'em back in the film recorder days).

For simple grays, your table might look like:

Input Output
0 0 ' black is black
2 2
3 3
... ' and so on,
10 12 ' boost it a bit
...
127 127 ' don't mess with the mid values
...
250 245 ' gray the higher values down a bit
255 255 ' white is white

So with your lookup table in an array LookupArray, you could use a function
like:

Function LookupTable(lInput as Long) as Long
LookupTable = LookupArray(lInput)
End Function

Generating workable LUTs is an art, a science, a mystery.
But with a little basic tweaking, you might be able to get something
workable w/o too much work.

Bill Dilworth;3159780 Wrote:
This could be done with a simple VBA routine to "count" the slides, then

adjust the color scale for each RGB value to the fraction of the
presentation, then apply it to the slide background (not the
template).

You would just need to run the routine whenever the number or location
of
slides changed.

Do you code? Do you code VBA? Do you code PowerPoint VBA?

Bill Dilworth

[/i][/color]


==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/

  #6  
Old January 22nd, 2009, 04:51 PM posted to microsoft.public.powerpoint
Ute Simon
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 159
Default background color in a presentation

But there's also the problem of how the computer display reacts. It's not
linear ... the change from 0/0/0 to 10/10/10 probably won't be visible;
the
change from 128/128/128 to 138/138/138 will be quite obvious.


And if you should plan to print your presentation, keep in mind that Gray is
one of the most difficult colors to print on office laser printers. The one
in our office prints a blueish shade (though we compared gradients on a
variety of models before purchasing - this was the most acceptable one), but
I've also seen greenish and pinkish grays. And the gradient might not be
smooth, either.

Best regards,
Ute


  #7  
Old January 22nd, 2009, 09:21 PM posted to microsoft.public.powerpoint
Steve Rindsberg
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9,366
Default background color in a presentation

In article , Ute Simon wrote:
But there's also the problem of how the computer display reacts. It's not
linear ... the change from 0/0/0 to 10/10/10 probably won't be visible;
the
change from 128/128/128 to 138/138/138 will be quite obvious.


And if you should plan to print your presentation, keep in mind that Gray is
one of the most difficult colors to print on office laser printers. The one
in our office prints a blueish shade (though we compared gradients on a
variety of models before purchasing - this was the most acceptable one), but
I've also seen greenish and pinkish grays. And the gradient might not be
smooth, either.


There are a few tricks for that too. One would be using a lookup table
customized for the printer (at least in Neron's case).

Next, you want to make sure that the printer's resolution is set to some
integral multiple of 300dpi. Test the various driver settings ... some of them
have special modes that use other in-between resolutions or other tricks; in at
least some versions, this can make PPT's gradients and transparency printing
turn out REALLY awful.

And if you have Acrobat, try printing to PDF via Distiller, then printing to
the printer from the PDF in Reader or Acrobat.

PPT's gradients/transparency output to PostScript is braindead. Distiller has
a clever feature called "idiom recognition". It sees the PS, says "Hmm. That
looks like PPT's foolishness." So it tosses out the bad stuff and substitutes
intelligent PS that produces nice, smooth gradients that print well to a wide
range of printers.




==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/

  #8  
Old January 24th, 2009, 06:05 PM posted to microsoft.public.powerpoint
Bill Dilworth
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,455
Default background color in a presentation

So, I might try to come up with a curve based on halves.

Pick the shade of gray that is 1/2 way between black and white, then pick
the gray mid-point between each of those, then build a curve formula based
on that. And here you thought quadratic equations would never apply to the
real world.

Bill Dilworth


"Steve Rindsberg" wrote in message
...
In article , Ute Simon wrote:
But there's also the problem of how the computer display reacts. It's
not
linear ... the change from 0/0/0 to 10/10/10 probably won't be visible;
the
change from 128/128/128 to 138/138/138 will be quite obvious.


And if you should plan to print your presentation, keep in mind that Gray
is
one of the most difficult colors to print on office laser printers. The
one
in our office prints a blueish shade (though we compared gradients on a
variety of models before purchasing - this was the most acceptable one),
but
I've also seen greenish and pinkish grays. And the gradient might not be
smooth, either.


There are a few tricks for that too. One would be using a lookup table
customized for the printer (at least in Neron's case).

Next, you want to make sure that the printer's resolution is set to some
integral multiple of 300dpi. Test the various driver settings ... some of
them
have special modes that use other in-between resolutions or other tricks;
in at
least some versions, this can make PPT's gradients and transparency
printing
turn out REALLY awful.

And if you have Acrobat, try printing to PDF via Distiller, then printing
to
the printer from the PDF in Reader or Acrobat.

PPT's gradients/transparency output to PostScript is braindead. Distiller
has
a clever feature called "idiom recognition". It sees the PS, says "Hmm.
That
looks like PPT's foolishness." So it tosses out the bad stuff and
substitutes
intelligent PS that produces nice, smooth gradients that print well to a
wide
range of printers.




==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/



  #9  
Old January 24th, 2009, 09:57 PM posted to microsoft.public.powerpoint
Steve Rindsberg
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9,366
Default background color in a presentation

In article , Bill Dilworth wrote:
So, I might try to come up with a curve based on halves.

Pick the shade of gray that is 1/2 way between black and white, then pick
the gray mid-point between each of those, then build a curve formula based
on that. And here you thought quadratic equations would never apply to the
real world.


Put it in Excel, add some cels for users to enter their own parameters and
you've got something.

What exactly? Oh, now you're getting tricky! ;-)




Bill Dilworth

"Steve Rindsberg" wrote in message
...
In article , Ute Simon wrote:
But there's also the problem of how the computer display reacts. It's
not
linear ... the change from 0/0/0 to 10/10/10 probably won't be visible;
the
change from 128/128/128 to 138/138/138 will be quite obvious.

And if you should plan to print your presentation, keep in mind that Gray
is
one of the most difficult colors to print on office laser printers. The
one
in our office prints a blueish shade (though we compared gradients on a
variety of models before purchasing - this was the most acceptable one),
but
I've also seen greenish and pinkish grays. And the gradient might not be
smooth, either.


There are a few tricks for that too. One would be using a lookup table
customized for the printer (at least in Neron's case).

Next, you want to make sure that the printer's resolution is set to some
integral multiple of 300dpi. Test the various driver settings ... some of
them
have special modes that use other in-between resolutions or other tricks;
in at
least some versions, this can make PPT's gradients and transparency
printing
turn out REALLY awful.

And if you have Acrobat, try printing to PDF via Distiller, then printing
to
the printer from the PDF in Reader or Acrobat.

PPT's gradients/transparency output to PostScript is braindead. Distiller
has
a clever feature called "idiom recognition". It sees the PS, says "Hmm.
That
looks like PPT's foolishness." So it tosses out the bad stuff and
substitutes
intelligent PS that produces nice, smooth gradients that print well to a
wide
range of printers.




==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/



==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/

 




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