RobiNZ CAD Blog

Present to yourself & learn...

Yesterday I did a presentation that was supposed to be 20 minutes but was more like 30. It’s hard to judge yourself but it seemed to go ok. There was no snoring and I’ve had plenty of positive comment... Read more →

Comics, Powerpoint and Rendering?

Joel posted these for the intended audience, comic book artists, but I think many of the techniques for composition/lighting apply to both PowerPoint and rendering. Joel Johnson: Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work: Unlimited Edition Ask any working comic book artist who has been in the business for more than ten years about "Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work", and they know of it like it was the bible. Once shrouded in secrecy, Wally Wood would selectively give assistants and those close to him three 8×10 photocopies of comic panels that bore the absolute essence of drawing comic... Read more →

A logo on your PowerPoint slides is not branding

Imagine you worked for a company that had re-branded, including redesigned corporate templates. Maybe this included a PowerPoint template that ignored every bit of advice you’ve read recently about better PowerPoint design. It might use overwhelming bright colours and a huge logo on every slide overpowering a tiny area for the most important bit – the content. Of course you could just use it or you could create a presentation that massaged that template into something more modern. Maybe slightly tone down the colour so it doesn’t shout, perhaps ignore the “approved content area” (a letter-box slot between the “branding”)... Read more →

Avoiding Death by PowerPoint...

Some great advice, applicable to any presentation, except I use MindManager rather than OneNote for drafts – mainly because I don’t have OneNote!. Office Rocker! : Death by PowerPoint - Giving better presentations In my job as the product manager for the 2007 Microsoft Office system I have had to do more presentations than at any time in my so called career… Obviously, presenting is not something you ever stop learning but I thought people might be interested in my tips. Some of these really help to overcome nerves and many I just sort of discovered by accident. They aren't... Read more →

PowerPoint + Twin Monitors = A good combination

I’ve been working on a PowerPoint presentation recently and and found the twin monitor set-up we run for CAD a huge help. Being able to run the the application on one screen, editing content/animation/timing, while having the slide-show running continuously on the other to check the results is an enormous productivity boost. It’s not an uncommon set-up for CAD/Graphics these days but I think a twin monitor set-up is probably the best productivity gain for any user given the low cost of screens. There are few tasks that require only one application, email + another at least, and as soon... Read more →

Beyond Bullet Points PowerPoint Seminar Online

Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points, shares awesome PowerPoint advice in this on-line seminar. Watch the video then buy the book! beyond bullets: Seminar recording now online If you'd like to take a look at the online recording of my May 10 web seminar "Transform Your PowerPoint Beyond Bullet Points"… Read more →

Three numbers for better PowerPoint Presentations

10 20 30!The best advice is often the simplest; Remember three numbers Apply what they represent You’ll make better PowerPoint Presentations. Guy Kawasaki tells you how… The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint - Guy Kawasaki (It’s just one of his Top 10 Posts) Read more →

Awesome PowerPoint Tip for animated photos

Rick Altman is a Corel & PowerPoint guru. In his February newsletter he shares a tip to achieve animated photos that are easy to change, swap out the image, without losing all the animation effect work. Don’t animate the photo, animate a shape with a photo fill! For details follow this link then scroll down to: "PowerPoint Tip of the Month". Read more →

New Autodesk DWF Viewer & Writer - Slice/dice, de-construct and create DWF's

There are new versions of the freebie DWF Viewer and DWF Writer applications. Many of the new viewer features are aimed at exploring 3D DWF models although improvements to operation, integration, and 2D DWF viewing haven’t been forgotten. I’ll start with the Viewer and it’s new 3D features as they are powerful and the most fun! Slice and Dice! With a 3D DWF you can slice a section though the model for a better look inside. The screen-shot (click for full-size) shows a section through an ADT house model. The section is live and you can drag the “section plane”... Read more →

Import Pics for PowerPoint

I found this neat free PowerPoint utility after seeing someone with the wonderful task of inserting and re-sizing lots of digital photos into a PowerPoint presentation doing it manually. Older versions of PowerPoint (up to 2000) have no way to do this and while later versions (XP onwards) can import multiple images once they are “in” thats it. Any manipulation has to be done to every image on every slide. Import Pic’s allows you to select multiple images from an Explorer dialog, import them into a presentation and then at any stage resize or reposition the whole series of images... Read more →