Playing with Powerpoint, Greek, and Video

I'm figuring out the best ways to create short (but perhaps up to 20 minute) videos using PowerPoint. I've started using Microsoft's Office Mix, but I'm still practicing with it. It does allow me to record videos with inset webcam video of myself plus narration plus annotations.

Another option in Office 365 (and Office 2013, I believe) is to create a PowerPoint, rehearse the timings and add narrations, then use File > Export and save it as a video. Here is a 54 second one with a little music and some animations. If you know some Greek, you may actually think it's a bit humorous!

Click here or on the graphic above: Ἔρχομαι and πίνω

I've also used programs like Camtasia for screen recordings. It's more work to use this, but the results are a bit more polished. In any case, see what you think, and let me know if you have other ways for producing videos like this. Thanks.

VirtualBoard Presentation Software

I had looked at some presentation software previously (Microsoft's free ZoomIt, Remote Point from L.S.I., and the free KeyJnote). From a comment on the Logos forum, I see that VirtualBoard from Lightools is now freeware. (There previously was a cost for it, but development has been discontinued, and it is now free.) It works quite well with quite a few options for marking, highlighting, zooming, modifying, freezing, etc. your screen. It can be used effectively both with PowerPoints and with something like Bible software. (HERE is a video example using BibleWorks by SCSaunders.)

Give it a try!
UPDATE: Responding to a comment, it appears that it only works under Windows.

Zamzar - Free Online File Conversion

Zamzar is a free online file conversion tool. (Subscriptions are available starting at $7/month to upload larger files, faster conversion, no ads on web page, etc.) It offers quite a range of file type conversions. It will probably be most helpful if you receive one of the new ___X Office2007 files and don't have Office 2007 on your system. It will down convert to the Office 2003 format. Another instance is if you have an OpenOffice document and want to open it in a Microsoft program. One other usage I envision is converting Microsoft Works documents. Finally, it is able to convert some docs to SWF flash formats.

The online site does have popups (which can be blocked) with the free subscription, and you do NOT have to register or login to use the service. You do have to supply an email address which is used to notify you when the file conversion is completed. Otherwise it is a pretty simple step of uploading a doc, choosing the desired outcome format, and submitting.

It took 1-10 minutes to receive notification that the file was ready for viewing or download. There are no ads on the converted file.

The only problem I had is that it frequently returned an "error converting file" message to me. Service is still in beta... In any case, it may be helpful at some point.

Here's an example of converting a PPTX (PowerPoint 2007) file to SWF (Flash).

BiblePlaces features annotated satellite photos of Jerusalem

Todd Bolen of BiblePlaces.com and A.D. Riddle have a collection of helpfully annotated Google Earth views of Jerusalem that you can download in PowerPoint format. Valleys, springs, gates, hills, and such are clearly marked to provide a quick orientation to the city. Be sure to subscribe to the BiblePlaces newsletter.

Great, FREE (or great value) resources...

Somewhat off topic in this posting, but there are a bunch of fine resources that may help you as you look for tools to present your biblical insights. Did I mention that they are FREE or quite good values?

• Don't have PowerPoint but wanting to do presentations, maybe even collaboratively? Check out this post linking to thirteen free online presentation apps.
  
• I have posted before about resources for video or screencasting. Here is a post linking to 12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials. Some are free and some commercial. (Strangely, they neglect to mention TechSmith's Camtasia Studio which is a commercial program but quite nice.)
• Here is a link to a FREE PDF download of Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive: A digital literacy guide for the information age by Mark Briggs. 132 pages that covers the basics for writing online including perspectives on tools and resources, how to report and blog, using audio, podcasting, digital photos, video, and more. It's an easy to read reference.
• I have found Microsoft's FREE (at least for now in beta) FolderShare to be a very useful program. I've mentioned the FREE LogMeIn program before as a good way to work with other computers across the Internet (including using a PDA to run Logos or BibleWorks off your home computer), but FolderShare works a bit differently. It synchronizes your files across the Internet. I use it between home and school. I work on a file at school on my own system, but it is automatically synchronized on the FolderShare system. When I go to work on that file at home, it is automatically synched with the Internet version, so I always have a single up-to-date file. Where this can also help is that you can grant permission to others you specify to see designated files/folders, so it becomes a way of sharing pics and such. It takes a little bit of setup, but if you are using Logos or BibleWorks on two different systems, it provides a way for you to keep your programs in synch at both locations.
• If you are a student and able to provide verification of student status (including having an .edu email), Microsoft's The Ultimate Steal is an incredible value. For $59.95, you can purchase Microsoft Ultimate Office 2007 which includes Access™ 2007, Accounting Express 2007, Excel® 2007, InfoPath® 2007, Groove 2007, OneNote® 2007, Outlook® 2007 with Business Contact Manager, PowerPoint® 2007, Publisher 2007, and Word 2007. The offer expires April 30, 2008. This is entirely legitimate and quite a deal.
  (My wife who is finishing a DMin at Drew was able to get one. Do make sure you are a student. If they check on you, and you aren't a verified student, you will have to pay the $679 retail price. BTW, my link to the page is an affiliate link, and if you buy, I get $1! Thanks!)
• Big finish with the best for last: Again, if you are a student and can provide verification, you are eligible to take advantage of Microsoft's DreamSpark promotion. You can get, for FREE, Visual Studio 2008 or Windows Server Standard 2003 or xna Game Studio 2.0 or Expression Studio. These are professional developer and designer tools, so they might be more than you want to learn how to use, but if you have a web site, getting the Expression Studio might be quite valuable to you. There are a limited number of universities in the USA, UK, Canada, and 8 other countries directly connected to the program for now, but you are able to get the programs by following the directions and going through JourneyEd. (BTW, Expression Studio downloads as an ISO file. What's that? It's a format you need to burn to a CD as an image file. How to do that? Either use the FREE ISORecorder utility that adds right-click functionality in Windows Explorer or get the FREE CDBurnerXP program or the FREE BurnAwareFree Edition program.)

So, that's the truth, and it is FREE!

Helpful Presentation Tools

While not specifically concerned with biblical studies, I thought I would mention a few presentation tools that I have found helpful. Whether you are projecting PowerPoint or Bible software or any other program, these are handy tools.

• ZoomIt, free from Microsoft, is a "screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations that include application demonstrations. ZoomIt runs unobtrusively in the tray and activates with customizable hotkeys to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image... ZoomIt works on all versions of Windows and you can use pen input for ZoomIt drawing on tablet PCs." This works great, and I especially use the zoom and draw features.
  
  

• Remote Point from L.S.I. is a much more powerful tool that includes spotlight, zoom, reveal, pen marker, countdown timer, scrolling message, pen, and digital/analog clock applications. (BTW, if you have trouble navigating their web site, use IE instead of Firefox.) I was looking in particular for a spotlight tool, and the graphic shows how nicely it works. You can download a free, 30-day trial. L.S.I. is looking for marketing companies to sell their product in the USA, but in the meantime, they have graciously offered to provide free rights to U.S. citizens. (Contact support at lseye.com --convert that to email. This is a limited-time offer. Tell them BS&TT sent you!)
  

• KeyJnote--a free, open source application--provides an interesting, alternative way to make presentations. It basically requires that what you want to be displayed first be rendered as PDF documents. (This is not hard to do. Logos, for example, has built-in support for PDF creation. Adobe Acrobat is the primary name in PDF creation software, but there are also quite a few free PDF converters available. The one I like best is PDFCreator. If you are using PowerPoint, you simply 'print' your presentation slides using PDFCreator and it renders each slide into a PDF file. Remember too that SnagIt has the native ability to convert screen captures into PDF as well.) Simply drag and drop the PDF file/s onto the KeyJnote icon, and it starts the application. You don't have any PowerPoint animations, but there are nice page transitions. Particularly useful, however, is that the program makes it easy to create a spotlight or highlight box on the page. It also has an 'overview screen' that is really nice for moving around within a presentation. It would be nice if PowerPoint offered such a useful feature.
  

Parable in PowerPoint and Publishing to the Web

I have recently been doing some work on the 10 Bridesmaids parable in Matthew 25.1-13. To tell the story, I wanted to use PowerPoint and some simple illustration, but I also wanted to do so free of any copyright issues. So, in addition to using my own translation, I created all the graphics from scratch using an old Serif DrawPlus program. (More info here.) After creating the PPT with all the animations, I wanted to share this on the web. Here are a few examples . (Please forgive the lousy narration and background audio. I was doing this quickly and I threw together the audio using a free music program that is designed to generate copyright free midis. With more time, I would probably use something like "Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying" or "Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers." They are available with clear copyright from a site like the CyberHymnal. Since they come in MIDI, and the programs I will use require WMA or MP3, one then has to convert them using a program like JetAudio.) I tried four [

• HERE is a version using Camtasia Studio. Its a FLV file with narration. What's nice about this one is how fast it loads. Since I basically just ran my PPT, the timings are pretty good. (A little trick: in PowerPoint, if you click on the little slideshow icon at the lower right while you are holding down the CTRL key, it will open a mini version of the slide show and allow you to still see your slides and edit them. I recorded the mini version.)
• HERE is a version done using the free Microsoft Producer program. This is really easy to use. You import your finished slideshow and add any audio if you want it. I used music but no narration for this one, but you can do both. (BTW, you will need IE to view this, not Firefox. This one takes a while to fully load.) I didn't bother to set the timings on the slides, but that would be possible to fix, and I also didn't bother to properly name all the slides. Do note that it does preserve the animations. The program does allow for the addition of narration and video to the PPT.
  
• Check out this birth of Jesus video from Zondervan which uses audio from their "The Bible Experience." Note that it is really only a bunch of pictures with the 'Ken Burns' pan/zoom effect used. This effect is accomplished using the free Microsoft PhotoStory program. As an example, HERE is one I did using my PPT slides and adding audio and narration.(5Mb) No animations, but it could work well for some PPTs.
• Another really easy way to publish PowerPoints to the web is by using . Here it is embedded. (Note that it doesn't preserve animations.)

• BTW: Want to save one of those little videos from Google or YouTube or such? (I have had occasion to need to do so when I've been presenting somewhere without web access.) I've tried a bunch of browser plugins for video downloads, but the best way I have found is to use KeepVid. Simply enter the URL of a page with a video, and it downloads it to your computer. As always, observe proper copyright restrictions.

My point? Each of these options is basically free to do. You do have to learn a bit about how they work, but they really are geared for a popular market so that anyone can do them. With the slideshare one, it is simply a matter of uploading the PPT. No doubt there are other ways to accomplish getting PPT to the web (e.g., Impatica for PowerPoint, but it costs $500), but for the educator who only does something like this on a very occasional basis, these are viable alternatives. If you have other or better options, I'd love to hear from you.