Illustrations and Animations (Grade 10 NSC Matric Computer Application Technology): Revision Notes

Illustrations and Animations

Adding visual elements to your presentations makes them more engaging and interesting for your audience. Illustrations and animations help you communicate your message more effectively by combining text with visual elements and movement. This guide will show you how to enhance your presentations using pictures, graphics, shapes, and various animation effects.

Inserting pictures

Pictures are one of the most common types of illustrations you can add to your presentations. They help make your content more visually appealing and can support the message you're trying to convey.

Using the Pictures command

The most straightforward way to add images to your presentation is through the Pictures command. Here's how this process works:

When you click the Pictures command, a dialogue box will appear that allows you to browse your computer or connected devices to find the image you want to insert. Once you select an image file and click Insert, the picture will appear on your selected slide.

Using placeholders

An alternative method for inserting pictures is through slide placeholders. Many slide layouts include content placeholders that make it easy to add different types of media.

When you see a placeholder on your slide, you can click on the picture icon within that placeholder to insert an image. This method is particularly useful when working with pre-designed slide layouts that already have designated spaces for images.

SmartArt graphics

SmartArt is a powerful feature that allows you to create professional-looking graphics to display information visually. Rather than presenting information only through text, SmartArt helps you convey ideas through diagrams, charts, and other graphic elements.

Understanding SmartArt

SmartArt graphics are pre-designed layouts that you can use to present information in various visual formats. These graphics can show relationships, processes, hierarchies, and other types of information structure. You can customise the colours, styles, and content to match your presentation's theme.

Inserting SmartArt graphics

Once inserted, you can add your own text content to the SmartArt graphic, just like you would in a word-processing application. The graphic will automatically adjust its layout based on the amount of content you add.

Inserting shapes

Shapes add visual interest to your presentations and can help emphasise important points or create visual separation between different sections of content.

Purpose of shapes

Shapes serve multiple purposes in presentations. They can be used to create backgrounds, highlight text, create custom graphics, or simply add visual appeal. You can customise shapes by changing their colours, adding text, adjusting their size, and applying various formatting effects.

Adding shapes to your slides

Customising shapes

After inserting a shape, you can modify it in several ways:

• Resizing: Drag the corner handles to make the shape larger or smaller
• Moving: Click and drag the shape to reposition it on your slide
• Formatting: Change colours, add borders, apply effects, and modify other visual properties
• Adding text: You can type directly into most shapes to add text content

Transition animations

Transitions control how your presentation moves from one slide to the next. They create smooth visual effects that help maintain audience engagement as you progress through your content.

Understanding transitions

A transition is the visual effect that occurs when one slide changes to the next slide during your presentation. Instead of slides simply appearing and disappearing, transitions provide smooth, professional-looking changes between slides.

Types of transitions

PowerPoint offers many different transition effects, organised into categories:

• Subtle transitions: Simple effects like Fade, Push, Wipe, and Split
• Exciting transitions: More dramatic effects like Drape, Curtains, Fracture, and Crush
• Dynamic content transitions: Advanced effects like Morph, which can create smooth animations between similar objects on consecutive slides

Applying transitions

Custom animations

While transitions affect how slides change, custom animations control how individual objects move and appear within a single slide. These animations can bring attention to specific content and create engaging visual effects.

Understanding custom animations

Custom animations allow you to control when and how objects appear, move, or disappear within a slide. This includes text blocks, images, shapes, and other slide elements. Animation helps direct your audience's attention to specific content at the right moment during your presentation.

Creating custom animations

Animation timing and control

The Animation Pane provides detailed control over your animations:

• Start options: Choose when the animation begins (On Click, With Previous, After Previous)
• Duration: Control how long the animation takes to complete
• Delay: Set a pause before the animation begins
• Effect options: Modify specific aspects of the animation effect

Advanced animation features

You can create sophisticated animation sequences by:

• Combining multiple animations on the same object
• Setting different start times for various objects
• Using entrance, emphasis, and exit animations together
• Adjusting animation direction and other effect properties

The Effect Options dialogue allows you to fine-tune animations by controlling sound effects, timing delays, and the direction from which animations originate.