PowerPoint Tips & Tutorials

Dissolve one image into another

Dissolves are commonly used in video, but you can create them in PowerPoint, too, using the Fade animation. Recently, I gave a presentation on creating quizzes in PowerPoint, which included this slide.

I wanted to dissolve this image into another one that showed a presenter interacting more with the audience.

You could use two slides and a slide transition. (The Dissolve transition is too much like a checkerboard; the Fade Smoothly is better.) But then the text appears to blink, too.

Instead, I used one slide and put the first image on top of the second. I gave the first image an exit animation of Fade. Then, when I clicked, the first image faded out, showing the second image. I used a medium speed. You can view an AVI of the effect here. (But note that a movie is never as smooth as viewing the slide show directly.)

To assign an exit animation, select the object, choose Slide Show > Custom Animation. In the Custom Animation task pane., choose Add Effect > Exit, and one of the exit animation choices.

Watch the video

Don't the interacting people looking like they're having more fun?

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