Most people think of Flash as a web design tool — and it is. Flash allows you to create incredible web content with sound, animation, and graphics. However, if you are going to use Flash (or someone else is within your organization) to create web content or other complex media, you can take advantage of this and use Flash animation (Shockwave files) to add to PowerPoint presentations.

Flash and Shockwave . . .

When using Flash, you create Flash files. You can export these files as animated GIF, QuickTime, AVI in bitmapped format, and more. You can also export movies to Shockwave (SWF) files. Shockwave files are vector-based — this means they can be scaled cleanly to any size. Unlike their bitmap equivalents, SWF files look good at any size. These files are also smaller than GIFs — which makes a difference if you are worried about file size.

 . . . and PowerPoint

PowerPoint 2000 supports numerous import types including AVI movies and animated GIFs. However, these imports are fairly static and are often quite large. Using a Flash movie inside a PowerPoint presentation adds interactivity and vector animation to the presentation — with little increase in file size. And, if the Flash ActiveX control r25 (or higher) is installed, the Flash movie can even be printed.

Adding Flash Movies to PowerPoint 2000 Presentations

Integrating a Flash movie inside PowerPoint allows vector animation and interactivity to be added to a PowerPoint presentation.

Bonus Tip! Don't Forget the ActiveX Control! Using Flash in PowerPoint requires the Flash ActiveX control to be installed on the machine used to view the PowerPoint content. If that machine uses Internet Explorer 4 or higher and can view Flash, the ActiveX control is automatically installed. If you have direct access to the playback machine you can check for the control's parent file by searching the system drive for 'swflash.ocx'. If you do not have access to the machine, it is highly recommended to license and distribute the Flash ActiveX control with your presentation. The control must be installed on the playback machine before the presentation can run. The Flash ActiveX control can be licensed at no charge for distribution on secure intranets or CD-ROM's. See Macromedia's Flash Player Licensing Overview for detailed information.

To add a Flash movie to a PowerPoint presentation

1. Open the PowerPoint 2000 presentation to which you want to add Flash animation.



2. Select View > Toolbars > Control Toolbox. The Control Toolbox appears.






3. Click the Hammer and Wrench icon (More Controls). A list of all the ActiveX controls installed on the machine appears.



4. Choose Shockwave Flash Object from the list of controls.






5. Move the cursor over the slide. Click and drag to define the area in which to play the Flash movie. You can make the movie any size.



6. Right-click on the Flash movie placeholder and select Properties from the popup menu that appears. The Properties dialog appears.






7. On the Alphabetic tab, scroll down to view swURL. In the box to the right, enter the path or URL to the SWF you wish to use. If the SWF is in the same directory as the PowerPoint file just enter the SWF name. The SWF can also be at any valid URL network address.



8. Click OK. Now view the slideshow. The Flash content should play as expected.

When you choose the object, the cursor should change into a crosshair.

Note Imported Flash clips cannot be transparent in PowerPoint.