Using the Morph Transition with Curve Shapes in PowerPoint
9This tutorial is the second part of our series on using the Morph transition effect. Yes, you can change the size, color, or other attributes of shapes such as ovals or rectangles from one slide to another using the Morph transition effect.
You can view the first part at Getting Started with the Morph Transition in PowerPoint https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1SSgz4dYW0&t=233s
However, what if you want more freedom? What if you want to create your own shapes? What if you needed shapes without corners? What if you wanted organic-looking shapes that animated in a wonderful, wobbly way? Yes, we just asked ourselves so many questions. The great part is that yes, this is all doable any you need nothing other than PowerPoint.
Now we are going to use one of PowerPoint’s least explored tools: the Curve tool. This tool allows PowerPoint to function like an illustration program, almost like a starter version of Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. To use this tool, we’ll bring up the Insert tab of the Ribbon, and click the Shapes button to bring up the Shapes gallery that you see here. In the upwards area of this gallery, you will see a Shapes category called Lines. We will choose the Curve line tool, that is the third-last option within the Lines category.
The first point is our starting point. Then we travel in a south-eastern direction and click once. Then we travel leftwards to create something similar to a triangle and click once more. We have already clicked thrice to establish three points.
This is a cool shape that’s also simple at the same time. Now let us duplicate this slide. To do so, we will select the slide within the Slides Pane and click the Ctrl + D keyboard shortcut on Windows. If you are using a Mac, you will use the Cmd + D keyboard shortcut to achieve the same result.
Do you want to discover more keyboard shortcuts? Get a copy of our PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts and Sequences ebook. I will leave a link to the ebook page in the description area below if you are watching on YouTube. If you are watching this video embedded elsewhere, click on the video itself to reach the YouTube page.
https://geetesh.in/ppt-shortcuts
Now, getting to our duplicated slide, we will select our shape drawn using the Curve line tool, right-click, and choose the Edit Points option in the resultant contextual menu. This step will change the selected shape to Edit Points mode, as you can see. What is different? You will see the points that created this shape. Notice that this shape has just three points. These points are the same as vertexes in other illustration programs. When you select any point, you will see one or two handles that let you pull to reorient your shape. Let’s undo that option by clicking the Ctrl + Z keyboard shortcut on Windows. If you are using a Mac, you will use the Cmd + Z keyboard shortcut to achieve the same result.
You can also drag and reposition the points themselves, which will reorient the shape in a totally different way. Let us undo this step too.
What I want to do now is not drag the handles or the point itself, but work with a segment. What is a segment? A segment is the line between two points. We will click on the segment on the right and drag it outwards to change the shape. Yes, this looks good.
Let us duplicate this second slide too so that we end up with three slides.
In Slide Sorter view, press the Ctrl + A keyboard shortcut to select all slides in PowerPoint for Windows. Mac users will use the similar Cmd + A keyboard shortcut. You can also manually select individual slides by Ctrl+clicking on the slide thumbnails.
Now, we access the Transitions tab of the Ribbon, open up the Transitions gallery and choose the Morph transition effect.
Save your presentation again. Now play your slides to test them. Make changes if needed, and you will see that the results are amazing, yet so easy to achieve.
Did you have fun watching this tutorial? I hope to see you soon again. Have a rewarding day.