By Ken Drake
10/22/04
I've always thought it would be really nice to have a pointer in Keynote. If it was configurable so I could change it's appearance, that'd be a plus, but sometimes all you need is a way to direct the audience's attention (as when displaying a flowchart or other "directional" data).
The secret lies in QuickTime's ability to play Flash movies. The program we'll be using to create this file is Adobe's discontinued LiveMotion 2.0, but the general idea will work in any program that can create Flash 5 files. We'll also be making a brief stop at Adobe's Studio Exchange (registration required) to pick up a LiveMotion Live Tab for use in this tutorial.
Now, it's time to get to the point!
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LiveMotion 2
Discontinued by Adobe but you may be able to find it on ebay or Amazon. |
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Quicktime Pro
This tutorial requires QuickTime Pro, which Apple sells for $29.99. |
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We're going to start off in LiveMotion by creating a Composition that is the same size as the presentation we plan to apply it to.
Create the pointer
For this example, we plan to apply this to an 800x600 presentation, so our Composition will be 800x600.
Now that we've got our file, let's choose a graphic that we're going to represent the pointer. Here, we've chosen the lowercase letter "j" of the Windings 3 font. Choose the Text tool and type "j". Change the settings in the Properties tab to match the graphic below.
Now, we COULD use this font as a pointer and go from there, but, since we want this to export as a vector instead of a bitmap, we're going to convert it to a vector image. We do this by selecting the Object menu, then we choose Convert Into and finally Path.
You will know that the step was successful because the object's handles will move in tighter like this.
Set document defaults
Now, we're going to set the pointer so that it opens in the upper left hand corner. We do this by chaning both the X, Y fields in the Transform tab to 1.
Now we'll uncheck the Export to HTML Page and the Export HTML Report in the Export settings tab. Also, we're going to explicitly set the frame rate here to 40.
Make sure your Export settings are set as shown and save your document.
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We've got everything prepared and saved, now we're going to get that Live Tab. Live Tabs are used to extend the functionality of LiveMotion. For our purposes, we'll use a mouse trailer to automate the code for the pointer's action.
Obtain Mouse Trailer Live Tab
Go to http://share.studio.adobe.com and scroll down to the Adobe LiveMotion area. Change the downloads pop-up menu to "Live Tabs" then click go
You'll find the "Mouse Trailer Live Tab" on this page (should be the 8th item down). When you click download, you will be asked to register. It's a two screen process that's relatively painless (as registrations go) and will allow you access to many other of Adobe's tools created by Adobe and other users. Use the instructions on the page to install the tool. Once installed, you should see it your Automation menu. Now all you have to do is run the tool. When you do, you'll see it's configuration window.
Change it's settings to the settings shown above, click on the pointer object we created earlier then click Apply. Now we're done with LiveMotion. Export the file and name it "pointer.swf".
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Next, we'll need to use Quicktime Pro so that the pointer will show correctly in Keynote.
Edit properties
Open pointer.swf in Quicktime Pro and do a command-J to open the movie properties. Click on the left tab and choose "Flash Track" then click on the right tab and choose "Graphics Mode". In the area below, choose "straight alpha". This will remove the background from your movie so that all you will see is the pointer.
When you "Save As" be sure to select "Make movie self-contained."
Finally, drag and drop this movie onto your 800x600 slide in Keynote and change the movie's X,Y positions to 0 in the Metrics inspector.
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You can download the pointer .mov file created with this tutorial HERE (zipped so it doesn't play in the browser), just in case you don't have LiveMotion or don't want to take the time to make your own custom arrow.
For each slide you have placed the pointer.mov on, you'll have a pointer. You can either add it to your master slides and have it available for all your future presentations, or you can place it on a slide by slide basis. Since you can create several of these, you can even have special pointers for special slides, it's all up to you!
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