Semitransparent (drop) Shadows won't work in PP2000

[PPTMagician]

Hi Doug,

Semi-transparent shadow doesn't work in PPT 2000. The
work around is to make a duplicate copy of the object and
set the fill for the object to a semitransparent color
with no lines and place the created shadow object behind
the orginal object.

You can see a demo of the technique at:
www.powerpointmagician.com under the downloads section.

HTH,
Glenna

-----Original Message-----
The checkbox for "Semitransparent Shadow" doesn't seem to

have any effect. Is there a slider or variable somewhere
that defines how much transparency there is for shadows?
My understanding is, when I check the semi-transparent
shadows box I should be able to see elements of the
background. Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

I see. Thanks for your help

Heh, I suppose one could MS ask why the menu option exists at all if the feature doesn't work
Or why it STILL doesn't work after 3 service packs
Or why I couldn't find any mention this fact (or the work-around) after an extensive search of MS Office Powerpoint website and knowledge base (might be my own lack of skill there)

But somehow I don't think I'd get an answer

-D

 

[PPTMagician]

Sure you would, you just had to step out of the shadows...
(haha)

Hmmm, maybe I should write up this one for the knowledge
base. I could call it Dark Shadows in PPT2000. What 'cha
think?

They did fix it wonderfully in 2002 and 2003. Looks
great, much better even than my work-around.

-----Original Message-----
I see. Thanks for your help!

Heh, I suppose one could MS ask why the menu option

exists at all if the feature doesn't work.

Or why it STILL doesn't work after 3 service packs.
Or why I couldn't find any mention this fact (or the work-

around) after an extensive search of MS Office Powerpoint
website and knowledge base (might be my own lack of skill
there).

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Semi-transparent shadow doesn't work in PPT 2000.

I wonder if that's video setting dependant or something? It works here. Crude
-looking enough that I doubt I'd use it (it looks sorta like a patterned fill)
but it works.

 

[PPTMagician]

Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser. I have relatively high-end
video setup and it doesn't work for me. The work-around
works better anyway, more control over the shadow.

2002 & 2003 look great, but I wish I could manipulate the
shadow easier (i.e. detach it from the object)

Glenna

 

[Guest]

My video system is inexpensive, so both ends of the scale are represented on this one.

The work-around does give me more control. But I see what you mean about the crudeness. And if my object is, say, a video object and I group a shadow to it underneath, it won't play the video clip. Ah, gotta love learning curves for that which is unintuitive. Time to upgrade, I suppose.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser. I have relatively high-end
video setup and it doesn't work for me. The work-around
works better anyway, more control over the shadow.

Does your video driver offer a 256color setting? PPT may not allow certain
effects if you're in 256-color mode, as I recall. This 'puter doesn't have
that setting or I'd have checked already. I did find out that changing from
32-bit to 16-bit color can make Windows Explorer crash, though. Yay.

As to the workaround working better, yup. ANYTHING would look better than