Using Edit Points quickly

[Guest]

I have a very large AutoShape (outline of the state of Washington - lots of
bays, inlets and so on) that consists of hundreds of points and connecting
lines. We wanted to divide it into four quadrants to color each differently.
Since we apparently can't even cut a simple shape in half, we reduced the
graphic to four separate quarters, then combined the four shapes into a
whole. It worked, but it was very laborious deleting 3/4 of the points one
at a time to get one of the 1/4 images. When I experimented with drawing a
box around a bunch of points to delete them all, I got tossed out of the Edit
Points mode. Is there a way to make large changes to a piece of the border
of a complex AutoShape? I'm working in PPT 2003.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I have a very large AutoShape (outline of the state of Washington - lots of
bays, inlets and so on) that consists of hundreds of points and connecting
lines. We wanted to divide it into four quadrants to color each differently.
Since we apparently can't even cut a simple shape in half, we reduced the
graphic to four separate quarters, then combined the four shapes into a
whole. It worked, but it was very laborious deleting 3/4 of the points one
at a time to get one of the 1/4 images. When I experimented with drawing a
box around a bunch of points to delete them all, I got tossed out of the Edit
Points mode. Is there a way to make large changes to a piece of the border
of a complex AutoShape? I'm working in PPT 2003.

If you have Illustrator or CorelDraw, it'd be much simpler to copy/paste the
graphic and do the editing there.

Or depending on what you're after, you might try adding a shape that covers all
but the part of the state you want to reveal; then rightclick the shape, choose
Format and set its fill to Background.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Steve. Both good ideas, if I had access to either of those graphic
programs (I don't) or if I wanted to only show part of the state. But I
needed the whole thing reassembled in four colors, so need four adjoining
shapes that fit perfectly. PPT was labor intensive, but I really like the
economy of having such a detailed shape take only 25K. It really helps keep
files reasonable.

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Randy,

You cannot draw an 'elastic selection box' while in 'edit points' mode in
powerpoint.

You can however, hold down the CTRL key to delete (zap) a point at a time.
which is a little bit quicker

cheers
TAJ Simmons

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
free powerpoint templates, tutorials, hints, tips and more...

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Taj. I had already discovered that, but I'm sure it will help
others. I also discovered that you want to be sure the "x" symbol appears
before you click to delete a point. If you go too fast, you either add a
point (which you can immediately delete with another click), or the program
thinks you've double clicked and ejects you from Edit Points. My formula for
mass deletions: blow up the work area to 200% so you can see what you're
doing, hold the control key, watch for the "x", and click like mad. Almost
reminds one of early target-shooting video games!

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

blow up the work area to 200% so you can see what you're

doing, hold the control key, watch for the "x", and click like mad. Almost
reminds one of early target-shooting video games!

Problem solved. Fill a couple friends up with beer and they'll PAY you to let
them shoot down the deadly X's. ;-)