LARGE pps on CD - REALLY slow; also can a slide button jump to another slide? - ideas?

[Bob]

running PP 2k;

I have a presentation that's about 150 MEGS big, and contains links to
mp3 files.

1)
I would like to have the first slide give the user the option of
jumping to a slide I specify. I can't see how an action button would
do this. Is there another way?

2)
I would LIKE to distribute this presentation on a CD-ROM, in such a
way that people can play it FROM the CD - regardless of whether they
have powerpoint OR the viewer installed.

I've copied pptviewer files onto the cd, and created an autorun file
that calls the viewer & my presentation.

This works - but it takes 10 MINUTES just to start the
presentation!!!!

Is there a better way?

I know that pp2003 has an exe distribution feature - would this help
at all?

tia - Bob

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

1)

I would like to have the first slide give the user the option of
jumping to a slide I specify. I can't see how an action button would
do this. Is there another way?

Why not action buttons (or anything else you can select in PPT)?
Right click, choose Action Settings, Link to, Slide and point it at the slide
you want to link to.

Or, possibly better yet, break up the presentation into sections and have the
action setting on the first slide link to the other presentations. Put an End
Show button at the end of each linked presentation and when the user clicks it,
voila, they're back at your first menu slide. That's almost sure to cure your
slow-loading woes as well.

2)
I would LIKE to distribute this presentation on a CD-ROM, in such a
way that people can play it FROM the CD - regardless of whether they
have powerpoint OR the viewer installed.

Make an AutoRun CD
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00037.htm

 

[B]

What Steve said, and a few thoughts.

+ Have you optimized the presentation? While 150 megs is not the largest
file we've seen (by a factor of 10), it is up there. If there is data in
the pictures that is not able to be displayed, you may be able to trim the
file size down a bit.

+ Presentation opening times have a bazillion contributing factors. File
size is definately one of them, but so are RAM size and availability, CD
read speed, Processor speed, Hard drive fragmentation of referenced files,
background tasks (like antivirus checking, Instant Messingers), and a host
of others. Try disabling your virus scanning software and optimizing the
presentation and see if this helps.

B

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Bob,

Splitting the 150meg presentation into sections and linking from a main menu would help
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointmenu.htm

If you have an action setting for every single slide.....you will probably run into problems with powerpoints link limit
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00401.htm
So it's better to link to about 10 sections.

And optimizing as B has said would help a lot
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointgraphics.htm

Do you have sound? quick tip: convert stereo to mono (that's half as much data for powerpoint to deal with and the
cd-rom drive to supply)

I don't see the EXE option of ppt 2003 helping any....it's still 150megs in one file.

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

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

 

[Bob]

Why not action buttons (or anything else you can select in PPT)?
Right click, choose Action Settings, Link to, Slide and point it at the slide
you want to link to.

Or, possibly better yet, break up the presentation into sections and have the
action setting on the first slide link to the other presentations. Put an End
Show button at the end of each linked presentation and when the user clicks it,
voila, they're back at your first menu slide. That's almost sure to cure your
slow-loading woes as well.


Make an AutoRun CD
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00037.htm

yep - don't know what I was smok'n; I missed the completely obvious on
the jump to slide....

as for the autorun cd - I made that myself; without any problems
(except ONE VERY BIG ONE)

NO SOUND!!!

the autorun cd works PERFECTLY - IF I do NOT use the viewer !!!!
I'm using ppviewer 2003;

if I go to a fresh pc with ppt installed, and LOAD the pps file FROM
the CD - it works PERFECTLY - WITH SOUND!!!!

if I run FROM the cd using viewer - NO SOUND !?!?!?!?!?!

why is microsoft software so inconsistant?????
Bob

 

[Bob]

tx B -

I'm ASSUMING that by optimizing, you mean disabling "fast save".
If that's what you mean then - yes I did that. If not; I don't know
how to optimize it - needless to say nothing mentioned in the docs....

tx! - Bob

 

[Bob]

Bob,

And optimizing as B has said would help a lot
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointgraphics.htm

Do you have sound? quick tip: convert stereo to mono (that's half as much data for powerpoint to deal with and the
cd-rom drive to supply)

I don't see the EXE option of ppt 2003 helping any....it's still 150megs in one file.

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

TAJ - very appreciative of your reply;

splitting the file makes sense; and I'm trying to load the url you
mentioned above about optimizing; but it may be down.

by optimizing - do you mean saving without "fast save" enabled? If so
- I've done that.

Sound is now my big problem.

I've burned a CD;

if I load the pps into powerpoint (off the CD - on a different pc) and
run it; it works PERFECTLY.

if I run it with the viewer FROM the CD - NO SOUND!!!!!

ideas?
why can't microsoft make 2 programs that do exactly the same thing in
the same way????

is that too much to ask? - I've now spent 16 HOURS F'g around with
this SORRY excuse for a presentation application.

Bob

 

[B]

Optimizing refers to evaluating each picture and trimming the excess detail.

If the screen is 1024 x 768 pixels, but the picture you are using has 4000 x
3000 pixels, then you are storing much more detail than you need to.
Optimizing reduces the picture detail to what your computer can actually
show. How much this saves on file size depends on a bunch of factors, but
in some cases it can reduce the size of a file by more than half.
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

Did you copy the sound files into the same directory as the ppt file BEFORE
inserting them into PowerPoint? If not, then the links broke when you moved
the presentation.
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00155.htm



B
===============
Please spend a few minutes checking vestprog2@
out www.pptfaq.com This link will yahoo.
answer most of our questions, before com
you think to ask them.

Change org to com to defuse anti-spam,
ant-virus, anti-nuisance misdirection.

 

[BJChadwick]

running PP 2k;

I have a presentation that's about 150 MEGS big, and contains links to
mp3 files.

Bob --

I've been working on reducing the size of PPT files for a project and can
suggest a couple of things --

As others have said, one primary savings is in the pictures, if you have them.
Simply by taking virtually every picture in my presentation (which is picture
rich -- a photo on each slide.) and reducing it in size to 50% of the
original I was able to cut the file size in half or more without significant
loss of quality.

Another trick is to reduce the color depth of your photos -- this ended up
saving a quarter of the reduced file size (or an 1/8 of the original.) --
This is a little trickier as some photos lost too much quality with this
reduction although some were fine. Try reducing to 256 colors -- Paintshop
Pro will do this (you can even set up a script and batch process if you have
the latest version) and I'm sure Photoshop will also do it. If the quality is
too bad at 256 colors, try 32,000.


If you have audio files that don't need to be stereo, resample in mono.
Remember that although the MP3's are not embedded, they have to be loaded to
play. (I don't know much about MP3's so I don't know if you can do mono
rather than stereo but you can investigate.)

As others have also pointed out -- you can break up your presentation into
several smaller presentations and then have a master presentation which links
to the individual ones. The master presentation can be a single slide with
buttons to link to the sections and an endshow button. (I've have done that
with a great deal of success.)

Let us know how you make out --

BJ

 

[Bob]

hi B -
tx again!
yes - I did make sure that each pic was 75 dpi & 8x6 in res.......
didn't realize that was "optimizing" !!

as for your 2nd paragraph; no & yes.
the first time thru I did NOT have them in the same folder. I
subsequently learned about the fact that you have ABSOLUTELY NO
CONTROL of links what-so-ever (thanks VERY F'g much some imbecile ms
programmer). I then had to DELETE & re-ADD every sound link in my
[now] 170 MEG presentation.

To add insult to injury - I just discovered that if I replaced ms's -
so called latest & greatest - 2003 viewer with the 2000 version
viewer, that my 170 M pps which takes 15 MINUTES to load w/ ppviwer
2003 (and has NO SOUND) - now loads INSTANTANIOUSLY and has PERFECT
SOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've spent 30+ man hours F'g around with a presentation that was
perfect (after deleting & adding sound links) all because ms's
imbecilic programmers can't produce a program that works retroactively
with their own f'g software's files!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

btw - the 30+ hrs does NOT include the 2 hours I spent deleting &
re-adding sound links. (thanks again ms)

you can bet this will be the LAST time (it was the first time too) I
do a presentation using powerpoint.

anyone have an opinion on what's a good presentation software package?

B - sorry to "bend your eye's" - but I really had to vent.
tx again!!!
Bob

 

[Bob]

I've been working on reducing the size of PPT files for a project and can
suggest a couple of things --

As others have said, one primary savings is in the pictures, if you have them.
Simply by taking virtually every picture in my presentation (which is picture
rich -- a photo on each slide.) and reducing it in size to 50% of the
original I was able to cut the file size in half or more without significant
loss of quality.

Another trick is to reduce the color depth of your photos -- this ended up
saving a quarter of the reduced file size (or an 1/8 of the original.) --
This is a little trickier as some photos lost too much quality with this
reduction although some were fine. Try reducing to 256 colors -- Paintshop
Pro will do this (you can even set up a script and batch process if you have
the latest version) and I'm sure Photoshop will also do it. If the quality is
too bad at 256 colors, try 32,000.


If you have audio files that don't need to be stereo, resample in mono.
Remember that although the MP3's are not embedded, they have to be loaded to
play. (I don't know much about MP3's so I don't know if you can do mono
rather than stereo but you can investigate.)

As others have also pointed out -- you can break up your presentation into
several smaller presentations and then have a master presentation which links
to the individual ones. The master presentation can be a single slide with
buttons to link to the sections and an endshow button. (I've have done that
with a great deal of success.)

Let us know how you make out --

BJ

BJ -

1st - please read my reply to "B" - I resolved my performance problem
completely.

2nd - your suggestions are WONDERFUL. I hadn't thought to reduce the
color depth. As for resampling mp3's to mono - yes you can do that; I
don't know if you can do it with the mp3 directly (I don't have any
mp3 editing software) - but you can convert to wav; convert to mono
(and re-sample); and re-encode back to mp3.

3rd - breaking up the presentation is also an interesting idea;
although my presentation is timed very closely to the mp3's and would
be concerned about that timing if I were to break it up... Also -
since the performance problem is now resolved, no need to....

tx SO much for your ideas!
Bob

 

[Echo S]

To add insult to injury - I just discovered that if I replaced ms's -
so called latest & greatest - 2003 viewer with the 2000 version
viewer, that my 170 M pps which takes 15 MINUTES to load w/ ppviwer
2003 (and has NO SOUND) - now loads INSTANTANIOUSLY and has PERFECT
SOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, here's the problem:

running PP 2k;

Because you're creating your presentation in PPT 2000, you want to use
the old (97/2000 version) PPT Viewer.

PPT 2002 and 2003 reads sound differently than older versions of PPT
did. (Well, it doesn't exactly read them differently, but those newer
versions have different animation settings, so thy interpret the sound
settings differently.) So. The new PPT 2003 Viewer also reads the sound
differently than the older Viewer, as this newer Viewer is designed for
use with PPT 2002 and 2003 (for all intents and purposes).

Sorry I didn't read this thread carefully earlier.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;832039&Product=ppt
also addresses this. The upshot is that you'd have to open the file in
PPT 2002 or 2003 and resave it in order for the sound file settings to
be interpreted correctly.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

splitting the file makes sense; and I'm trying to load the url you

mentioned above about optimizing; but it may be down.

It probably was at about the time you tried it. Until it comes up again, try here
for some other ideas.

Why are my PowerPoint files so big? What can I do about it?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

if I load the pps into powerpoint (off the CD - on a different pc) and
run it; it works PERFECTLY.

if I run it with the viewer FROM the CD - NO SOUND!!!!!

ideas?
why can't microsoft make 2 programs that do exactly the same thing in
the same way????

is that too much to ask? - I've now spent 16 HOURS F'g around with
this SORRY excuse for a presentation application.

Sigh. It's not too much to ask, but apparently it *is* more than somebody's seen fit
to deliver.

It *probably* has to do with pathing. Depending on how you start PPT and load a
presentation, it may set the current default directory to the folder where the
current presentation is or it may not. Generally it does.

When it finds a link that doesn't include a full path to the linked file, it looks
for the file in the current directory, which is usually but not necessarily the same
as the path to the current PPT file.

The rules for the viewer seem a bit different, and this is where the problem arises.
If there's some way to *force* the current directory to be the one where the PPT file
is on the CD, then you might be in business.

How are you currently starting up the presentation on the CD?