TIP 131: Creating a Presentation with Page Transitions
One of the strengths of presentation software is the ability to display content and control movement through a document. Using page transitions and page view settings, you can create a presentation of a PDF document in Acrobat. The material you use for a presentation can come from a number of sources. You can use files from a range of programs converted to a PDF (see tips in Chapter 3 for conversion information for various types of source materials), or assemble a binder using any number of file types (described in Chapter 4). If you use documents converted from Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (Windows), the transitions are preserved. Bullet fly-in animations are also transferred to the PDF document.
Varying Effects
Instead of applying the same transition throughout your presentation, you can quickly choose individual pages or groups of pages and apply a different effect to each group. Select the pages using the page thumbnail view in the Pages panel (Shift-click to select a group; Ctrl-click /Command-click to select pages in different locations in the document). From the Options menu, choose Set Page Transitions to open the Set Transitions dialog. Use different transitions to identify different segments of a document. For example, I use a PDF presentation as a resume/portfolio. The document contains several pages of artwork samples. To differentiate the artwork from other elements of the document, the artwork pages use a different transition than the rest of the document. |
Acrobat provides a number of transition effects. You can apply them to selected pages or to all the pages in a document. In addition, you can configure the speed of the transition and specify whether the pages advance automatically or require keyboard or mouse actions. Follow these steps to add transitions:
1. | Choose Document > Pages > Set Page Transitions to open the Set Transitions dialog (Figure 131a).
Figure 131a. Select the type of transition and its characteristics, such as speed and how the pages advance
| 2. | In the Set Transitions dialog box, choose a transition effect from the Effect pull-down menu. You can choose among several dozen effects.
Note
Choose Edit > Preferences > Full Screen to view the same effect options as those in the Set Transitions dialog. If you set a transition preference, it overrides any document's settings. Also, if you choose Ignore All Transitions, transitions added to a document aren't played.
Tips for Using Transitions
As anyone who has sat through a mind-numbing presentation can tell you, transitions can be overused, or used poorly. Although transitions are not the main part of your presentation, your audience receives visual cues from them, just as they will from other page elements like fonts and colors. Here are a couple of tips for using transitions in a document: Pick transitions that relate to the content. If the document is a collection of images set against a pale background, a glittery transition may look good. For a document discussing business losses over the past quarter, a somber transition is more appropriate. If you use the Auto Flip option, be sure to test the pages. The content determines how long a page should be visible. If the user has a lot of content to read, specify a longer display time.
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| 3. | Select a speed for the effect: Slow, Medium, or Fast. | 4. | Set the navigation method. To have Acrobat turn the pages automatically, select Auto Flip and choose the number of seconds between automatic page turning. You can choose a value in the range 1 to 30 seconds. If you leave the Auto Flip setting deselected, the user moves through the document using keyboard commands or mouse clicks. | 5. | Select the page range you want to apply the transitions to, or leave the default (which is the entire document). | 6. | Click OK to close the Set Transitions dialog. | 7. | You'll see the transitions only when the document uses Full Screen view. To set this view automatically, choose File > Document Properties > Initial View. Click Open in Full Screen mode in the Window Options section. | 8. | To test the presentation, click Full Screen View on the status bar at the bottom of the program window, or save the file, close it, and reopen it to view your presentation (Figure 131b).
Figure 131b. Test the slideshow using the Full Screen view.
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