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Jules  
#1 Posted : Sunday, December 25, 2016 8:13:00 PM(UTC)
Jules

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Hi

I'm new to the forum and would really appreciate help with a couple of issues with Powerpoint.

We're using vMix version 17 and Office 2016 on a new laptop with a powerful graphics card, i3 processor and plenty of memory running Windows 7.

I'm helping the local church who have installed a new projector and I've got them using vMix for their services.
They want to use the projector to show the words of the hymns instead of buying new hymn books. They're making up small individual Powerpoint presentations with the words for each of the hymns. This way they can build up a library of hymn Powerpoints so that they can use them again for different services. There are also various pictures of stained glass windows as well as photos of the church which are shown between the hymns.

The 1st problem is that although the Powerpoints are created as widescreen, when they are added as an input in vMix they appear as 4:3. If I look at the settings for the Powerpoint input it shows the aspect ratio as 'source' which should be widescreen but appears as 4:3. As a work around we are having to change each individual Powerpoint manually to 'widescreen' It works but is a pain.

The 2nd problem is that after having saved the vMix project with all the Powerpoints and JPEGs in place. When we open the saved project back into vMix later on, it won't load all of the Powerpoints. It shows that there is a Powerpoint there, along with it's name, but shows it as 'offline' and just displays a black thumbnail. This seems to happen to the last 1 or 2 in the project.

There are between 7 and 10 Powerpoints in each service and have about 5 or 6 pages in each one.

Is this a compatibility problem with this version of Office?

If anyone can offer any suggestions about this I would be very grateful.


Thanks
Jules
Mathijs  
#2 Posted : Monday, December 26, 2016 1:20:32 PM(UTC)
Mathijs

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I would advice you to use the export function within powerpoint to export the content to PNG images.
This will create folders with images in them, which you can import into vmix with the "Photos" input.
Just select the folder instead of the png files and it will load the entire folder as a slideshow which you can control.
That way you do not even need powerpoint on the same system, and also do not get any bugs when trying to load multiple presentations at once.
The powerpoint input within vMix does the same. It exports the images of the slides and shows them in order. Controls are the same.
The 4:3 instead of 16:9 issue, you will find within the export settings while making the export, so that will resolve itself.

Of course, make a structure like "hymn/powerpoint.pptx" and within the same folder a "png" subfolder with the png's. So if you need to change anything later, you will still have things together.
ovinas  
#3 Posted : Monday, December 26, 2016 4:48:14 PM(UTC)
ovinas

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In addition to this, when using the vMix internal function, it will generate slides/images with compression artefacts. That's also the case when exporting from PowerPoint with default settings but you can change this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/kb/827745

So to get perfect PowerPoint slides:
1. Change the export settings for PowerPoint
2. Use the export function of PowerPoint
3. Use the "Photos" input for the folder with the exported images/slides
Jules  
#4 Posted : Tuesday, December 27, 2016 8:54:09 AM(UTC)
Jules

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Thanks to both of you for your help.

Saving the Powerpoint as a series of PNGs and then bringing them into vMix as 'photos' by selecting the folder does just what we need. It also solves the widescreen issue too.

Happy New Year
Jules
rowby  
#5 Posted : Saturday, July 15, 2017 6:42:51 PM(UTC)
rowby

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ovinas wrote:
In addition to this, when using the vMix internal function, it will generate slides/images with compression artefacts. That's also the case when exporting from PowerPoint with default settings but you can change this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/kb/827745

So to get perfect PowerPoint slides:
1. Change the export settings for PowerPoint
2. Use the export function of PowerPoint
3. Use the "Photos" input for the folder with the exported images/slides


Hi, ovinas

The link at Microsoft gives you various options when editing the registry. 72, 300 dpi, etc. Which one would you recommend in order to eliminate artifacts in Vmix....? https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/kb/827745

Thanks,
Rowby
ovinas  
#6 Posted : Sunday, July 16, 2017 12:55:40 AM(UTC)
ovinas

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It depends on the resolution you're working with in vMix. For 1920x1080 you should go at least with 150 dpi (2000x1125).
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