Creating page layouts with PowerPoint

[Amber]

I've seen other books created using this software, but are the default "slides" for PowerPoint compatible with MP? Should they be larger or smaller, landscape or portrait?

[mypublisher]

Hi Amber -

The short answer to your question is no, unless you are able to save the entire slide as a JPG image. BookMaker requires all the contents of the page to be a JPG image that fits into a mold. The full bleed mold would be 1 image.

I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
MyPublisher

[irusan]

If you can't save the PowerPoint slide as a JPG *and* you own Adobe Acrobat (not Adobe Acrobat Reader, but the full-fledged Acrobat - either Standard or Pro), then you can do this:

From PowerPoint, save the slide as a PDF file. Use the Adobe PDF printer to create the PDF file, using the "Press Quality" settings. Then, once the PDF is created and opened in Acrobat, you can save the JPG.

Good luck,

Rob

[angelwithana]

I have used Powerpoint to do the pages before and they almost look "blocky" for lack of a better word. Is there a way to make the images, fonts, or art more smooth and professional? Do I need to change anything on the settings?

[irusan]

There really isn't much more you can do, for two main reasons:

1. PowerPoint was/is designed to be displayed online or over a projector. The resolution used is different than a resolution that's designed for print. PowerPoint was never supposed to be used for hi-resolution printing. Therefore, PowerPoint presentations will have a poor print result. It also depends on the quality of the elements that you import into the original PowerPoint slide. It's the old saying, 'garbage in, garbage out.'

2. Microsoft uses their own image handling algorithms in their software (which is why they can seemingly re-size BMP files with clarity). Since JPS is not a Microsoft format, it won't be able to read re-sized images with any quality.

So, it IS possible to bring PowerPoint into a MyPublisher book, it's fraught with perils and you must ensure that everything is as high quality as possible.

However, because PowerPoint is not designed for print output, I would stay away from it for design purposes. If you don't have it, I would strongly suggest you buy Photoshop Elements to do your image layout and design.

Rob

[mypublisher]

Thanks Rob! You are correct.

[asmit4]

I have to respectfully disagree that powerpoint gives you poor results. I used powerpoint for my pages and changed them into jpg images. I started with the slides much larger-when I get home I can check the measurements for you.

Please see the link below to a finished book- it was my first one that I did, I made a second one that looks even nicer via powerpoint. The powerpoint pages can be seen as you scroll down. I basically just took photos of the actual book itself- so you are not seeing the powerpoint slides but the actual quality of the finished book.

http://www.theknot.com/co_profileview.htm?profilename=chigirl80&MsdVisit=1

I think that powerpoint doesn't look good when you create your slides to be the exact size of the book. If you make your slides to be much larger then when they upload into the book, the shrinkage makes up for the loss in pixels.

[Marti]

I thought I would add my two cents worth on this thread about PowerPoint. I have been using PowerPoint to create digital scrapbook layouts for years because I like the 11x14 size. But I haven't printed any of them. Now I would like to make a book of them. But after reading the comments on this thread, I was afraid I had made a huge mistake in using PowerPoint. Then I remembered that I used a PowerPoint layout on one of the pages of a book I just received from MyPublisher. I located the page and discovered that it, the PowerPoint page, is just as perfect as the other photos in the book.

I can't display the book because it contains some confidential information, but the page to which I am referring is a full-bleed page in the "Best Seller" theme. I cropped two photos into a portrait style using Microsoft's Digital Editor software and placed both photos on a PowerPoint slide side-by-side. Each photo is as large as the slide, each taking 50/50 of the space. I then added a couple of brads, a ribbon and a journaling tag. I saved the entire slide as a JPG, uploaded it, and minimized it on the page just a bit to allow for the 1'4" trimming.

It printed beautifully and appears on the page exactly the way it did on my screen. It's clear and crisp, the colors are vivid, sharp, and are perfectly hued, including the skin and eye coloring. I may have adjusted the contrast and brightness slightly in PowerPoint, but not much. Although I am very happy with this result, I would hesitate to recommend PowerPoint to anyone else. From reading all the comments here, it sure sounds like it shouldn't work well. But in my case, it's perfect.