Working with exported Google EarthTM tours in PowerPoint®
Tutorial submitted to KeyHole BBS – The search button experts
Introduction to video in PowerPoint
You wish to present your 150 Mb Google Earth tours in PowerPoint without crashing your reputation?
This tutorial will show you how to keep your PowerPoint file size down to a minimum while assuring smooth playback of video content. You’ll also learn how to stream your compressed video files from a web server. Streaming allows you to share your light presentation with others while maintaining a link to the content. The howto assumes you have a registered version of Google Earth Pro with the movie making module. You should be familiar with exporting your tours or fly-overs to the Windows Media format and have a file ready for use. This entire PowerPoint presentation is only 140 Kb. The following slide demonstrates an example of exported Google Earth video streamed from a web server. When video is linked directly from your PC, there is no buffering or playback delay.
Working example (view this slide full screen)
FULL LAYOUT MODE
Video is streamed in the player window with the following controls: • play / pause • stop • mute • volume • seek bar • next • previous • fast forward • fast reverse
MINI LAYOUT MODE
Video is streamed in the player window with the following controls: • play / pause • stop • mute • volume
NO CONTROLS
Video is streamed in the player window without controls. Clicking with the right mouse button inside the window will bring up control options.
ActiveX is Your Friend
When any external content is to be displayed in PowerPoint, the ideal solution is to link to it rather than embed (incorporate) it within the presentation. This is achieved using an ActiveX control.
Not only does embedding media files degrade PowerPoint’s performance, but subsequent saving results in overly bloated presentation files. Until the folks at Google Earth indulge us with a usable ActiveX control to their interface, we can link our exported fly-over video files using Microsoft’s. Follow these steps on the next slide. . .
1. From PowerPoint’s top menu select: View / Toolbars / Visual Basic Click the hammer & wrench icon to bring up the controls toolbar. From the controls toolbar click the hammer & wrench icon to bring up a list of controls. Scroll down the list and select Windows Media Player
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Creating the ActiveX control
Give it a try !
5. Click and drag the cross cursor to draw a rectangular shape like the one above. The result should be a Windows Media Player similar to the one below. Don’t worry about the size, we’ll adjust it to your video content in step 10.
Customizing the Windows Media Player
6. Right click on the Windows Media Player above and select Properties. This will bring up its dialog box. 7. Double click on the (Custom) tag to display the Windows Media player options. 8. Click the Browse button to locatate and link your media file directly from your PC or enter a URL to your content on a web server (http://www.mydomain.com/tour.wmv). Click OK to exit and close the properties dialog box.
Customizing the Windows Media Player
9. Repeat steps 1 through 8 on the following practice slide leaving the Properties dialog box open. 10. Enter your video file height and width. 11. Close the properties dialog box and the Windows Media Player should be resized. Try a few of the other options available such as increasing the play count to loop your video.
Practice Slide