All Things Visual: The University of Chicago Visual Resources Center

If you’ve tried a Google image search over the past week, you might have noticed some changes. Google recently launched a “new dense tiled layout,” with larger thumbnails and the ability to scroll through up to 1,000 images on a single page. If you click on a thumbnail, you’re now brought to a “hover pane,” showing the image as it “hovers” above the original website (and thus how the image might look in its original context).

There are other less visible changes, too: more sophisticated technology powers both the “similar images” tool and “similar colors” tool. You can read more about these changes on the Official Google Blog.

Some new features and updates were recently released from ARTstor, including an Export to Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 feature for all registered users. From the ARTstor blog:

When viewing an image group, look for the Export to PowerPoint icon in the utility bar or click Tools > Export to PowerPoint. The resulting PowerPoint file will include:

• A title slide displaying the name of the image group
• Individual slides for each image in the group, in the order in which they appear in the image group
• ARTstor descriptive data for each image, appearing in the notes field of each slide
• Embedded hyperlinks in each image that will launch the ARTstor Image Viewer when clicked in presentation mode (requires web access)

Learn more about Export to PowerPoint.

Have you ever experienced difficulties opening PowerPoint presentations on a Mac after you’ve created them on a PC, or vice versa? Check out this website with plenty of helpful hints to ensure that your presentations look great no matter what computer you’re using.

If you have any questions about making presentation software work for you, please contact the VRC.

Here’s a quick way for PC users to add YouTube links to PowerPoint presentations:

• http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/elearning/powerpoint-embedding-youtube-video/

 
Mac users have to download videos before inserting into a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. This is easier with free software like Tooble. Here’s how it works in Keynote:

• http://www.totalapps.net/tutorials/embedding-youtube-video-in-keynote-in-3-easy-steps/

What’s the easiest way to share images from LUNA and ARTstor?
Create a link.
 
LUNA‘s Share This feature creates a link for whatever you’re looking at: one image, a group of images, search results, or even a presentation. Just click Share This in the window you want to share. Copy the link and paste into an email or Chalk. For details, see LUNA Help.

ARTstor has a similar feature. Select the image thumbnail or view the image group you want to share. Click Generate image url in the Share menu. For full details, see ARTstor Help.

Zotero is a comprehensive citation manager for Firefox, designed to facilitate research and aid in the creation of bibliographies. It can also go beyond managing citations to help you organize all different kinds of information found on the Internet. Check out this easy-to-follow overview of Zotero from Lifehacker, and keep an eye out for training sessions offered by the University of Chicago Library by subscribing to their workshops and events calendar. There is a Zotero training session today from 2-3:30pm at Regenstein Library, Room 127.

Are you publishing your work and beginning to contemplate copyright? If you’re not sure where to start, Vassar College provides an excellent website with information about asking for permission to use a variety of media. They also have a page specifically about requests to use images.

Please note: to view these PowerPoint illustrations at a larger size, click on the images.

To create a simple Art History style PowerPoint 2008 theme, first open a new presentation. The Formatting Palette will appear on the right side; if it does not, click on the “Toolbox” icon from the menu bar. On the Formatting Palette, select Style 4, which is a black background with white text.

To ensure that any subsequent text added to the slide with a text box is formatted correctly (ie, in white font), create a “test” text box by selecting that icon from the menu bar.

Once you have created and tested the text box…

…you’re ready to save the slide theme. Select “Save Theme” from the Formatting Palette.

Select a name for your theme that will be recognizable to you later.

To apply your theme to any future presentation, select the “Slide Themes” tab.

Next, select the “Custom Themes” tab. You will then see your theme saved with the title you assigned. Click on its thumbnail and you’re set!

You can follow the above steps to save other types of Microsoft Office 2008 themes as well. If you have any questions, please contact the VRC.

The VLC Media Player is an open source multimedia player for various audio and video formats, as well as streaming video and DVDs. Free to download, it works well with both Macs and PCs. The media player includes a Snapshot feature (under the Video menu) which allows you to capture stills from video. Just pause at the suitable frame and take the snapshot. These snapshots may then be used in PowerPoint, Keynote, or OIV presentations.

For more information about the VideoLAN project (including the VLC Media Player), click here.

If you are sure everything is connected correctly, and you have turned on the laptop only after everything else is connected and turned on, you may need to use a keyboard command to tell the laptop something is connected to its external output port. Below is a fairly comprehensive list of keyboard commands as provided by the manufacturers, compiled by Extron Electronics and edited by United Visual:

http://unitedvisual.com/2tips/2tvp111.asp