mondaydotsdownloads

instant alpha and moon phases

download the keynote file: download moonslidedeck

script: I recently got a question about how to phase a moon using keynote animations on the showroom background. If you were to do it on a white background you could simply drop a white circle on top of your moon and dissolve it in.

This gets a bit more complicated when you try to attempt the same effect on a complex background like the beautiful showroom background included in Keynote. You can't simply drop a white circle on the moon because it looks awful. So how do you accomplish this.

You can accomplish it using instant alpha. First copy the part of the moon you want to phase out, and paste it on another slide. Then using the square shape, create a high contrast background. From there export the slide in .png format.

Open your newly exported picture and instant alpha the moon cut out. I like to use preview, but you could also do this within keynote. Once done, save your image. In keynote, create a new slide, drag your image in, make sure it is centered, and then export the slide to .png again. Then take your newly exported image and drag it back in over the moon. Instant Alpha the background, apply the dissolve build, and you are done!

multiple inspectors

This is one of favorite keynote tips/tricks. It greatly enhances productivity.

Having Multiple inspectors in Keynote will dramatically improve your productivity especially if you are using keynote as an animation tool.  At first I was only using one inspector and I had to click between the build, text, graphic, and metrics pallettes when editing my dots. I found a simple trick to create multiple inspectors. The trick is to simply option + click on the palette and a second inspector will appear. You can do this for as many times as you need inspectors. That is how you create multiple inspectors and thanks for watching.

stretch jump

This is a short animation is of a dot mustering up the strength to jump into the air. It was done completely with the magic move transition in Keynote with the speed issues fixed in post with iMovie.

It demonstrates that the magic move transition will animate an object even when a shape stretches or changes in size.

download stretchjump.key

dot merge

This is a simple animation of two dots merging together. Instead of having them just run into each other, I created a blob effect by making them longer as they came together. When you export out of Keynote this leaves some spots in the video where the dots are not moving during the merge. You can clean this up in iMovie in post by deleting the non moving part of the video. Download the keynote and give it a try!

Download Dotmerge.key

dot morph to square

This is a simple way to make a dot morph into a square. It uses a combination of:

1. A magic move transition to move the dot from left to right

2. Actions:

build out>wipe>left to right of the dot

with

build in>wipe>left to right of the square

3. A magic move transition of the square from left to right

Download Dot-morph-to-square.key