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MeetingPlace iCreate
Reviewed by Geetesh Bajaj

...Continued from Page 1
Benchmarking iCreate
Using SmartObjects
Using Narration
Continued on Page 3...

Benchmarking iCreate
We'll now put iCreate through the PowerPoint repurposing benchmark
- this is a sample presentation that incorporates several presentation
elements - here's how iCreate fared:
| Feature |
Maximum Score |
iCreate Score |
| |
|
|
| Narration (WAV file) |
10 |
10 |
| Transition Sound (WAV file) |
10 |
0 |
| Video (AVI) |
10 |
0 |
| AutoShapes |
10 |
10 |
| AutoShape Fills |
10 |
10 |
| Transparency 20 to 100% |
10 |
10 |
| Typeface Translation |
10 |
5 |
| Typeface Shadows & Anti-Aliasing |
10 |
10 |
| Hyperlinks |
10 |
10 |
| Notes |
10 |
10 |
| Bitmaps |
10 |
10 |
| Vector Images |
10 |
10 |
| Vector Images Recoloring |
10 |
0 |
| Bitmap with Alpha Channel |
10 |
10 |
| Animation |
10 |
10 |
| PowerPoint Transitions |
10 |
0 |
| |
|
|
| Total |
160 |
115 |
Click the link below to view the benchmark presentation converted
by iCreate:
PowerPoint
Repurpose Benchmark
You need to be aware that this benchmark only takes conversion
factors into consideration - not managing and administrating repurposed
content. Also, iCreate offers workarounds for several shortcomings
like inserting video content - however, the purpose of this benchmark
is to use a conventional PowerPoint presentation.
Back

Using SmartObjects
iCreate allows you to insert extra elements into a presentation
- something that PowerPoint does not offer natively. Amazingly,
these elements work even if you don't convert your PowerPoint content
to rich media using iCreate.

This means that your trial version of iCreate will allow you to
insert Flash content within PowerPoint with one-click - iCreate
also includes an extensive quiz and survey module (see screenshots)
- these work within PowerPoint as well.



However, it's only when these SmartObjects are converted to rich
media that you can understand their full potential. See this presentation
to experience it for yourself:
Sample
iCreate SmartObjects
Once you have inserted SmartObjects, you can edit and animate
them as well using PowerPoint's native Custom Animation feature.
Michael adds:
One thing that may be a little less obvious is that SmartObjects
can send response automatically to the iCreate Server. So after
publishing to the server, simply send an invitation to one or
more people and their responses to quizzes, surveys, etc. are
recorded in the database for immediate or archival viewing.
Back

Using Narration
Narration plays a significant role since most of the rich media
content created with tools like iCreate is viewed online without
a live presenter. iCreate allows you to record narrations using
a fairly capable audio editor that's included within the application.
The audio editor can import or export recorded sounds so that
you can do more fine-tuning in an advanced sound editing application.

Having said that, iCreate's greatest advantage is that it's narration
component itself is entirely compatible with PowerPoint's own narration
and Insert | Sound feature unlike Macromedia Breeze which insists
on importing pre-narrated content again through its own interface
- ignoring all sounds contained within native PowerPoint presentations.
iCreate however does not recognize transition sounds - that's
unfortunate.
Back
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