Patterned Lines
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2002 and 2003
Date Created: February 2nd 2009
Last Updated: February 25th 2009
Excerpt/Capsule:
In a previous tutorial, I showed you how you can format line attributes (outlines) in PowerPoint 2003 or earlier. In this tutorial you will learn more about the cool patterned lines option.
Related Link: We already have a page on Patterned Lines in our Cool Stuff section -- this page has been rewritten using similar content to be suitable for the Learning section.
To see a Patterned Lines sample presentation, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
Follow these step to apply a patterned line to any AutoShape -- remember, all lines in PowerPoint are also AutoShapes!
- Select the AutoShape that you want to format with a patterned line. Alternatively, if you just want to follow this tutorial step-by-step, launch PowerPoint. Most of the time, PowerPoint will open with a new slide in a presentation -- users can change the slide layout to Blank by selecting Format | Slide Layout, and then choose the Blank layout in the resultant task pane.
- You will find the rectangle AutoShape option in the Drawing toolbar located below the PowerPoint interface. Select this option, and click once on the blank slide to place a rectangle AutoShape.
- Select the AutoShape, and from PowerPoint's Drawing toolbar, choose Line color option as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Drawing toolbar
- This opens the Line Color flyout menu (see Figure 2) -- choose the Patterned Lines option.
Figure 2: Patterned Lines
- This opens the Patterned Lines dialog box, as you can see in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Patterned Lines dialog box
- Choose any pattern style from 48 pattern styles avilable. Figure 3 shows that I have selected the second pattern -- this one is named 50%, probably because the lines in this pattern comprise 50% of the total pattern area. Similarly, there are patterns all the way from 5% to 90%! Other pattern names are more intuitive than these ones -- they are called Sphere, Wave, etc.
Whichever pattern you choose, you can then choose the foreground and background colors for the pattern -- both of these have downward arrows next to them that work in the same way as you would choose a color for line, as shown in a previous tutorial. If you don't want to change the foreground and background colors, and accept the default color values that PowerPoint uses, that's OK too.
- Click OK to apply and get back to Format AutoShape.
Here are some samples of patterned lines:
Note: Patterned lines work best when the line weight is thick -- at least 10 pt. thick is good to start with, but you can make your lines even more thicker!
Related Link: Learn how to do more with AutoShapes in this free excerpt from my book: Cutting Edge PowerPoint For Dummies -- read a free chapter called AutoShape Magic here...
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