Impatica for PowerPoint 4

Introduction
About Impatica for PowerPoint 4
Download and Installation
Using Impatica for PowerPoint 4
Pricing and Support
Conclusion

Introduction

Impatica for PowerPoint takes your PowerPoint presentations, converts them to the Impatica formats that can be as small as 95% of the original file sizes -- and retains most of the PowerPoint formatting.

Version 4 of Impatica for PowerPoint adds support for PowerPoint 2007 and Windows Vista. In addition, it adds several other new features:

• Playback is now scalable and covers the entire area provided. There is also a new button to allow the presentation to be viewed in "full screen" mode.
• Support of multicolor, multi-stop gradient fills (PowerPoint 2007 files only).
• Support for more audio and video formats. (PowerPoint 2007 files only. This is limited to files that are supported by both PowerPoint 2007 and Quicktime.

I have already reviewed the older version on this site -- take a look here.

About Impatica for PowerPoint 4

Impatica for PowerPoint 4 is from Impatica, a company based in Ottawa, Canada. They also create several other products. You can learn more about their products from their site.

Impatica for PowerPoint 4 converts the PowerPoint file into a format that is optimized for streaming over the Internet, preserving the multimedia elements of the presentation such as text, graphic, audio, video, animation and interactivity. Then the file is played by Impatica’s Java player applet in a browser window while the file is streaming over the Internet.

My contact at Impatica for this review was Jessica Morgan - thank you, Jessica.

Download and Installation

Download the installer, run the setup routine and follow the instructions. You'll end up with an Impatica for PowerPoint 4 program group in your Windows Start menu (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1: Impatica for PowerPoint 4 Start menu group

Using Impatica for PowerPoint 4

Make sure Java is installed on your system. Or you can get the Java runtime download from Sun's site.

Follow these steps to use Impatica for PowerPoint 4:

1. Go to your Windows Start menu and choose All Programs | Impatica for PowerPoint 4 | Impatica for PowerPoint 4 (see Figure 1 above).
2. This launches the Impatica for PowerPoint 4 interface, as shown in Figure 2
3. 
   Figure 2: Adding Files
4. Click on the Add button which will open a dialog box from where you can select the PowerPoint presentation, as shown in Figure 3.
5. 
   Figure 3: Open
3. This will add the selected file for conversion in the interface as shownin Figure 4. Using the same process, you can add multiple PowerPoint files to the source list.
4. 
   Figure 4: Main Interface
5. You can choose from several options within the Slide Show tab:
4. There are two other tabs that let you tweak some more options.
5. The Media tab lets you control the playing time of sound, animation and video; and set the image quality.
6. The Extra Output Files tab lets you choose if you want to export a container HTML file, zip up the output, or make it SCORM compatible. You can also choose an output format to export slide notes.
• Choose from the new or classic Impatica file formats.
• Opt to include navigation controls to move from slide to slide within the Impatica output.
• Change the color of the navigation controllers.
• Change the color of the file loader.
• Choose the location where you want to save the converted file.
5. Choose the options as required and click Apply to All button if you have more than one PowerPoint presentation in the source list.
6. Click on Impaticize button, which is at the bottom right of the interface(see Figure 5).
7. 
   Figure 5: Impaticize
8. This will start the conversion process, which could take a while.
7. After conversion is done, you can see the converted files in the interface, as show in Figure 6.
8. 
   Figure 6: Converted Files
9. Here you will find options for uploading the files to a web sever, sending the file though email, conversion settings, and a Blackberry transfer option. The BlackBerry transfer option works great with the Impatica ShowMate, a hardware product that we have reviewed in the past.
8. Click the Preview button to view the converted files, or click Done to exit.

Pricing and Support

Impatica for PowerPoint 4 for Windows and Mac costs $499.

Support is through e-mail, phone, and fax

Conclusion

Impatica for PowerPoint was already a full featured product -- and version 4 adds more capabilities and compatibility with newer PowerPoint and Windows versions. It's a great product and you should look at using it with the ShowMate as well.

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