Apply Reflection Effects to Shapes in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Learn how to apply reflection effects to shapes in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows.
Author:Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
OS: Windows 7 and higher
Apply any of the various effects in PowerPoint, and your shapes may stand out, literally out of the slide! In this series on
Shape Effects in PowerPoint 2013, we have explored several
effect types. On this page, you will learn how you can quickly add a convincing Reflection effect to a shape. While this tutorial
pertains to shapes, there's no reason why you cannot use the same Reflection effects on other slide objects. Reflection applies a blurred,
semi-transparent duplication of the original object, in the same way as you may have seen reflection on water or glass, look at
Figure1 where we have a few sample Reflection effects applied to shapes.
Figure 1: Reflection effects applied to shapes
Note: Although you can add both a
shadow and reflection effect to any shape in
PowerPoint 2013, it's good to use just one of these two effects in a shape so as to mimic
reality where you see one of these two at a time.
To see a sample presentation containing Reflection effects in PowerPoint 2013, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
Follow these steps to apply reflection effects to a shape:
Select the shape so that the Ribbon area shows the
Drawing Tools Format tab, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2. Activate this
Ribbon tab by clicking on it. Within the Drawing Tools Format tab, click the Shape Effects button
(highlighted in blue within Figure 2).
Figure 2: Drawing Tools Format tab of the Ribbon
Note: The Drawing Tools Format tab is a contextual tab. These tabs are special tabs in the
Ribbon that are not visible all the time, they only make an appearance when
you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.
This brings up the Shape Effects drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 3. From this gallery, choose the
Reflection option, this brings up the Reflection sub-gallery (refer to Figure 3 again).
Figure 3: Reflection sub-gallery within Shape Effects drop-down gallery
The options within the Reflection sub-gallery are explained below, as marked in Figure 3, above.
A. No Reflection
Use this option to remove reflection from a selected shape.
B. Reflection Variations
You can choose any of nine default reflection styles available. All variations can be seen in
Figure 3, above - use these variations.
Move the cursor over any of the effects within the Reflection sub-gallery to see a
Live Preview of the effect on the shape. Click on an effect to apply it
to the selected shape. In Figure 4 below you can see a reflection effect applied to the previously selected shape.
Figure 4: Reflection effect applied to a Rectangle shape
Tip: Place your shape in the area that is not covered by the Shape Effects drop-down gallery as shown in
Figure 4, so that you can see the Live Preview.
You get 8 shape types plus lines as part of this Organic Shapes collection. Each of these 8 shape types have 10 variants. So you end up with 80
hand-drawn shape options! Again each of these 80 shapes have 12 brush stroke styles! Plus you get the lines and arrows in 12 brush stroke styles too.
Combine all variations to end up with more than 3000 possibilities.
