3-D Format Options for Shapes in PowerPoint 2003 for Windows

We have shown you how you can format 3D Styles to your AutoShapes in PowerPoint 2003. This tutorial builds upon those options. Here, you'll learn how you can customize the applied 3D Style to further change the look of your selected AutoShape.

Follow these steps to tweak 3-D Settings in PowerPoint 2003 for Windows:

1. Select an AutoShape that already has 3D Style applied which you want to change further.
2. Now, access the Drawing toolbar and click the 3D Style icon to bring up the 3D Style gallery, as shown in Figure 1, below.
3. 
   Figure 1: 3D Styles gallery within the Drawing toolbar
Note: If the Drawing toolbar is not visible (normally at the bottom of the PowerPoint interface, above the status bar), choose View | Toolbars | Drawing. This is a toggle option that alternatively shows and hides the Drawing toolbar. Learn more about the PowerPoint 2003 interface here.
3. Within the 3D Style gallery, select the 3-D Settings option, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, above. This opens the 3-D Setting toolbar, as shown in Figure 2, below
4. 
   Figure 2: 3-D Settings toolbar
5. All the options within the 3-D Settings toolbar, as marked in Figure 2, above are explained below:

A. 3-D On/Off

6. This icon toggles between the states of applied 3D Style and no 3D Style.

B. Tilt Down/Up

7. These four icons allow to tilt the AutoShape up, down, left, and right. If no 3D Style is applied, these options will do nothing.

C. Depth

8. Clicking this icon brings up the depth drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 3, below. Here you can choose from the available depth points or type in the value of depth in points within the Custom selection box.
9. 
   Figure 3: Depth drop-down gallery

D. Direction

10. This brings up the direction drop-down gallery with various direction variations. Also you can choose from Perspective or Parallel direction types.
11. 
    Figure 4: Direction drop-down gallery

E. Lighting

12. Clicking this icon brings up the lighting drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 5, below. Here you can choose from three lighting types: Bright, Normal, and Dim. Once the light type is selected, choose from the eight lighting directions.
13. 
    Figure 5: Lighting drop-down gallery

F. Surface

14. PowerPoint provides four types of surface effects: Wire Frame, Matte, Plastic, and Metal. Choose one of these based on your requirement.
15. 
    Figure 6: Surface drop-down gallery

G. 3-D Color

16. Click the downward pointing arrow (highlighted in red within Figure 7) next to this icon to access a drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 7, below. Here you can choose any color for the 3D Depth.
17. 
    Figure 7: 3-D Color drop-down gallery
18. Automatic is the default depth color, this translates to the fifth color in the active Color Scheme (highlighted in blue in Figure 7, above). You can also choose any of the other colors in the Color Scheme.
19. The second row contains Recent Colors you may have selected to use in the active presentation. If you don't see a second row of colors, that means you have not selected any colors yet!
20. More 3-D Colors... lets you choose any color you want for the depth. Selecting this option summons the Colors dialog box with two tabs: Standard and Custom. First select the Standard tab (as shown in Figure 8, below). This tab offers 127 colors in a honeycomb style palette, in addition to 14 gray shades, black and white.
21. 
    Figure 8: Standard tab of the Colors dialog box
22. If you want more color choices, then select the Custom tab of the same dialog box, as shown in Figure 9, below.
23. 
    Figure 9: Custom tab of the Colors dialog box
24. In this tab, you can choose any color from the spectrum and later adjust the selected color's luminosity with the slider on the right. You can even enter specific values of RGB and HSL to create a specific color. All these combinations provide 16 million color choices!
25. Click OK to exit this dialog box.
4. Save your presentation often.