Working with Pie Shapes in PowerPoint

Sometimes you may wonder why PowerPoint does not provide options for the shapes that you want to use! The other day someone wanted to create a shape resembling Pacman! How many of you remember Pacman, the lovable character from the computer game?

Well, lovable or not, it is still easy to draw a Pacman shape in PowerPoint as long as you know what to start with! And the answer is to start with the Pie shape! Follow these steps to learn more:

1. Add a new slide or use an existing slide.
2. Access the Shapes gallery, as shown in Figure 1, below. You'll find the Pie shape, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, within the Basic Shapes category.
3. 
   Figure 1: Pie shape within Shapes drop-down gallery
3. Insert a new Pie shape on your slide, as shown in Figure 2, below. Do notice that when you select the Pie shape, you will see two handles on the shape, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2. Depending upon your version of PowerPoint, these handles may be square or diamond shaped, and may also sport another color than the yellow shown in Figure 2.
4. 
   Figure 2: Pie shape
4. You can drag these handles to create variations of the Pie shape! In fact, look at the sample shapes, as shown in Figure 3, below, and you will notice that some of the shapes no longer look like pies! In fact, you can see a Pacman shape, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3. Also notice the two semi-circles we ended up with, as shown highlighted in green within Figure 3.
5. 
   Figure 3: Variations drawn from Pie shape
5. Save your presentation often.