Synch Tab - (Displayed only for the Synchronized Media with slides Project Type
Once you've added slides to your project on the Slides Tab, and have added a media file(s) on the Media Tab - you are not ready to synchronize slides with media files. You may either click the Next Step button (located at the bottom in the Presio Button Bar) OR click the Synch Tab at the top.
The Synch Tab allows you to synchronize your Media file(s) with your Slides. The Synch Tab works very much like the Record Tab - 2 windows are opened at a time - the main Synch Tab screen and a Slide Viewer window.
Screen shot of main Synch Tab
Screen shot of Synch Tab with Slide Viewer window open
Note: Each window can be move around and positioned however you'd like.
Synchronizing the slides (added in Step 2) with the media files (added in Step 3) is a matter of playing back the media file and clicking the Synch Next Slide button to add a timepoint, which will display that particular at the point in the media. That is essentially it, though there are a few other handy little features for making the synch process a bit quicker.
Synch Tab - (Functions)
The Main Synch Tab window is divided into 2 parts on the left hand side are the Media Preview Controls:
Media Preview area
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This area displays the number of media files (or clips) that are available for synching. This is simply the number of files added in Step 3 (On the Media Tab).
Also, this area provides a preview of video clips. For audio only clips, the Audio Only box is displayed. |
Play button
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Begins playback of the clips. |
Pause button
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Pauses clip playback. |
Previous clip button
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If the project contains more than 1 clip - this button allows you to quickly move to the previous clip. |
Next clip button
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If the project contains more that 1 clip - this button allows you to quick move to the next clip in the series.
Example of Project with 2 clips: Clicking the Next Clip in this case would move the play time to Clip 2.
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Media seek bar and status
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Allows you to seek forward and back with the set of clips. Also, provides playback status and clip status information, such as: - Current clip - Playback status - Playing/Pauses
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Media seek bar and status (cont.)
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To the far right of the Media seek bar, this timing information represents the current playback time along with the total duration of the set of clips.
In the example to the left: 00:00:00 - represents current playback time 00:01:26 - represents total duration of all clips
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The right hand side of the Synch Tab window is the Add Timepoint For controls:
Slide List
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This lists all the slides available to be synchronized with the media files within the project. Slides added in Step 2 appear in this list.
When media files are not playing - choosing a slide from the list simply displays the slide in the Slide Viewer window.
When media files are playing - choosing a slide from the list will Add a Timepoint, for the selected slide into the presentation at the current time of the Media Seek bar.
Note: Adding a timepoint is essentially synching a slide within a particular time in the media file.
Each time a timepoint is added, a message is displayed below the Synch Next Slide button:
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Synch Current Slide button
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Clicking this button overrides the rule mentioned above with the Slide List. Basically, clicking this button will Add a timepoint at the current time of the Media Seek bar, regardless of whether a clip is playing or paused. The slide that is currently displayed in the Slide Viewer window will be associated with that timepoint.
Each time a timepoint is added, a message is displayed below the Synch Next Slide button:
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Synch Next Slide button
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Clicking this button adds a timepoint at the current time of the Media Seek bar, for the next slide in the list.
Each time a timepoint is added, a message is displayed below the Synch Next Slide button:
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How to Synchronize an Audio or Video clip with Slides
Note: The steps below assume you've imported an audio or video clip on the Media Tab in Step 3 and have added slides on the Slide Tab in Step 2.
1. Click the Play button to begin playing back your media file
2. As the media file plays, determine when the next slide in the slide in the Slide List should be inserted. Click the Synch Next Slide button to a timepoint into the project for the corresponding slide.
Note: Once a timepoint is in inserted you will see an indication of this just below the Synch Next Slide button
3. As the media file continues to playback - Continue to click the Synch Next Slide button at the appropriate point in the media file to synch with the corresponding slide image.
4. That's it. Once you've finished inserting slides into the presentation, you can continue on to the Review Tab to review your project.
Other Synching Techniques - Tips and Helpful Hints
Using the technique outlined above works well when you are not sure of where each slide should be inserted into a presentation. This is usually the case when you have an audio or video file and a PowerPoint presentation that was used when the audio/video was recorded. The technique above allows you to playback and synch slides as you listen.
However, in some cases you may already know exactly at which point slides should be inserted. You may have listened or viewed the media file separately and jotted down the exact timepoint when slides occurred. For example, you may have jotted this down in a text file:
Slide 1 - 00:00:00
Slide 2 - 00:03:11
Slide 3 - 00:05:25
etc.
In this case you can simple use the Seek bar to move the media file to each specific point (in this case I've moved directly to time 00:05:25:
then you click the Synch Current Slide button:
which will synch the current slide in the Slide Preview window at the timepoint: 00:05:25
You can then repeat this process to quickly synchronized the remaining slides.