"Running lights animation"

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Guest

Hi I'm looking for a way to create a running lights animation in PowerPoint.
Basically I like to show data traffic moving over a network. I tried using
the path animation on a single dot, but I like to have multiple ones. The
only to make it work is to superimpose multiple path animations os single
dots on top each other, but that becomes too complicated cumbersome quickly.

Is there a way to draw a dotted line and than animate it?

Thanks
 
Nospam,
Sure, draw a line, format it to be a dotted line using the linestyle button
on the drawing toolbar. Select the line, activate the animation task pane,
apply the entrance effect wipe, choose whatever direction left, right and
speed you want. Depending on the path you want to follow, it will take a few
lines to do what you want. If you animate them "with previous" and apply
some delay between the lines it should work fine.

Luc Sanders (MVP - Powerpoint)
 
Thanks!willl give it a try.
Michael
Luc said:
Nospam,
Sure, draw a line, format it to be a dotted line using the linestyle
button on the drawing toolbar. Select the line, activate the animation
task pane, apply the entrance effect wipe, choose whatever direction left,
right and speed you want. Depending on the path you want to follow, it
will take a few lines to do what you want. If you animate them "with
previous" and apply some delay between the lines it should work fine.

Luc Sanders (MVP - Powerpoint)
Click to expand...
 
In Addition to Luc's advice (which is how I do it for lines), if you do want
the dots to move along the same path, there are two things you can do:
1) Copy and paste the dot more than once AFTER you animate it. That way the
animation will be copied and pasted with the object. Then, set each of the
dot's motion paths to happen after previous with a slight delay.
2) Use the single dot, with repeats on the motion path. Once your path is
drawn, right click the animation and select timing. On the timing tab, click
the drop down for repeat. You can set it to repeat for a specific number of
times, until the next click, or until the end of the slide. If you really
want to make it cool, before you click the Effect tab. On this tab, make
sure the "Auto Reverse" box is checked. This will send the dot down the path
and back. Combined with the repeat, it will do what you want.

I tend to use not dots, but very small pointed stars for this, they look
more like what you want and shimmer better.

Bonus tip: Add an emphasis animation to the dot of lighten (or any small
change). Once you have added it, go to the timing and set it to happen with
previous, slow it down, and repeat it until either end of slide or next
click. (Don't use the numbered options unless you want to do an awful lot of
computations.... Why is left as an exercise for the reader.) Play the slide
and watch your dot come and go as it moves along the line.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint - Available now from Holy Macro! Books
Get PowerPoint and OneNote information at www.onppt.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived
 
Using PowerPoint 2002 / 2003, I have created a marquee effect using dotted
lines and motion paths. It will help with timing to create one line segment
for the shortest dimension of what I assume will be a rectangular marquee,
and then duplicate that segment as needed and line them end to end to create
the longer dimensions. You can do it with differing line lengths, but it
will require a significant time investment playing with timings to make the
dots travel at the same speed on all segments. These instructions will deal
with a horizontal rectangular marquee made up of equal length line segments.
Create a vertical dotted (not dashed) line segment with a line width that is
appropriate for your needs. Changing the line width after the fact may have
an adverse effect on the behavior of the animation. With the one, vertical
segment selected, do the following:

(1) Assuming we're starting with a vertical segment, apply an "up" or
“Down†motion path from Custom Animation palette of motion paths.

(2) Grab one end of the motion path, and with the shift key down to
constrain the scaling, drag one end very close to the other end.

(3) Zoom in on the line to 400% so you can easily see the two ends of the
motion path and the individual dots in the line. Again, with the shift key
down, drag one end of the motion path toward the other until the distance
between the ends is equal to the distance between the dots in the line. This
may take some finessing as the motion path may want to jump around a bit
along the line. Optimally, you would like to position one end of the motion
path exactly on top of one of the dots and the other end exactly on one
adjacent dot.

(4) With the line segment selected, go to "Effect Options..." in the Custom
Animation task pane and under the "Effect" tab, uncheck "Smooth start" and
"Smooth end". Then under the "Timing" tab, make the following settings:
Start: "With previous"
Delay: "0"
Speed: Start with "0.5 seconds" and modify it as needed after testing
Repeat: Either "Until Next Click" or "Until End of Slide"

(5) Check the speed of the crawling dots by viewing in slide show mode. If
too fast or to slow, go back to step 4 and keep modifying the speed and
testing until it looks right for your needs.

(6) Copy the line segment and then rotate it 90 degrees.

(7) Paste in the copied vertical line from the clipboard and position the
horizontal line such that one end aligns with one end of the vertical line.

(8) Remove the existing animation from the horizontal line and repeat steps
1 through 4 using all the same settings except the motion path should be a
horizontal motion as necessary to make the dots appear to “turn the cornerâ€
from the vertical line segment. You may need to use the arrow keys to adjust
the vertical/horizontal position and then test a few times to get the dots
flowing just right.

(9) [IF THE MARQUEE IS TO BE SQUARE, SKIP THIS STEP] Duplicate the
horizontal line segment and move it horizontally such that the one end of the
copied line is exactly on top of the opposite end of the first horizontal
line segment. Repeat this step as necessary to create the desired length.

(10) Copy and move the original vertical line segment by holding down the
“Shift key†and the “Ctrl Key†while dragging it to align with the opposite
end of the horizontal line segment(s).

(11) Right click on the motion path of the new vertical line segment and
select “Reverse Path Directionâ€

(12) Again, you may need to use the arrow keys to adjust the
vertical/horizontal position and then test a few times to get the dots
flowing just right.

(13) Repeat steps 10 through 12 for the horizontal line segment(s) except
they should be aligned with the opposite ends of the two vertical line
segments.

(14) Finally, select the first of the marquee animation events in the
Custom Animation task pane and change the “Start†to either “On Click†or
“After Previous†as suits your needs to start the marquee effect.

See how easy that was? : (
 
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