[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]
Hello,
PowerPoint 2003 doesn't support the kind of timing/synchronization that you
are looking for. For media it can only synchronize the beginning of the
sound to another event. It can't control the beginning of other events
based on how many seconds of a media file has been played. The feature for
this degree of timing control is just not built into the product. This is
mostly because two completely different architectures are used. For
multimedia playback we use system API calls (PowerPoint has very little
control over what happens after the media has begun to play) while
animations and transitions are controlled using PowerPoint's built in
procedures.
So, for example, if you want to sychronize animations and transitions with
something other than just the beginning of media playback (on same slide or
over multiple slides), you will get inconsistent results from system to
system or even on the same system (depending on what data is still cached
in virtual memory).
If some kind of more deterministic, system independent, multimedia
synchronization with animations and transitions is important to you (or
anyone else reading this message) for Microsoft to consider for some future
version of PowerPoint (or if it's not possible, perhaps features within
PowerPoint to help you avoid trying to sychronize something that we can't
guarantee will always be synchronized), so you don't have to attempt to
exporting to other formats (movies, shockwave flash, etc.), which would
result is some loss of formatting and/or fidelity, don't forget to send
your feedback (in YOUR OWN WORDS, please) to Microsoft at:
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp
It's VERY important that, for EACH wish, you describe in detail, WHY it is
important TO YOU that your product suggestion be implemented. A good wish
submssion includes WHAT scenario, work-flow, or end-result is blocked by
not having a specific feature, HOW MUCH time and effort ($$$) is spent
working around a specific limitation of the current product, etc. Remember
that Microsoft receives THOUSANDS of product suggestions every day and we
read each one but, in any given product development cycle, there are ONLY
sufficient resources to address the ones that are MOST IMPORTANT to our
customers so take the extra time to state your case as CLEARLY and
COMPLETELY as possible so that we can FEEL YOUR PAIN.
IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions).
John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows
For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto
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