Parallax effect in Microsoft PowerPoint (2020 presentation trick)

How to create Parallax scrolling in Microsoft PowerPoint

What is Parallax and how does parallax work in Microsoft PowerPoint? Why would anyone want to create parallax animation in PowerPoint?

Parallax scrolling is an instance where two images move together but at a different speed so that it creates an illusion of depth in a scene. Parallax in PowerPoint happens when you apply transition between two slides.

Let’s look together what I have found about Parallax animation in Microsoft PowerPoint, but we can’t talk about it without any idea about this “Parallax”thing.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint (simply PowerPoint) is an application that is composed an office suite of Microsoft Office that serves as a presentation tool. It creates presentations for business, students and other different things according to a field.

PowerPoint has been in use since Microsoft Corporation launched Microsoft Office in 1990 now it is counting down to 30 years of age. It has different formats (extensions) according to the purpose including normal, template and Micro-enabled.

What is Parallax Animation?

Parallax is an animation of two objects where they move on different so that it creates an illusion instance where you see two objects moving at the same time at a different speed.

The closer the object, the faster it will be; an object that is far moves at a lower speed. This has been famous in websites and web designs known as “Parallax scrolling”.

This is how Invision has defined it:

“Parallax is a perceived difference in distance and pace of objects in the foreground and background.”

History of Parallax

From the research I made, I found that Parallax has been out there for so long, since the 20^th century back in 1990s and was used for different things, I would advise you to play Classic super Mario.

Most of the games of that time were using Parallax to create 3D like scenes, where the character would move on high speed considering to the surrounding environments.

Parallax was being used. But Parallax found its way in webs back in 2010 with the help HTML5 and CSS3 and now it is used as web style.

In Parallax, the object that is near moves faster than the one far. Credit: Kord Blog

Parallax in PowerPoint

After a stunning update of Microsoft Office, 365 and 2019 were exceptional and total game changers, parallax was one the thing I was happy to use in Office.

As I said, parallax animation has come in PowerPoint as a transition style that is called “Morph”.

Why use parallax in PowerPoint?

Who on this earth hates appreciation or good things coming to him/her? Parallax creates a cool and beautiful structure in your presentation, not only that but also parallax has this smooth and elegant animation that can grab attention of the reader (of course if arranged well).

To know better the use of parallax, it requires some time of dedication but there are resources that can save you time like blogs and YouTube videos.

How does Parallax Work in PowerPoint?

Unlike CSS, HTML and web, to create Parallax effect in PowerPoint you don’t need any code. I repeat, it is free from code so it is for everyone.

To create a parallax there are crucial things you need to make it happen:

• More than one slide.
• More than one objects.
• Content on slide because it can’t work on a blank slide.
• New version of Microsoft Office, at least MS Office 2019 and above.

Why do you need more than one slide?

There is this hint within this animation! First of all, you need to create two different states of a single object the before and the after, which means the starting point and the ending point.

So, between these two or more slides when you apply the transition as it is in other transitions it tracks the two slides and create an animation but the difference of “Morph” is that it also displays the change in position of the object.

Why would you want more than one object?

Because here the purpose is to create parallax effect hence, as the definition says there are two objects; the one in foreground and the other in background.

Once you have two objects you can create that parallax, don’t try one object because that won’t be parallax it will be animation.

6 Steps to create Parallax animation

Before we see all those steps let's take a look on the final result:

 

Final result of Parallax. Credit: Kord Blog

Step 1: Create a slide

First of all, create a new slide by opening your PowerPoint from start menu, desktop, taskbar or elsewhere. Choose a slide style you want; I advise you to start with a blank slide to arrange your things from scratch as you want otherwise it can end up in bias.

Open a new slide to start animation: Image by Kord Blog

Step 2: Add Images

To create a good parallax, images are necessary because people visual communication than words. Add images in your slide as:

1. Go to insert
2. Choose from computer)this device= or online. Microsoft Office has an image library.
3. Adjust the images, put the image above below or above the slide screen so that it won’t be visible at the first time. You can add text also it works.

Add images into slide before creating transition - Credit: Kord Blog

In the image above, you can see that in the workspace there two images, but look at the thumbnail on the right only one is visible. The image that is not visible is out of the slide, do the same.

If you want images there are other various sources of free loyalty images like Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels and more. Once you are finished to add images, it’s time to start the show.

Step 3: Duplicate the slide

I repeat, to create the animation, you need two different states of single object and to do so you need to have more than one slide.

After you have finished to adjust the images, right click on the thumbnail and choose duplicate, the slide will duplicate itself either way you can create a new slide and copy content from the first slide and paste it in new slide.

By now, slides are identical what we need is to re-adjust the duplicate slide for another instance (state of images).

Step 4: Adjust the next slide

Now you have two similar slides. To re-adjust, move slightly upward the image in slide so that it’s part will be outside of the slide and bring that other image (below) inside the slide.

This is the physics: Because the first image has been moved to a small distance and the second image has been moved to a large distance, to travel their respective distances the pace will be different, the one that is travelling a small distance will move slower while the other with large distance of travel will move faster.

Re-adjust the images and apply the transition (Morph) - Image by Kord Blog

Step 5: Apply the transition

Once you are done with all the maneuvers, it’s time to add an engine. Before anything, select the second slide (otherwise if you select the first slide it will return a fade effect), go into toolbar, choose transitions tab, and choose “Morph”. On the left side of the slide there

The transition should work!

A transition that creates Parallax is called "Morph" - Credit: Kord Blog

Step 6: Preview if the effect works

After you have followed all steps above, Congratulations!

Let’s see the work, go to the right-bottom corner and play the slide. Use the up and down arrow keys to play the transition and that’s it. Either you can find slide show up in Slide Show tab and click start slide from the beginning.

Conclusion

We have seen what is Microsoft PowerPoint, what it does and where. Finally, we found that it accepts the parallax animation that is mainly recognized in classic games and web designs.

We saw what is parallax, a brief history about it and the mechanism behind its operation.

Our purpose was about how we can apply Parallax effect in PowerPoint, there are 6 steps needed to achieve this effect. Remember that to be able to do this animation, it is required to have at Microsoft Office 2019 and above.

Enjoy, it’s time to impress your team!

What else do you like about Microsoft PowerPoint? Share with us by dropping your comment below in the comment section. Thanks for your time!