Use PowerPoint to Create Custom Videos

PowerPoint does more than you think

Someone in the community asked how to make a circle-shaped video for a Storyline interaction. Most people assume that requires a dedicated video editor. The good news is PowerPoint handles it well, and you probably already have it.

What PowerPoint can do for e-learning

PowerPoint is a capable multimedia tool. It handles graphics, animations, and custom video with ease. Here are a few things the community has built with it:

• Circle avatar character graphics
• Custom illustrations for Rise flash card interactions
• 3D model interactions for Storyline

These examples show what’s possible before you get to the video techniques below.

How to create a circle-shaped video

Watch the video to see more detail, but the basic steps are below.

One fast option skips video editing entirely. Place an image with a circular cutout on top of the video. The video plays underneath and only shows through the circle. It’s quick and doesn’t touch the original file.

If you want the video file itself to be circular, PowerPoint is the tool. Follow these steps:

1. Set a square slide size. Change the custom dimensions to something like 10 inches by 10 inches. That gives you a 1:1 aspect ratio and a final video close to 1000×1000 pixels.
2. Insert your video. Choose the clip you want to use.
3. Crop the video to 1:1. Most videos are 16:9 or 4:3. Crop to square to get a perfect circle.
4. Scale the video to fill the slide. Make it as large as possible within the slide boundaries.
5. Export as video. Choose .mp4.

The output file is a rectangle, but inside it sits your circle-shaped video. Use a layered image in your course to mask the corners.

A few more things to try

PowerPoint’s video formatting options are worth exploring. You can adjust brightness, contrast, and color. Animations and slide transitions export to video too. Anything you build on a slide can become a video asset.

One more thing to keep in mind: the corners of the exported video won’t be transparent. Set the slide background to match your course background color. That way the corners blend in and the circle looks clean.

Key takeaways

PowerPoint keeps surprising people with what it can do. The shaped video technique is one example of how familiar tools can replace specialist software. Try it on your next project and see what else PowerPoint can produce. What other PowerPoint tricks have you found useful for e-learning?