How to Use Build Out Slide Effects in Apple Keynote ’09

Every slide show presentation needs a little zing. With build out effects in Apple’s Keynote ’09 (part of the iWork ’09 suite) you can do just that. The techniques in this article in combination with the build In effects will make for a visually appealing slide show.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Apple Macintosh Computer running Mac OS 10.5+
• iWork ’09

1. 

   Launch Keynote ’09 from the Dock or the Applications folder.

2. 

   Create a new Keynote presentation by selecting the theme you want to use and hit the “Choose” button. For this example we’ll be using the “Blueprint” theme and working with the Title & Subtitle slide, which should be the first slide that’s created automatically.

3. 

   Double-click the text areas that say “Double-click to edit” and replace them with some of your own text.

4. 

   Open the Inspector window by clicking on the Inspector button on the top menu of Keynote.

5. 

   Click on the icon that looks like a tilted yellow-orange box with motion lines on it to open the “Build” Inspector. Here you’ll see a preview of your current slide and a bunch of options.

6. 

   Select the main title on your slide. Just click on it once.

7. 

   Select the “Build Out” button in the Build Inspector.

8. 

   Click the arrow on the “Effects” drop-down box to see the options available.

9. 

   Select one of the Effects. The preview area in the Inspector window will show you what that effect looks like. For this example we’ll select “Lens Flare” as our effect.

10. 

    Choose a direction you want the Lens Flare effect to travel with the “Direction” drop-down box. The default is Left to Right.

11. 

    Increase the duration of the effect by increasing the time (in seconds) in the “Duration” box. You can also decrease it by specifying a shorter time in the same box.

12. Follow the above steps for the second item on the slide--in this case the text “for a new day.”

13. 

    Change when the effect occurs by clicking on the “More Options” button at the bottom of the Inspector window. By default, each effect happens on a click (either a mouse click, remote or other click).

14. 

    Select the item “Title” from the Build Order area and set “Start Build” to “Automatically after transition” to make the effect happen without a click.

15. Select the next item from the Build Order list and Set “Start Build” to “Automatically after build 1.” This will trigger the Lens Flare effect automatically after the Title’s effect has completed.

16. 

    Click the “Play” button at the top of the Keynote ’09 window to preview your slide. Make tweaks as you want, and remember to play around with all of the settings to familiarize yourself with the rest of the Build-Out effects.