MS PowerPoint is normally used for making slides for presentations. But it has also got some hidden features you will love to know. Have you ever imagined making a logo or infographics with PPT ? Yes, we can do that. In our previous post we also made an animation with PowerPoint. Cool !! In this article we will learn how to create promotional graphics with ppt and save a few bucks, which you would have purchased otherwise.

Key concept behind graphics

1. Objects
   Objects are the primary thing of a visual material and they are plentily available in PowerPoint. Go to Insert → Shapes and you will find most of them. Try to compare with real life. Most objects are either circular, rectangular, elliptic, square or cylindrical. If you are a pro in mouse, build your own custom shapes as well (Insert → Shapes → Scribble).
2. Orientation
   Probably the most needed the thing in visual elements. If you cannot rotate, it is meaning less. PowerPoint makes it even simpler with pixel perfect rotation ability. Go to Format → Rotate → More Rotation Options. You can rotate with an accuracy of 1 degree as well.
3. Layering
   Well, this is another powerful feature. PowerPoint has got its own way of layering objects. You can group multiple objects into one and do this. Right click → Send to Back (Bring to Front). Though it is not exactly same as the layering feature present in Photoshop but you can somehow manage.
4. Opacity
   This is a present day trend. You know better what I mean. With background visible and the top object slightly dimmed. Check Format → Shape Fill → More Fill colors → Transparency (at bottom).
5. Transparent background
   The ultimate needed thing unless you have an awesome tool to make the background transparent with perfect edges. I have tried couple of tools but the result is not pixel perfect. Fortunately PowerPoint has a workaround to make background transparent. I am not sure why this is a hidden feature but you can use it without any issue.

Save PPT with transparent background

This is a simple VBA macro to make PowerPoint slide transparent background.

Sub SaveSlideAsPNG()
    Dim ap As Presentation: Set ap = ActivePresentation
    Dim sl As Slide
    Dim shGroup As ShapeRange
    choice = InputBox("Provide slide numbers separated by comma(,). Write 'all' to save all slides as png", "Save slide as png")
    choice = Replace(choice, " ", "")
    slideArr = Split(choice, ",")
    For Each sl In ap.Slides
        If (choice = sl.SlideIndex Or InStr(choice, "," + CStr(sl.SlideIndex)) Or InStr(choice, CStr(sl.SlideIndex) + ",") Or choice = "all") Then
            ActiveWindow.View.GotoSlide (sl.SlideIndex)
            sl.Shapes.SelectAll
            Set shGroup = ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange
            shGroup.Export ap.Path & "\Slide" & sl.SlideIndex & ".png", _
                                ppShapeFormatPNG, , , ppRelativeToSlide
        End If
    Next
End Sub

You can save the ppt file with macro enabled extension, go to Developer → Visual Basic → Insert → Module → and put above code. If the "Developer" tab is not enabled, go to File → Options → Customize Ribbon → Select Developer from right side list. The VBA macro will ask for slide numbers, you can put multiple side numbers by comma. You can then close the VBA editor and run the macro from Developer → Macros.