Illustrator for Powerpoint

[pattyfun]

I am creating black and white and color illustrations for Powerpoint in CS2---what do I save the files as? I did some googling and came up
with PNG, but then others said no good....????

thanks....

[alcbevtesting@alltel.net]

BMP - Bitmap images work well for Microsoft programs. I created many in Photoshop and just saved with bmp extension.

I do not remember if you can save as bmp directly from Illu. If you have PS take it there first?

[TORCH511]

To be honest, just about anything will work, GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, WMF, EMF or EPS, all exportable direct from illustrator.

It really becomes a matter of how big the presentation file gets. If you are running this off your laptop and do not have to worry about file transfer and you are showing this on a large screen using a digital projector, then use some good PNG files.

If the presentation is being sent over a live network feed and viewed on screen only, then scale the images back some.

But just about any graphic will work well in Powerpoint.

[Scott Weichert]

I find, most often, an RGB PNG file works best for 99% of the users that request Microsoft-importable artwork (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc) I choose to use eps, but most of my clients are completely confused by that format.

[kazbear]

I like to use use PNG because of the transparency. So you can place an image with no white background.

Someone here will correct me if I'm wrong, but the only bitmap formats that support transparency are:

PNG
GIF
(PSD maybe? But the version of PPT I tested on (2002) does not import it)

PNG will also support levels of transparency (Where gif is just one). So if you make an object 50% transparent in Illustrator, it will appear 50% transparent in PPT as a PNG file. This makes the format very flixible in my eyes...

I assume the Vector formats will support transparency:

EPS
WMF
EMF
others?

From my experience, EPS does not show up (Not sure why, Scott?). WMF and EMF support the transparent background, but not the variable transparency (Cant see through 50%).

-kaz

[TORCH511]

I love the PNG format, glad it has gained in popularity and in support from software applications and web browsers alike.

[pattyfun]

Thanks....very thorough....I believe PNG it is!