FlashSpring Pro 2.2 on giveawayoftheday today

[Darwin]

I meant to post about this this morning but got seriously sidetracked. No matter, there are still almost 6.5 hours left on the offer so someone may benefit... GiveawayoftheDay is offering FlashSpring Pro for free today, until midnight P.S.T. If you're interested, you'll need to download and activate it before that time (once it's activated, you can install it whenever you like, provided you don't format your drive in the interim).

FlashSpring Pro 2.2 is a new advanced version of a well-known PowerPoint to Flash converter.

It creates Flash movies from PowerPoint presentations, decreasing the size of the final file and providing the possibility to publish presentations online.

It's actually more handy than you'd think (though perhaps less than you'd hope for the normal asking price)... and the price is right!

[lanux128]

yes, it's very handy if you do a lot of presentations. it will insert a nifty toolbar inside your PowerPoint that allows you to convert your PPTs to Flash..

btw, this is the 2nd time it's featured on GAOTD. i got mine from the earlier giveaway and it was worth the while..

[Darwin]

Heh, heh - it's the THIRD time it's been offered - I got in on an offer on version 1.x, then picked up version 2.01 and this morning got 2.2. As launx said, if you need to share your presentations with a lot of people this is a nice solution - it generates fairly small files and doesn't require the recipient/end "viewer" to have PowerPoint installed, yet retains the slideshow qualities of the original presentation.

[lanux128]

i didn't notice v1.0 but since then had picked up v2.0x.. btw Darwin, since there is a few more hours left, i'm curious to know what is the new in version 2.2?

[Darwin]

Ha, ha, I don't know! It's a kneejerk reaction for me - I just automatically downloaded and installed it and haven't even looked at it... hang on, I'll check it out.

[Darwin]

Here's a long list of changes since version 2 was released. Being lazy, I've simply copy and pasted them in here and will simply note that they may be found in their orignal form here.

What's new in FlashSpring Pro 2.2
FlashSpring Pro 2.2 is an enhanced version from FlashSpring product line. The guideline of functionality enhancements in 2.2 is improved processing of PowerPoint elements including synchronization of sounds and support of animated GIF images. The interface of FlashSpring 2.2 remains the same as in the version 2.1.

New features in FlashSpring Pro 2.2

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Synchronization of animations and sounds
FlashSpring Pro 2.2 advanced greatly in synchronization of animation and sounds. If in PowerPoint you have used such options as Record Narration and Rehearse Timings or just synchronize animation and sounds by hand, after conversion to Flash there will be no changes in the synchronization.

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High quality processing of grouped shapes
With FlashSpring Pro 2.2 the conversion of grouped shapes will be done correctly. All the shapes will be in the same positions relatively to each other. It also concerns all the texts and hyperlinks included in your presentation.

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Vector conversion of tables
Tables are processed perfectly with FlashSpring Pro 2.2. Texts within tables are stored in vector form keeping their original layout and hyperlinks interactivity.

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Support of animated GIF images
FlashSpring Pro 2.2 perfectly converts both static and animated GIF images into Flash.

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Creation of Banners
The skin of banner is included FlashSpring Pro 2.2. The provided banner skin is optimised for compact banners creation. Now you may create a banner of the size you need within some minutes. But in the banner transition effects and sounds are not supported.

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Conversion of large (300+ Mb) presentations
FlashSpring 2.2 core was optimized for an effective use of the computer memory. FlashSpring Pro 2.2 can flawlessly convert presentations with high quality audio or video files resulted in big size of the presentation (200-300 Mb and even more).

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Improved processing of hyperlinks on Master Slides
Hyperlinks in presentations with multiple Master Slides are supported.

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Slide and presentation background audio files in WMA format
Slide and presentation background audio files in WMA format are now supported. They can be added in Audio Settings window.

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New features in FlashSpring Pro 2.1


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Improved processing of Master slides
FlashSpring Pro 2.1 improved master slide processing for PowerPoint 2002/2003. Texts, hyperlinks, animation effects and embedded Flash movies at Master Slides are now processed flawlessly.

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Support of mouse driven animations
FlashSpring Pro 2.1 provides improved playback control for Flash presentations. Now you can advance to the next animation step on mouse click or/and use automatic step advance functionality.

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Improved grouped shapes positioning
As many PowerPoint users group shapes to use them as a single whole, FlashSpring Pro 2.1 highly preserves positioning of grouped shapes and separate objects on the slide. Grouping shapes can be useful, for example, if you create a logo for your company that is composed of separate basic shapes.

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.WMA audio files support
FlashSpring Pro 2.1 supports .WMA audio file format. Comparing with MP3 format, WMA files possess better ability of compression that allows to reduce file size dramatically. This point is especially important for rich media presentations.

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Opening hyperlinks in specified browser window
FlashSpring Pro 2.1 not only retains all the web hyperlinks of your original presentation but also allows you to select the browser window where they will be opened - the same window, new browser window, parent window or user-specified window.

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Inserting Flash files into Master slides
Flash is one the most active elements of presentation and now you can embed Flash movies in Master slide.

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Enhanced quality of raster images processing
Imroved processing of raster images preserves the original look of your presentation and perfects the quality of such images in final Flash movie.

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Play/pause buttons in navigation panel
Navigation panel now supports play and pause options.

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Looped playback of slide transitions and animation effects audio
PowerPoint looped sounds are now flawlessly supported.

[cranioscopical]

Just tried it.
It's certainly quick and easy to use!
On my system it makes a reasonable job of 'native' PowerPoint text.
It is unsatisfactory for embedded graphics and for scaled PowerPoint items (e.g. bar graphs). These are too blurry to be useful, even though they are sharp in the original .ppt.
Attached is an example, using the highest settings in FlashSpring Pro 2.2
[attach]

[Darwin]

Thanks for posting that, Chris. I've not had these problems with past versions - I've now got 2.2 installed and will try converting some files for comparison. Probably have to wait until tomorrow, though...

[cranioscopical]

Could well be that I missed something that should have been obvious.  I'd be interested in results from anyone else but only as idle curiosity.  I don't see that I have a use for Flash versions of PowerPoint right now.  To be honest, I !!!detest!!! PowerPoint and use it only for one client who insists on that format due to corporate policy.

P. S. I apologize to anyone reading this thread for not placing the image as a thumbnail.
If there's a wrong way to do something I'll find it.