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Comparison of PowerPoint and Director features

In cases where there is no exact match for a PowerPoint feature in Director, Director uses the closest matching feature. The following tables summarize how Director handles nonmatching PowerPoint features as well as other issues that occur when importing presentations.

PowerPoint text | Director equivalent
--- | ---
Text Tool objects on the Slide Master | Text Tool objects on the Slide Master aren't placed in the Score. Cast members are created, but you must manually add them to the Score.
Bold or italic text | Depending on the font used, text wrap and character spacing may differ in Director.
Embossed text font effect and shadow font effect | Text appears as regular text. As a workaround, in PowerPoint you can use the Format > Shadow command to add a shadow effect to the entire text block.
Rotated text | Text is not rotated.
Text that uses unavailable fonts | Text uses the nearest matching font. Text spacing and wrapping may change as a result.
Text using non-anti-aliased fonts and italic style | Cast members are inverted (reading left to right).
Text with text wrap turned off | Text wrapping is turned on.
Colored text in Microsoft Word tables within a presentation | Text appears as black text.
Multiple line spacing settings or line spacing in text objects that use multiple fonts | One line spacing setting is used per object.

PowerPoint lines and fills | Director equivalent
--- | ---
Dotted and dashed lines | Solid lines are used.
Medium dashed lines | Lines are not imported. Change the line weight in PowerPoint before importing.
Lines with arrowheads | Lines don't have arrowheads.
Lines with blunt ends | Line ends are tapered or rounded, depending on the line type.
Pattern fills | The object appears as a solid object.
Arcs with fills that end flush with their fills | Arcs with fills extend beyond their fills.
Semitransparent AutoShape fills | No fill is used. It is recommended that you set the blend of the Director sprite to 50%.
From Title shading | From Center radial gradient is used.

PowerPoint bulleted lists | Director equivalent
--- | ---
Backgrounds for bulleted text blocks using build effects | The background appears on the Stage in the same frame in which the first bulleted item appears. If necessary, extend the background sprite's duration to an earlier frame in the Score.
Bullet builds | Bullets always build one bullet item at a time, regardless of their level.
Bulleted items with the Random Effects build effect | A single transition, selected at random, is assigned to each bullet in the text block.
Dimming of previous bulleted items | Dimming is achieved by setting the cast member to a 50% blend. The dimming color is not used.
Text with a text anchor set to top centered, middle centered, or bottom centered | The vertical anchor setting is preserved. All items in a bulleted list must have consistent settings for the centered anchor setting to be preserved.

PowerPoint transitions | Director equivalent
--- | ---
CheckerBoard Across transition | CheckerBoard Down transition
Fade Through Black transition | No transition
Cut and Cut Through transitions | No transition

PowerPoint objects and bitmaps | Director equivalent
--- | ---
Bitmaps saved in a Macintosh presentation and imported into Director for Windows, or bitmaps saved in a Windows presentation and imported into Director for Macintosh | Cross-platform bitmaps are not imported. Before importing, open the presentation on the same platform you will use for Director and save the presentation. For example, before importing into Director for Windows, first open the Macintosh presentation file in PowerPoint for Windows and save the file.
Color depth of graphics | Director creates bitmaps for all graphics in the current monitor depth when importing. For a different color depth, change the monitor setting before importing or use the Modify > Transform Bitmap command to modify the bitmap cast members.
Bitmaps with white extending beyond colored borders | Director strips white space from the outer edges of bitmaps. This may lead to differences in alignment of objects on the Stage, or objects may be stretched to fill the space.
EPS format graphics | There may be some distortion of graphics in this format when it is re-created in Director.
8-bit graphics | On occasion, some colors may not import correctly in 8-bit displays. If this occurs, set the display to a higher color depth before you import.
OLE objects (such as a Microsoft Excel chart or Microsoft Word table) | These objects are imported as bitmaps.
Solid-color shadows on clip art and charts | Solid-color shadows are reproduced as duplicates of the object and are offset by the number of pixels specified for the shadow.
Objects using shading that are created in PowerPoint on the Macintosh and imported into Director on Windows | In rare cases, Director may re-create the shaded objects in different colors.
Page numbers | Page numbers inserted on the SlideMaster using PowerPoint 4 are not imported. However, page numbers inserted into the master slide footer using PowerPoint 95 or PowerPoint 97 are imported properly after they are saved in PowerPoint 4 format.
Hidden slides | If the last slide of your PowerPoint presentation is hidden, Director will display the slide and play it back. Either remove the slide from the Score or move the end marker and script one frame to the left.
Notes pages | Objects on the Notes pages aren't placed in the Score. Bitmap cast members are created for objects such as pictures, clip art, and tables. However, text is ignored.
Rotated shapes | Changing and saving shapes several times may obscure rotation data in Director. Shapes may be imported with rotation off by 180º. Try copying the shapes to a new PPT file and saving them.
Files edited and saved using multiple versions of PowerPoint | If items are not imported as expected, or if bullet builds do not occur, saving the PPT file in multiple PPT formats may have obscured the data to Director. Try copying the slides to a new PPT file and saving.