The transitions between the individual slides of your PowerPoint presentation offer a creative workspace to quickly and easily make presentations more engaging and interactive. The PowerPoint Morph effect is an extremely helpful tool for this. Here's how to use it!

The PowerPoint Morph effect - what is it?

In biology, metamorphosis describes the process of transformation or a change of form. The derived activity of "morphing" in PowerPoint describes the transformation or smooth transition from one slide to the next .

All modern versions of PowerPoint have a morphing function. This allows PowerPoint to calculate the movements and changes of individual objects and smoothly adapt them when transitioning to the next slide.

PowerPoint Morph creates animation effects that enhance interactivity and audience engagement. You may be familiar with such animation/video effects from Prezi. Ideally, you create the illusion of a continuous camera movement along a compelling storyline, giving your presentation a sophisticated animation and a more modern look.

The actual implementation of the PowerPoint Morph effect, however, is surprisingly simple. All objects and images only need a starting and a target state, which you can freely define beforehand.

You can also find further tips on how to involve your audience in your presentation in our article on "Interactive Presentations".

PowerPoint Morphing allows you to create animations with a single click and use them as slide transitions. Animations should primarily be eye-catching and visually support the main theme of your presentation. In some cases, such animation can even reinforce the message . However, unnecessary animations should be avoided as much as possible.

Note: If you are looking for other animations or general tips & tricks on PowerPoint animations and their use, you should take a look at our blog: Click here for the post !

Requirements for the PowerPoint morph

The PowerPoint Morph feature is a relatively new element of Microsoft's presentation software. Therefore, the technical requirements for creating and displaying Morph effects are crucial for its proper use.

Older versions of PowerPoint can only partially display Morph effects, but cannot create them themselves. Even older versions don't understand the information of a Morph effect and instead play a "fade" effect in the presentation. The table below lists which PowerPoint versions support Morph and which do not:

^1. To display Morph effects with PowerPoint 2016, you need at least the following Office updates: KB3114971, KB3114961, KB3114958, KB3114859, KB3114535.

*Creating Morph transitions in mobile apps is only possible with a Microsoft 365 subscription.

What are the advantages of the PowerPoint morph?

#1: Attention

You might be familiar with this: the longer a presentation lasts, the more likely the audience's mind wanders and they lose focus. Animations and variety make it easier to keep the audience listening and participating. This also applies to the morphing effect!

#2: Simplicity

Even for PowerPoint beginners, the Morph effect is easy to create in just a few clicks.

#3: Visually appealing and professional

The Morph effect is simple, yet it makes you appear like a true PowerPoint pro. This effect visually supports your statements and amplifies their impact.

#4: Many possibilities

With the Morph effect, you can create a wide variety of animations, whether it's an image, text, or shape. Create the effect entirely according to your wishes and needs.

PowerPoint Morph Effect: Here's how!

To use the PowerPoint morph as a transition, you need two consecutive slides as templates. Certain objects on the first slide should seamlessly transform into new or redesigned objects on the next slide when transitioning to the next.

For a complete morph transformation, the selected objects require an initial state (on the first slide) and a target state (on the second slide). The fully "morphed" objects on the second slide are therefore modified duplicates of the original objects from the first slide.

What sounds complicated is actually quite simple in practice. Below, we'll show you a step-by-step tutorial on how to distort and change the color of a rectangle.

1. Insert object : In the " Insert " tab, you will find the " Shapes" category. In this example, we have selected the " Rectangle " and placed it on the slide.
   

2. Choose a color : The " Shape Format " tab opens in the top bar. Here you can, among other things, define the (initial) color of your object. Design the (initial) object freely according to your taste; you can choose the design as you wish.

3. Duplicate the slide : In the slide overview on the side, click on the thumbnail of the first slide. To duplicate the slide, press Ctrl + D or right-click and select " Duplicate Slide ". You now have the source and target slides for the upcoming morph effect.

4. Design the final slide : The second slide of the morph transition represents the final state of your animation. Distort the shape of the rectangle with the mouse, change its position, or recolor it as desired (right-click → " Format Shape ").

5. Morph Effect: With the second slide (target slide) selected, go to the " Transitions " tab. Now click on the " Morph " transition effect in the selection window above to create the animation. The shape will transform into the shape you created when you click on the second slide.

Your personalized morph animation is now being calculated by PowerPoint and is ready for use. You can use the " Preview " option to test the smooth functioning of the transition.

Once you understand the principle of morphing, you'll have a wide range of options for creating exciting animations and slide transitions. Get creative with shapes, images, and text, and design your own interactive presentation using the PowerPoint Morph effect!

Morphing text in PowerPoint

To make the morph effect work with text or individual letters , you need to activate an additional setting in your PowerPoint project beforehand. First, follow the instructions above for creating the morph effect. Instead of a rectangle, insert text on your source slide. You can then freely customize the duplicated text box on the second, or target, slide. In addition to changing the text content, you can also modify the font, color, size, and position .

After clicking " Morph " in the " Transitions " tab in step five, open the " Effect Options " shown alongside. There, select " Character " or " Word " instead of " Objects ." This provides PowerPoint with the necessary additional information for a flawless morphing process.

Images with zoom effect through PowerPoint morphing

The morph effect offers another exciting way to make graphics and photos in your presentation more interactive through zoom effects . Slide transitions are used to zoom in on a specific area of ​​the image. This allows you to employ a new narrative style to make your next presentation more eye-catching and modern.

First, upload any photo or graphic to a new, blank slide in your PowerPoint project. Next, duplicate the entire slide using the command Ctrl+D or by right-clicking the slide thumbnail and selecting " Duplicate Slide ".

This is how you obtain the source and target slides for your PowerPoint Morph effect . Now you need to define the area you want to zoom into. To do this, you must crop the photo on the second slide to the desired area. Select the image and open the " Picture Format " tab at the top of the image. Here you will find the " Crop " option.

Using the mouse pointer and the pressed CTRL key, you can now frame the desired image section appropriately without distorting the page proportions.

Now you can enlarge the smaller image section until it completely fills the slide. Here too, holding down the Ctrl key while distorting with the mouse pointer can be helpful in maintaining the image's proportions.

The next step involves the PowerPoint morph transition :

Make sure you have selected the target slide with the image crop before adding the morph effect. You'll find the transition in the " Transitions " tab in the header. The PowerPoint " Morph " effect will take care of the rest. After selection, you can test the morph animation using the " Preview " button.

In the " Display duration " category, you can adjust the length of the transition and even add minor sound effects if needed.

Conclusion: Use the PowerPoint Morph transition to give your slides a surprising effect!

PowerPoint Morph allows you to create high-quality animations . The modern transition effect livens up presentations and increases their creativity and dynamism . This allows you to direct the audience's attention to specific details through targeted use.

Those already experienced with PowerPoint can use the Morph feature to create almost fully automated presentations . The Morph feature is fully available to all users of newer PowerPoint versions, such as PowerPoint 2019 and PowerPoint Web. Office 365 subscribers can also enjoy this feature. Morphing is not always backward compatible (see table: "Prerequisites for PowerPoint Morph").

Do you need help creating or implementing a PowerPoint Morph effect in your presentation? Or do you have other problems or questions about PowerPoint? Don't hesitate to contact me. You can reach me by email at becker@presentationload.de.

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You might also be interested in these articles:

• Insert GIF into PowerPoint
• PowerPoint animations
• PowerPoint zoom
• Interactive presentations