We can see all kinds of countdown timer in our daily life. It reminds us how time flies. In some games with a time limit, usually there will be a countdown animation with different colors.
How to make a countdown timer in PowerPoint 2007?
Let’s take PowerPoint 2007 as example. Next we will work together to use the rectangle shape of PowerPoint to make a countdown timer.
Step 1
Open up PowerPoint 2007. Automatically you will have a new PowerPoint document with one slide. Click “
Insert” -> “
Shapes” -> in “
Flowchart”, select the rectangle.
Step 2
Draw the rectangle onto the slide and fill the color and set “
No outline” and “
Color” in the “
Format” tab. Copy the rectangle twice and connect the 3 rectangles in a line, one on another, set the 3 rectangle as 3 different colors.
Step 3
Select the three rectangles and group them. Click “
Ctrl” and drag a new rectangle group, set the color the same as the background. So it seems like it was not there.
Step 4
Right click on the first group of rectangles, select “
Size and Positions”, a popup window will show up. On the “
Position” tab, remember the “
Horizontal” and “
Vertical” numbers. Set the position of the second rectangle group the same as the first one. Then you’ll see the first group is covered by the second group.
Step 5
Then we will use the “
Animation” function of PowerPoint to make a countdown timer. Select the second rectangle group and add animation effect. Select “
Entrance” -> “
Fly in”, then right click on the effect and click “
Effect Options”.
Step 6
A new window will pop up with two tabs: Effect and Timing. In the “
Effect” tab, set the “
Direction” as “
From Top”. In the “
Timing” tab, set the “
Speed” as you like, for example, I set it as 20 seconds.
Now, you will be quite clear how it works:
use the second rectangle group to cover the first one gradually. It is a simple countdown animation. As long as you can handle this one, you can think more and create a much complicated one.
