Perspector 4 Pro
Reviewed: Geetesh Bajaj
Date Created: Nov 21st 2007
Last Updated: February 26th 2009
Introduction
About Perspector 4
New Features
Using Perspector 4
Pricing and Support
Conclusion
Introduction
PowerPoint makes it easy to insert pictures, shapes, text, and multimedia -- and the new PowerPoint 2007 adds ample improvements by way of effects and themes. Yet PowerPoint's 3D abilities still require some assistance from add-ins like Perspector.
Now in version 4, Perspector helps you do more 3D stuff inside PowerPoint -- this review will explore more...
About Perspector 4
Perspector is from Visual Exemplars Ltd, a company based in Edinburgh, UK. You can learn more about Visual Exemplars and download the free trial version of Perspector 4 here...
Perspector 4 is the newest version with added features -- you'll find a review of the earlier Perspector version here...
My contact at Perspector for this review was George McCaskill - thank you, George.
New Features
The new feature in Perspector 4 include:
- 3D Lists: These are really quick to play with,
and provide awesome results.
- 3D Charts: You can now insert 3D charts into PowerPoint
presentations -- these charts can be set up from a PowerPoint table or
an Excel spreadsheet. Just select the data and chart types from a series
of thumbnail previews in the Perspector 4 panel, and the 3D chart appears
on your slide. The charts are fully editable in 3 dimensions, and the display
properties can be changed via a properties panel. Perspector charts also
have an international character sets for users not producing presentations
in English.
- Slide and Image Layouts: All of these layouts are available
in Perspector Professional Edition only. You can place images from picture
files, and images of your other slides, into these placeholders.
- Library Images: All of these 3D objects are available in the Perspector Library that is installed with Perspector
Using Perspector 4
When installed, the add-in creates:
- A Perspector toolbar within PowerPoint 2003 and earlier (see Figure 1 )
- A Perspector group in PowerPoint 2007 (see Figure 1 )
Figure 1: Perspector toolbar and group
To learn how you can create a 3D list in PowerPoint 2007 using Perspector 4.0, look here...
Follow these steps to create a chart with Perspector 4:
- Within PowerPoint, insert a new slide with the blank layout.
- Choose the third button (Insert Chart) in the Perspector toolbar or group
(refer to Figure 1).
- This will open the Perspector Panel on the right side of the PowerPoint
interface as shown in Figure 2 .
Figure 2: Perspector Panel
Here you will find various options for inserting data into the chart -- choose as required.
- This brings up the Chart Type options that you can see in Figure
3.
Figure 3: Chart Type
Click to choose the Chart Type; each chart type has more categories, choose the chart style you want to insert on the PowerPoint slide.
- This opens the Perspector 4 interface, as shown in Figure 4
Figure 4: Perspector 4 interface
- You can edit the charts in the Chart properties window (see Figure
5).
Figure 5: Chart Properties
- Once done click the OK button to get back to PowerPoint.
- Rendering the chart in the slide may take some time. Once done, the slide
will show the chart, as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 3: Inserted Chart
- If you still want to edit it, just double click on the chart which will open the familiar Perspector interface and chart properties windows.
Perspector 4 provides many more new features -- their site has more information...
Pricing and Support
Perspector 4 has two versions:
- The Standard version costs $149.00, and
- The Professional version is for $299.00.
Support is through email, online knowledge base, and manuals.
Conclusion
Perspector 4 is a mature and capable product that opens up new possibilities in the PowerPoint interface -- Perspector's own user screens mimic the PowerPoint dialog boxes -- so that really reduces the learning curve. The price is right too, and the results can be awesome.
