Friday, May 06, 2011

Moving a video into Keynote (finally!)

Okay, I was determined to use the iPad to present yesterday, so I had created the presentation on the desktop in Keynote and moved it to the iPad through the file sharing in iTunes. I just dragged it to the area next to the Keynote app and it moved over to the iPad the next time I synced. You can see this below. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1 Moving a Keynote file from the computer to the iPad via iTunes

 The presentation worked perfectly when I tested it via the VGA connection. All embedded movies worked, and things looked great! However, before I presented, I found another great video to use in the presentation. I only had the iPad, and did not know how to get the video into the PHOTOS app on the iPad, which is the only place Keynote on the iPad would pull it from. I tried iWork, DropBox, iDisk, and emailing the file to myself. I could play it on the iPad, but not insert it into the presentation.


It seems as if the only way you can get a video into the PHOTOS app is by using the computer you regularly sync with. I first tried loading the video into iTunes, and syncing, but that put the video in the VIDEOS app on the iPad which Keynote cannot import from.

So, here is my solution.



Fig. 2 Folder on computer containing images and videos
Go into the Pictures folder on your computer.

  1. Create a folder (mine is called "_pics for iphone") (Fig. 2)
  2. Put the photos AND videos you want to use with Keynote on the iPad into this folder
  3. Go into iTunes, pick your iPad, and choose the PHOTOS tab.
  4. Chose to "sync photos from pictures" (instead of iPhoto). (Fig. 3)
  5. Pick "selected folders"
  6. Check "include videos"
  7. Check the folder you created which contains your assets.
Fig. 3 Setup in iTunes  for syncing a particular folder of images and videos to the iPad


The items now all wind up in the PHOTOS app, as you can see from the screenshot below. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 4  Photos and the video in the iPad Photos app


Once you open Keynote on the iPad, add a new slide, and chose the MEDIA tab, you can easily chose the video  from the PHOTOS app to embed into the presentation. (Fig. 5)

Fig. 5  Selecting the video file from the Photos app in Keynote on the iPad


And, finally, the video is embedded in the Keynote presentation on the iPad.  (Fig. 6)

Fig. 6  Media embedded in the Keynote presentation on the iPad


You will need to know this process if you are planning to add media to a presentation you create on the iPad or add media to one that you have moved from the desktop to the iPad. I hope this blog post helped you out! (And, by the way, giving the presentation from the iPad yesterday was a breeze!)

Addendum (5/8/11)
  • When creating a Jing screencast sometimes, even after embedding it on Keynote for the Mac and moving the file to the iPad, the video is not accepted. I have found that the best format for videos to put in Keynote presentations on the Mac to make sure they work on the iPad, are mp4s with the codecs of H.264 and AAC.
  • I also found out that embedded audio files in a Keynote for the Mac presentation don't move over to the iPad. I had to make little movies of static images and put the sound files as the audio line in the mp4 in order to play the sounds in Keynote on the iPad.
Addendum (5/13/11)
  • Mike Wakefield sent a comment...."Kathy - I had no problems with a video (h.264) I e-mailed myself on the iPad2; when I touched the reply/fwd arrow in the (iPad) e-mail app, I just hit the "save video" option and it popped it right into my Photos file on the iPad. From there, I was able to bring it into Keynote with no issue." I tried it and it worked like a charm...thanks, Mike!
  • @WebGalPat on Twitter tried a "regular" mp4, and it worked just fine, too! Thanks, Pat!


    Sunday, May 01, 2011

    Learning Keynote for the iPad

    I have moved myself from PowerPoint to Keynote on the Mac in the last year for creation of my presentations. For those of you that do not use Keynote, there is one major difference between Keynote and PowerPoint.

    When I create PowerPoint presentations with linked videos or audios, I had to make sure to bring the media files along with my presentation when I went out to speak. Keynote, on the other hand, embeds all the media files right within the Keynote file itself, so I only have to take one (large) file with me! This is a huge relief for those of us that were always worrried that we might forget one of the linked videos for our PowerPoint presentations!

    When Keynote for the iPad came out, I was very excited since it was very easy to move my Keynote files from my computer through iTunes, iWork, or my iDisk to Keynote on the iPad.  All the sound files, movies and the standard transitions and timings worked great on the iPad. And, once the latest version of Keynote for the iPad came out, and I could see my presenter notes on the iPad while presenting, I began to present directly from the iPad with the VGA-out connector!

    The one thing I had not done was create a Keynote presentation on the iPad itself. I purchased the Visual Quickstart Guide, Keynote for the iPad, by Tom Negrino and found that it is really well-written. As one that learns well from manuals, I read it through it and tried some things out.

    However, an iPad app, Tutor for Keynote for iPad by Noteboom Productions, was recommended by my friend Midge Frazel, and I decided to demo it. It is made up of a series of screencast tutorial videos and is chunked beautifully! The speaker's voice is calm and low-key, and the tutorials are very easy to follow.

    Screenshot from Tutor for Keynote for the iPad

    The screencasts are broken up into the follow chapters:
    • Introduction
    • Presentation Sample
    • Presentation Sample Close Up
    • Keynote Interface
    • Virtual Keyboard
    • Themes
    • Working with Slides
    • Skipping Slides
    • Working with Objects
    • Deleting Slides and Objects
    • Working with Text
    • Working with Media
    • Working with Tables
    • Working with Charts
    • Working with Shapes
    • Hyperlinks
    • Copy and Paste
    • Transitions
    • Magic Move Transition
    • Using Builds
    • Presentation Notes
    • Laser Pointer
    • Sharing
    • Conclusion 
    After watching the entire series of tutorials and experimenting with Keynote on my iPad after each chapter, I realized that Keynote on the iPad is full-featured enough for teachers and students to utilize it for creating their presentations.  You really do not need to have access to a presentation program on a desktop if you have an iPad. With the purchase of the Keynote for the iPad application for $9.99 and this Tutor for Keynote for iPad app for $3.99, you and your students can have both a wonderful tutorial series and the software you need to create stunning presentations with enough bells and whistles to keep any student engaged!