So the time has come to write the inevitable blog everybody has been waiting for and compare PowerPoints new Morph feature to Prezi.
The problem is I just can’t!
Not because I’m a Prezi fan and I don’t want anything to rival it, but because in all honesty you can’t really compare the two as they are still very different beasts.
We have played with the new Morph feature for a few hours here in the office and whilst we are extremely impressed and excited (yes excited by PowerPoint!) there seems to be one underlying principle that will always make the morph feature and Prezi very different from one another.
PowerPoint is still based on slides, and Prezi has no slides at all and a giant canvass instead.
We still have a lot of playing to do with the new Ppt morph feature but should Prezi be quaking in it’s boots?……definitely not!
Below are two examples of the same presentation done in both Prezi and PowerPoint Morph, along with some general notes on each.
PREZI EXAMPLE:
Yes a Star Wars theme again. I’m a nerd, what can I say! Anyway in the above example you’ll see that we can get a real sense of scale between the different space craft. This is because we are able to use the Prezi canvass and simple zooming nature of Prezi to it’s fullest.
You might notice that the stars in the background seem to move independently to the craft. This is a feature called 3D backgrounds and gives a real sense of depth.
POWERPOINT MORPH EXAMPLE:
In this video you can see the PowerPoint Morph feature being used to take us through each of the space craft. The Morph feature is actually a transition that ‘morphs’ from one slide to another. It seamlessly blends the content from slides together and gives you the effect you can see in the example above.
The potential of this is massive, and I can think of dozens of ways in which this could be really effective. I also love how simple it is to use (as it should be) and can’t wait to play around with it more.
Not a conclusion
I don’t want to draw to a conclusion just yet as Morph is so new. From our initial tests though we can honestly say that this is a fantastic, if not THE BEST addition to PowerPoint for many years. BUT……the fact remains that PowerPoint will always be based upon slides, and Prezi helps you move beyond those limitations with it’s zoomable canvas.
We will keep you posted with any more exciting updates and designs we create using Morph, and please feel free to send us your own examples that we can showcase.
Signing off.
Russell
Still Official Prezi Expert and not running over to the dark side just yet 😉
