How to Create a Spotlight Effect in PowerPoint

Sometimes you want to direct your audience’s focus to a specific part of your slide. A nice way to do that is to darken all of the slide except for the part you want to draw attention to. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an animated spotlight in PowerPoint 2013.

  1. Add a Rectangle shape to the slide.
  2. Remove the outline around the shape (FORMATShape OutlineNo Outline).
  3. Change the shape’s background to Black (FORMATShape Fill).
  4. Set the transparency of the shape fill to 30% (Right click the shapeFormat ShapeSet the Transparency slider for the fill to 30%).
  5. Enlarge the overlay rectangle using the sizing handles so that it’s about three times the size of the slide. This way we can later move the spotlight to any position on the slide.
  6. Add an Oval shape at the center of the overlay rectangle. This oval will act as the spotlight.
    Add Spotlight Oval
  7. Select the overlay rectangle first and then select the oval shape while holding the Shift key.
  8. Choose FORMATMerge ShapesSubtract to cut out the oval shape from the background shape.
    Subtract Spotlight from Overlay
  9. Move the resulting shape so that the spotlight hole covers the area you want to highlight.
  10. Select the spotlight shape and go to ANIMATIONSAdd AnimationCustom Path.
  11. Now click on the part of the slide you want to move the spotlight to. Double-click to stop drawing the motion path.
  12. If necessary, add a Grow/Shrink animation to change the size of the spotlight.

Click here to download the final PowerPoint file the video above was made from.

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