Converting an Impress Presentation to a Video

Using the free Windows Live Movie Maker Beta, it is possible to easily convert a multimedia instructional module created in Impress (a free, open source alternative to PowerPoint) into a video that can be viewed on a computer or burned to a DVD for viewing on a TV or dedicated DVD player. With the free Any Video Converter, the video can be quickly converted to formats that can be viewed on mobile phones, played on media players, uploaded to YouTube, blogs or other web sites.

Here is an example of a video I created from a demo Impress module I use in presentations:

[Note: If you can't see the video controls below, try refreshing the browser window.]

Here is a second version of the same video, where I replaced the third slide with a Flip video demonstrating the actual process of dialing the phone:

Here are the steps I followed to create this video:

(1) In Impress, make the first slide of the presentation current. Under "File" in the menu bar, export the slide in JPEG format. Name the file something like "Slide01." Do the same for the rest of the slides in the presentation, numbering the file name sequentially as you save them. See "Photographing" an Impress Slide for a tutorial on how to do this.

(2) In Windows Live Movie Maker Beta, create "movie" using JPEG images created in (1). Add MP3 audio previously recorded for the Impress presentation and synchronize with JPEG images. Publish movie. A tutorial on how to do this can be found at this link: Using Windows Live Movie Maker Beta to Recreate an Impress Presentation.

(3) Use Any Video Converter to convert videos in Windows Media Format (.wmv) to the format required by the media player, device or service you wish to use. For a tutorial on how to do this with the free Any Video Converter, go to this link: Using Any Video Converter to Convert a Video.