Select the slide where you want to use the spotlight, then select Animated Spotlight Shape in the Shape menu. The spotlight is a rectangular shape with a circular hole in it that fills the entire slide. The hole is the "spotlight". You should only use one at any one time.

Size and position

The spotlight "background" always fills the entire slide. In the published Xplain it is always much larger than the slide, to ensure that there are never any empty areas around it.

The two yellow handles control the size and the position of the spotlight "light" on the page. The center handle controls the position, the side handle controls the size:

Shape

You can change the shape from a circle to an ellipse by holding down CTRL while dragging the outer/size handle.

Basically, spotlights animate in the same way as any other animation. However, if you want them to behave as spotlights you must use the special spotlight animations. If you use any other animation for them, they will simply behave as a normal animated shape. The "spotlight" circle will not be animated then.

When you use the spotlight animations the spotlight will appear at the start of its animation. By default, spotlights will use the Zoom In animation to zoom in to size and position you have defined when they appear. You can select other animations in the Spotlight section in the Animations tab:

Spotlight Animations

Zoom In animation:

This is the default animation applied to a spotlight when it is inserted. When the animation plays, the "spotlight" hole fills the entire screen and then zooms in to the position and size you have defined. It then stays in that position. To change it after the animation you need to move on to the next slide, or insert a second spotlight.

Zoom Out animation:

This starts with the size and position you define and then zooms out so that the spotlight fills the entire screen and is thus no longer visible.

Move animation:

Moves the spotlight from the position you define, by the number of X and Y pixels you set in the controls that appear in the toolbar when you select it. It is not currently possible to define these moves by moving the spotlight with the mouse.

Chain animation:

This automatically links to the spotlight in the previous slide, so there must be one in the previous slide for this to do anything meaningful. It starts with the position and size of the spotlight in the previous slide and moves and resizes to reach the position and size defined in the current slide. See further below for more details.

First slide: Applying this in the first slide does nothing since the Chain animation needs a spotlight in the previous slide as its starting point.

Follow cursor animation:

Centers the spotlight on the cursor and moves it with the cursor. The spotlight behaves as a frame around the cursor, moving everywhere the cursor moves. See further below for more details.

First slide: If there is an animated mouse cursor in the first slide the spotlight centers on it and moves from the center of the slide to the defined cursor position. The size of the spotlight does not change since there is no previous slide as a reference.

Using other animations on spotlights

In theory you can apply any animation to a spotlight, but only the ones in the Spotlight Animations section will actually animate it as a spotlight. All the others will simply treat it as a normal shape with a hole in it, which you can use as a static highlight.

There are a number of tricks you can use to combine the animations of spotlights from one slide to another to achieve smooth and attractive effects.

Zoom in and then zoom out

This is a neat effect that es very easy to achieve. The spotlight zooms in to focus on something and then zooms out and disappears in the next slide:

1.In the first slide, insert a spotlight with a normal Zoom In animation to focus on the area you want to highlight. This should be the last animation in the slide.

2.Click on the spotlight to select it and press CTRL+C to copy it to the clipboard.

3.In the next slide press CTRL+V to paste the spotlight, which will now have exactly the same size and position as the end state of the spotlight in slide 1.

4.Change the animation of the spotlight to Zoom Out. When the Xplain plays, the spotlight will zoom in on the area you want to highlight and then zoom out again from exactly that position when the animation plays in the next slide.

Zooming in together with the mouse cursor

This is a great effect for really focusing on what is happening on the screen. The spotlight zooms in on the area you want to focus on and the mouse cursor moves into position at exactly the same time.

1.Set up your mouse cursor animation to move to the position you want to highlight.

2.Insert a spotlight highlighting the area around the mouse cursor.

3.Check that the spotlight animation is Zoom In (this should be selected by default).

4.Click on a shaded area of the spotlight to select it, then select Start with Previous in the Reorder Animations tool in the toolbar.

The spotlight will then zoom in on the area to highlight while the mouse cursor is moving to it.

Chaining from one slide to the next

This is simply done with the Chain animation. The only thing you need to know is that there must be a spotlight in the previous slide for this to work, because that defines the starting position and size.

First slide: This animation cannot be used in the first slide since there is no previous slide as a reference.

1.Set a spotlight in the previous slide, then insert a new spotlight in the next slide.

2.Drag the position and size handles of the new spotlight to define the position and size you want the spotlight to move to.

3.With the spotlight selected, select the Chain animation in the Animations toolbar. Make sure that Start: is set to Slide Entry so that it continues smoothly from the previous slide. Set the duration of the animation as you want to have it. This is usually best with the delay set to 0.

When the second slide plays, the spotlight will start with the position and size from the previous slide and then animate to the new position and size set in the current slide.

Following the mouse cursor

This is done with the Follow Cursor animation. Selecting this option for a spotlight automatically links the spotlight to the cursor, centering it on the cursor.

First slide: If there is an animated mouse cursor in the first slide the spotlight centers on it and moves from the center of the slide to the defined cursor position. The size of the spotlight does not change since there is no previous slide as a reference.

1.Insert a spotlight in a slide where there is an animated mouse cursor you want to follow.

2.Check the animation of the mouse cursor by selecting it and looking in the animations list. The spotlight will be centered on the cursor and will follow it exactly.

3.Select the spotlight and then select Follow Cursor in the Animations toolbar.