How to make a mask for pictures in the PowerPoint slide

PowerPoint 365
Now very popular to create PowerPoint slides with pictures. It is more informative and relaxing to show funny pictures in the PowerPoint presentation, not just some text.
Sometimes you need to add pictures on your slide to make accents or for fun.

This tip shows some tricks on how to transform pictures unusually.

Mask for pictures in PowerPoint 2016     Mask 2 for pictures in PowerPoint 2016

To create a mask for your picture, you need to do just two things:

   1.   Create shapes or placeholders for your picture.

   2.   Add a picture for this shape or placeholder.

   I.   To create a group of shapes, do the following:

   1.   Add some shapes to your slide (see How to create a custom shape for more details).

For the first example was used a rectangle shape just rotated to 320o.

For the second example was used a Rectangle: Rounded Corners, rotated to 333o.

How to rotate shapes, see on the bottom of this tip.

   2.   Select all shapes you would like to group by pressing Ctrl or Shift and clicking each of these objects and do one of the following:

  • On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, select the Arrange drop-down list:
    Arrange list in PowerPoint 2016

    Then click the Group command:

    Group shapes in PowerPoint 2016
  • Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Arrange group, click the Group command:
    Drawing Tools group shapes in PowerPoint 2016
  • Right-click one of the objects and choose Group -> Group from the popup menu:
    Popup group shapes in PowerPoint 2016

PowerPoint puts a single box around the objects instead of a separate box around each object, for example:

Grouped shapes in PowerPoint 2016

   II.   To add a picture to this group of shapes, do the following:

   1.   Right-click on the grouped shapes and then choose Format Shape... in the popup menu:

Format Shape in popup PowerPoint 2016

   2.   On the Format Shape pane, on the Shape Options tab, in the Fill & Line group:

  • In the Fill section:
    • Choose Picture or texture fill,
    • Click on the File... button and then choose the picture you prefer:
    Insert file in Format Picture pane PowerPoint 2016

    Note: If the group of shapes is rotated and you prefer to see the picture not rotated, just uncheck the Rotate with shape checkbox:

    Fill tab in PowerPoint 2016

    Note: You can change the position of your picture, also using different parameters for Offset fields.

  • In the Line section, select No line:
    Line in Format Shape pane in PowerPoint 2016

Add any other adjustments you would like.

For example, you can:

  • group different shapes:
    Group different shapes in PowerPoint 2016
  • or even choose some Smart Art object:
    Smart Art shapes in PowerPoint 2016

Note: To rotate a selected shape, do one of the following:

  • Use the rotation handle in the top of the selecting border:
    Rotation handle in PowerPoint 2016
  • Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Arrange group, select some commands in the Rotate drop-down list:
    Rotation in PowerPoint 2016
  • In the Format Shape pane (to open the Format Shape pane, right-click on the shape and choose Format Shape... in the popup menu), on the Shape Options tab, in the Size & Properties group, in the Size section, choose or enter different volumes in the Rotation edit box:
    Format shape in PowerPoint 2016

See also this tip in French: Comment créer un masque pour les photos dans la diapositive PowerPoint.

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