Creating Object Builds

General object builds work much the same way as the previous builds in this chapter. The only difference is that you will be working with any element that you can place on the Slide Canvas, including text boxes, shapes , graphics, or movies. Actually, to Keynote, anything on the Slide Canvas is an object, including bulleted text boxes, tables, and charts , so you can animate almost everything.

When you are animating multiple objects, you can control the order in which those objects appear, and each object can have its own build style, direction, and delivery options. So you can, for example, have a slide with bulleted text that moves in from the right side, a graphic that twirls in on the left side, and a title box that drops in from the top ( Figure 9.17 ). Using the Build Order drawer in the Build Inspector, you can set the order in which objects appear on the screen. For each object, you can choose to have it appear after you click the mouse, with the prior object, or after the prior object.

Figure 9.17. This slide has multiple object builds. The title box drops in from the top of the slide, the mission patch twirls onto the screen, and the bulleted text slides in from the left. Yes, that would be tasteless; it's only an example.

You can animate more than two objects simultaneously by grouping objects. So, for example, you can move several graphic elements onto the slide by first grouping them, then applying a build style.

To animate several objects

1.	Switch to a slide you want to animate.
2.	Display the Build Inspector.
3.	Click the Build In tab.
4.	Place the objects that you want to animate on your slide.
5.	Select the first object you want to animate.
6.	From the Effect pop-up menu, choose the type of animation you want.
7.	From the Direction pop-up menu, choose the direction from which you want the object to move onto the slide.
8.	Choose the option you want from the Delivery pop-up menu.
9.	Enter the build's length in seconds in the Duration field. The default duration is one second.
10.	Select the next object you want to animate, and repeat steps 6 through 9.
11.	If you want to create a Build Out, click the Build Out tab, then repeat steps 4 through 10.

An Animation Walkthrough

The improved control over build orders in Keynote 2 allows you to easily create animations to illustrate almost anything. For Access Healdsburg, my local public-access cable station, I created adynamic diagram to show the station's funding sources ( Figure 9.18 ). In this animation, the outer circles appear one by one, beginning at the top and continuing in a clockwise direction. After the fifth circle, radial lines draw towards the center, and as they do, the center circle pops into view.

Figure 9.18. Each of the circles in this funding diagram animates onto the screen, and the radial lines appear to draw from the outer ring of circles to the center.

You can create a comparable animation (and of course, you can use a similar technique to create any other diagram) by creating each of the six circles, using the Keynote Shapes menu in the toolbar, then coloring the circles with the Graphic Inspector. Double-clicking inside each circle allows you to enter the text, and you can use the Fonts palette and Text Inspector to style the text to your liking. Next, place the five radial lines with the Shapes menu, move them into the correct positions , group them, and send them behind the circles.

To create the animation, open the Build Inspector and click on Set Automatic Builds. The Build Order drawer opens. Select the top circle on the slide, then in the Inspector, choose from the Effect pop-up menu how you want the circle to appear. If needed, adjust the effect further with the Direction, Delivery, and Duration controls. In the drawer, choose On Click from the Start Build pop-up menu. Select the second circle, and set the effect as you did for the first object, but this time in the drawer, choose "Automatically after build 1" from the pop-up. This makes the second object appear immediately after the first one, without you triggering the effect.

Repeat this process for the rest of the circles in the outer ring. To make the radial lines appear as if they are drawing into the center, use the Iris effect and set the direction to In. To make the center circle appear at the same time the lines appear, choose "Automatically with [previous build]" in the Builds drawer. The Build Order drawer shows you the order of events ( Figure 9.19 ). You can see a short QuickTime movie of the result at this book's companion Web site, at www.negrino.com/keynote2/.

Figure 9.19. When you have multiple objects, you can control their appearance with the Build Order drawer.