Political Crossfire Forums

[Flash]

My mum is currently doing a production of Bugsy Malone at school (she's a teacher), and instead of creating sets for each scene, we have decided to use a projector attached to the roof of the school hall to project backgrounds onto a large white screen covering the whole of the back of the set.

The presentation is done in powerpoint and we are using a USB reciever which plugs into the back of the laptop, and a remote control to move each slide forward when the scene changes. The laptop and projector are hanging from the lighting bar in a frame grappled onto the bar. The laptop is folded up. This means the screen on the laptop is off and it is just running the presentation with the projector projecting it onto the large white screen we have made.

It is working quite well however a recuring problem with the laptop/powerpoint/windows is happening. Basically every now and again the mouse will just appear on screen and the control for the slide shifting will stop working because the mouse has become active.

At first I thought it might be because the top of the laptop was shut but this is most likely not the case since the mouse only becomes active when something touches the finger pad usually? With the laptop closed nothing is doing this. Even so I tried leaving the top of the laptop unfolded enough for the screen to power up. But this has not solved the problem.

I also tried making the presentation a .pss file (think that's the one) which means that you can run the presentation independantly of powerpoint however this has not worked either.

When you tap the finger pad with your finger after it has done this the mouse dissapears and you can use the control as usual, however it is not practical to do this whenever it happens because the projector and laptop will be 30ft above the floor and audience (for this reason obviously I cannot climb up a ladder to fix it on the night).

Has anyone had this kind of problem before? Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions on how to solve the problem?

After assuring my mum this would work I don't particularly want to have to dissapoint and wreck the production she's worked hard on :? :( .

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Gus]

Slide Shows -> Set Up Show

Click "Browsed at a kiosk (full screen)," then click OK.

That disables the mouse and keyboard. I don't know if it would disable a remote PowerPoint device.


If that doesn't work, when you start the show, right click on the screen and go down to Pointer Options, then Arrow Options, and choose "Hidden," which will hide your pointer for the duration of the show.



If that still doesn't work, try setting up your remote so that it uses the keyboard arrows to move backwards and forwards...that still works even when the pointer is activated.

[Flash]

Thanks Gus, I will try these tomorrow morning.