Bug 96886 - Allow to change mouse pointer into a "laser pointer" during slide show
Summary: Allow to change mouse pointer into a "laser pointer" during slide show
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Impress (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
5.0.4.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL: https://oneminuteofficemagic.com/2017...
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
: 106246 121728 148155 158585 158756 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: 96867 149158
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2016-01-04 13:50 UTC by myh
Modified: 2024-10-28 11:31 UTC (History)
12 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
This is how it would work (350.70 KB, video/mp4)
2023-12-07 21:33 UTC, J22Gim
Details

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Description myh 2016-01-04 13:50:26 UTC
In Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Show mode, it supports the laser pen. However, Impress doesn't.

So, please Impress support the laser pen. Thanks very much.
Comment 2 Heiko Tietze 2020-06-18 09:42:50 UTC
*** Bug 106246 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 Timur 2021-02-15 13:07:52 UTC
*** Bug 121728 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 ruman.gerst 2022-02-14 10:21:38 UTC
Some explanations for people who do not know this feature:

* It is not a pen (as currently implemented already)
* Instead it is an alternative cursor (by default a bright red dot, hence the name "Laser pen"/"Laser pointer") with the purpose of helping the presenter to highlight specific elements on the current slide
* Unlike a cursor it is two-way mirrored between presentation console and the presentation. This means that you can point at elements within your presentation console screen, while viewers can see your red laser pointer
* Useful for situations where you have to present with a beamer and face away from it
Comment 5 greydon.gilmore 2022-03-18 07:09:24 UTC
Where do we stand on this? This has been open for 6 years there is a lot of demand from your user base.

This feature is the one thing I miss about Microsoft PowerPoint. Using the pen is very distracting during presentations so this laser point is a fantastic tool.
With the ongoing pandemic we've all been doing more at-home presentations so a handheld laserpointer is useless.
Comment 6 greydon.gilmore 2022-03-18 07:11:56 UTC
for reference, this is a better example of this feature: https://oneminuteofficemagic.com/2017/02/14/using-the-electronic-laser-pointer-in-powerpoint/
Comment 7 Timur 2022-03-24 13:59:55 UTC
*** Bug 148155 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 Rafael Lima 2023-07-19 00:05:11 UTC
I was about to open a request for this as well. Luckily I found this ticket before.

This is a very needed feature!
Comment 9 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-12-07 21:01:35 UTC
*** Bug 158585 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 J22Gim 2023-12-07 21:32:57 UTC
I add my comments here to have everything in one place. Bonus track: I show it on a video.


Description:
It would be great if there was an option to select a "fading pen" or "laser pointer" (not sure what the right name would be). This is simply a pen that fades in some seconds, thus making your remark transient (and therefore not ruining your slide if you still need to show it a bit more time).

Steps to Reproduce:
If you want to highlight/remark on something while showing a slide (maybe replying to a question about something you did not stress in the presentation), you have the option to mark it using the 'mouse as pen' option. You can also use this tool while presenting for the first time, depending on your style and choice.
However, everything that you do on the slide ends up kind of messing up the visuals of that particular slide.

Actual Results:
At that point, you have to right-click and select "Erase all ink on slide".

There are two problems with this:
1. It is a little bit of an interruption to the flow of the talk, and 
2. you either wait until you have a lot of 'ink' on the slide and then erase all of it, or you have to 'write and erase' many times.

Expected Results:
Both problems would be avoided if the ink disappeared by itself. This is, the ink stays only a few seconds, long enough to be seen by the audience (and thus, highlight your point), but at the same time it doesn't matter how much you scribble, your slide will eventually be clean again.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
I shamelessly took this idea from another program: a neat online whiteboard application called ExcaliDraw (www.excalidraw.com). In that application, you can select something called 'laser pointer' (which I think is a good name!) which will draw a line that fades out after 2-3 seconds (and it does so very elegantly following the same trajectory used by the pointer). You can see how it works in the attached video. It is open source and we should give them credit.

I think it would be a very nice addition to Impress.
Thanks for all your work and let's continue improving LO!!


Note: if you have VLC you may see an empty video. Try disabling 'hardware decoding' or use another video player.
Comment 11 J22Gim 2023-12-07 21:33:29 UTC
Created attachment 191305 [details]
This is how it would work

Note: if you have VLC you may see an empty video. Try disabling 'hardware decoding' or use another video player.
Comment 12 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-01-04 00:19:19 UTC
*** Bug 158756 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***