This technique allows you to place "holds" in your script that will wait for you to click the mouse before proceeding. You can talk for any length of time and, with a mouse click, signal the character to talk. Using this technique repeatedly, you can carry on a conversation with the character.

To do this, you will use a script command called WaitForClick. WaitForClick actually waits for a signal from PowerPoint that a slide animation has been shown, so to use it, you must create one or more animated objects on your slide. Here's how:

• Start with a clean or existing slide
• In PowerPoint, create any autoshape object (like a smiley face)
• Click on "custom animation" and set it to "appear" on mouse click. It is important that you do not set this object to appear after a specified time...only after a moust click.
• drag the object off of the visible area of the slide (so it won’t be seen in the slide show)
• Now in your script, insert a WaitforClick command where you want it to wait until you press the mouse click.

Here's a sample script using this technique:

Show Peedy at center
say Hey, Tom! Some of these people are falling asleep and you haven't even told them about our new (whatever).
WaitforClick
say OK, but what about (...blah...)?

To continue, create additional autoshape objects with one WaitForClick command in your script for each animated autoshape. A simple way to do this is to select the autoshape object and press Control-D to duplicate it. It will already be set to appear on mouse click.

If you have many of these on a single slide, you might want to run the diagnostic check to make sure you have the same number of WaitForClick commands as animated autoshapes: On the Script Writer, click the "Diagnose" button, then click the "Diagnose" button on the first tab (Diagnose Slide Animations). You can also use the "View Animation Pairs" in order to see which object is associated with each "WaitforClick" command.

Using this technique, you can carry on a dialog with much more flexibility than using timers.

Some characters come with a fairly long Hide animation that advertises its creator. Avoid these animations by using the Disappear animation rather than Hide:

Show Plany at bottom left
Moveto top right
Disappear

You can use all of Microsoft®'s office assistant characters as agents, although they do not speak. The following procedure will make them available as agent characters:

1. From PowerPoint®, install all of the office assistant characters. If you already have them installed, go to step 2.

• Press F1 or click Help/ Microsoft (application) Help
• Click on Options
• Click on Gallery

• Insert the Office CD when prompted

2. Using Windows® Explorer, copy the office assistant character files to the msagent\chars directory:
   

• Locate your default office directory. This is usually:
  \program files\Microsoft Office\Office
• Locate and tag all agent character files: all files with extension: .ACS
• Copy those files into the agent characters directory within the windows default directory. This is usually either:
  \Windows\msagent\chars
  or \winnt\msagent\chars

Once you have copied the office assistant characters into the agent characters directory, they will automatically show up in Vox Proxy™'s character list. Although these characters do not speak, they can provide many colorful and interesting animations on your slides. Notice that many animations of office assistants are selected at random from several alternatives so that selecting the same animation several times may result in different behavior. Beware that a number of the animations can take a fairly long time or can be "looping", so be sure you have a timeout set in Tools/Preferences.

When writing a script for multiple characters, here is a quick and easy way to drag-and-drop them on the slide all at the same time, with all of them visible at the same time.

• Start in PowerPoint's Normal view on the slide you're scripting.
• Make sure Vox Proxy's RUN MODE is OFF
  
• With the VP Script Writer open, click on the "Show Agent Characters" button (on the standard toolbar).
• Display all the characters you are using on this slide by double-clicking each name on the list of characters.
• Now click on PowerPoint's Slide Show view button (on the lower left of the slide list frame).
• Drag each character where you want it to appear on the slide. Move the Vox Proxy Editor if it is in your way.
• To insert the appropriate "Show" or "Moveto" command into the script for each character, place the cursor where you want the command in the script, then right-click on the character and click either "Insert Show Command" or "Insert Moveto Command".

• If you need to see the character in some particular pose when locating it on the screen (such as pointing or gesturing), just right-click on the character, select "Show List of Animations" and select the animation you want. Then close the animation list. While the character is in this pose, drag it into place on the screen, then right-click and insert the show or moveto command.

One of the easiest ways to learn techniques for scripting is to display existing scripts. Vox Proxy comes with several sample presentations and macros. Open a sample presentation such as a tutorial in PowerPoint (they are located in the "Presentations" folder of Vox Proxy.) Open the Script Editor. It will display the script for the visible slide. You can print the scripts or simply browse through the slides while viewing them in the editor window.

Macros can be most easily viewed by starting with the Script Editor open, selecting the "Macro" page, and clicking on the Macros button on the Editor's toolbar. A list of macros will appear and the first macro's script will appear in the Editor window. Click on any macro name in order to display the script for that macro.

Any piece of an existing script, whether it's from a macro or another presentation, can be easily cut and copied into your own slide script.

The menu appears similar to the following:

The menu includes:

• All available script commands. Selecting a command will display the appropriate wizard form for that command.
• A list of all available animations for the character that is active at the cursor location.
• All available characters. If you select a character already used in your script, it will just insert the character’s name. For characters not yet in your script, it will display the “New Character” wizard.
• Variables, along with their contents. This includes all pre-defined variables, like &date and &month, as well as user-defined variables.
• Speech tags, such as Emphasize, Monotone, and Whisper.
• Help for the script command that is on the line at the cursor.
• A Speech Test button, which allows you to test the sound of a line of speech without playing the whole slide script.

When you are hiding multiple characters using the :nowait option at the end of a slide, you may find that some characters come back or do not disappear before the next slide is shown. The reason for this is that the software waits until the LAST character listed is done hiding and then proceeds to the next slide. But some characters take longer to play their Hide animation than others, and if they are not finished hiding when the slide changes, then their hide will be interrupted.

There are two solutions to this problem, depending on whether you really want the Hide animations to be displayed:

1. If you don't care about the hide animation, then use the Disappear command rather than Hide. With Disappear, the character goes away without playing its Hide animation, so all characters take the same amount of time. For example:
   Claude Disappear
   Merlin Disappear:nowait
   Paul Disappear:nowait
   NextSlide
   
   
2. If you DO want the Hide animations, then just make sure that the character taking the longest time to hide is the LAST one to hide in the script. In this case, Claude takes the longest, so he should be last:
   Paul Hide
   Merlin Hide:nowait
   Claude Hide:nowait
   NextSlide