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It is planned to allow Metview to directly create animated files. In the meantime, it is easily possible to convert its PostScript output using the ImageMagick convert command. Below are some examples of doing this, along with an example showing how to incorporate this into a Metview macro.

Please note, if you only try to achieve an animation with a relative small number of images within PowerPoint you might want to consider the options provided by PowerPoint. The Insert > Photo Album might be one of them.

Converting a multi-page PostScript to an animated GIF

convert input.ps -delay 200 -rotate "90<" output.gif

Tip: Alter the speed of animation

To change the animation speed use

convert input.gif -delay 100 output.gif

Tip: Continuous looping

Some viewers, especially some versions of MS PowerPoint, only play a single animation cycle. To make it continuous you can use the option -loop with convert:

convert input.gif -loop 999 output.gif

NOTE: In Microsoft PowerPoint in most cases it should work to import the GIF as an 'Image'. If the GIF is imported as a 'Video file', PowerPoint requires extra settings for continuous looping of GIFs. Go to the "video tools" menu, which contains "format" and "playback". Under the playback menu, there is a button "Loop until stopped". Click on it, to allow continuous loops! (Thanks to Jean-Noël for this)

Tip: Transparent background

You can also use convert to replace any white in the image with a transparent background:

convert input.gif -fuzz 10% -transparent white output.gif

 

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