Dan:
I have done something like this for several presentations -- although I
typically prefer to use a remote to step through the "movie frames"
rather than automate the transitions. That way I can stop and comment
on
certain slides (the audience sees it as "freezing" the animation), or go
back to a specific slide to answer questions.
The caveat, given the details you have provided in your message: my
process requires a Macintosh. Specifically, it requires use of Keynote,
Apple's presentation software available only for Mac OS X.
Briefly, in three steps (though I am happy to provide details if
requested):
1. Export the Stata graphs as PDF format. (A feature only available in
the Mac version, I believe.)
2. Place PDFs of graphs into individual slides in Keynote.
3. Add automatic timed transitions and effects as needed. You can set
transition times on a per-slide basis, as you inquired.
This whole process is very easy with Keynote, as it provides fine
controls for aligning the graphs and professional transitions between
slides. Plus, since everything is done with PDF, you don't get those
"jaggies" (i.e. pixelation) that often afflict graphics in PowerPoint.
Additionally, with Keynote you can export your presentation to QuickTime
(.mov) or Flash (.swf) formats as a self- running, cross-platform file if
desired.
I suspect one could use LaTeX-based presentation tools (beamer?
powerdot?
prosper?) to accomplish the same thing, albeit with (much) more effort.
Hope this helps,
Mike
On Dec 3, 2008, at 2:49 PM, Dan Weitzenfeld wrote:
Hi Folks,
I'm considering making a movie using multiple Stata graphs, exported.
E.g., for t=0,1,...n, graphing the data at each t, and then using a
slide-show program to stack the graphs in time order, creating a
"movie" illustrating how the data changes over time.
My questions:
1. Has anyone does this before, and if so, do you have
recommendations for the most flexible slide-show program?
Specifically, I'm wondering if there is a program that will allow for
variable intervals between slides (e.g., t=0, 1.5, 2, 2.2,....)
2. Is there a way to overlay a Stata graph on top of a .jpg file?
I've been doing this manually, using -spmap- to plot my
location-oriented data, exporting graphs as .emf/.wmf, ungrouping the
result in PowerPoint and aligning the .jpg overlay.
3. Am I trying to use Stata to do something it's not suited for? I
know JMP can play movies from data, but I don't think the movies can
be exported, and, well, I'm partial to Stata.
Thanks in advance,
-Dan
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