Re: st: Video from multiple graph exports

[Michael Hanson <mshanson@mac.com>]

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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