Transitions and animations: parity with PowerPoint
Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: major (transitions measured frame by frame against PowerPoint for Windows' video export and retuned; previous: created) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365)
Transitions and animations are what make a deck a presentation, and the part of PowerPoint people
notice first when it's missing. Scores roll up into target-app-parity.md
(Transitions ~80% ready, Animations ~65%); gaps are in gaps.md.
Transitions: 48 of 48
crates/model/src/anim.rs TRANSITIONS lists every transition in PowerPoint's gallery, in its
three groups, with its Effect Options (now also Page Curl Single, Glitter Hexagons, Shred In/Out
and Zoom and Rotate). All 48 round-trip through PPTX with the elements, attributes and defaults
PowerPoint itself writes (every_transition_kind_round_trips,
transition_xml_matches_powerpoints_elements, transition_defaults_read_like_powerpoint): 145 of
145 PowerPoint-built test slides reopen in PowerPoint with the same effect after a DeckCraft
save.
Measured against PowerPoint (2026-10-13). Synthetic two-colour decks with asymmetric markers
were built in PowerPoint for Windows over COM with every transition and option (150 variants,
2 s each), exported with CreateVideo at 30 fps, and compared frame by frame with
deckcraft-cli render-transition at the same progress (plan/powerpoint/tools/synth_transitions.ps1,
trans_compare.py). Mean absolute difference over all variants at t = 0.1…0.9 (0–255): 35.7
before, 15.0 after. Curves (fades are a smoothstep, moves ease in-out; Cover, Uncover and Pan
have their own measured curves), directions and option meanings (e.g. Glitter starts on the
option's side, Ripple's corner is where the wave heads, Wind/Airplane/Origami "Left" is invX),
soft edges (Wipe, Split, Shape, Clock, Ripple) and the Dynamic Content transitions moving the
slides' contents over cross-fading backgrounds now follow PowerPoint. 3-D transitions are
perspective-projected cards (crates/anim/src/transition_geom.rs) drawn with
perspective-correct subdivided meshes.
| Group |
PowerPoint |
DeckCraft |
Fidelity |
| Subtle (Morph, Fade, Push, Wipe, Split, Reveal, Cut, Random Bars, Shape, Uncover, Cover, Flash) |
12 |
12 |
Matches PowerPoint's frames (mean diff 1–8; Random Bars and Reveal Through Black ~15) |
| Exciting (Fall Over, Drape, Curtains, Wind, Prestige, Fracture, Crush, Peel Off, Page Curl, Airplane, Origami, Dissolve, Checkerboard, Blinds, Clock, Ripple, Honeycomb, Glitter, Vortex, Shred, Switch, Flip, Gallery, Cube, Doors, Box, Comb, Zoom, Random) |
29 |
29 |
Perspective 3-D cards with measured motion; cloth, paper and particle effects (Curtains, Peel Off, Page Curl, Airplane, Origami, Fracture, Crush, Honeycomb, Vortex, Shred) are flat approximations of PowerPoint's meshes |
| Dynamic Content (Pan, Ferris Wheel, Conveyor, Rotate, Window, Orbit, Fly Through) |
7 |
7 |
Contents move over cross-fading backgrounds, as in PowerPoint (mean diff 5–17) |
| Transition feature |
PowerPoint |
DeckCraft |
| Effect Options per transition |
yes |
yes |
| Duration, advance on click / after time, Apply To All |
yes |
yes |
| Transition sounds |
yes |
no (the model has the field; no picker, no playback) |
| Preview in the editor |
yes |
yes |
| Morph: objects move, resize, recolour |
yes |
yes |
| Morph: Words and Characters |
yes |
yes (#5) |
| Morph: geometry (circle to star) |
yes |
yes (#27) |
Morph: !! name forcing, pictures, 3-D models, ink |
yes |
names partly; no 3-D or ink |
| Frame-by-frame comparison with PowerPoint |
|
done (Windows, 2026-10-13); headless frames: deckcraft-cli render-transition |
Animations: 64 of ~190 effects
| Class |
PowerPoint (gallery + More Effects) |
DeckCraft |
Missing (examples) |
| Entrance |
~50 |
24 |
Plus, Wedge, Basic Zoom, Center Revolve, Compress, Stretch, Boomerang, Credits, Curve Up, Drop, Flip, Float, Pinwheel, Spiral In, Whip, Ascend, Descend, Unfold |
| Emphasis |
~25 |
17 |
Brush Color, Bold Reveal, Contrasting Color, Flicker, Grow With Color, Shimmer, Blink |
| Exit |
~50 |
14 |
Mirrors of the missing entrance effects, plus Blinds, Box, Checkerboard, Circle, Diamond, Peek Out, Strips as exits |
| Motion paths |
64 presets + custom |
6 (Lines, Arcs, Turns, Loops, Shapes-style presets, Custom Path) |
Most of Basic (shapes), Lines & Curves and Special presets |
| Media (Play, Pause, Stop) |
3 (+ Seek) |
3 |
Seek, bookmarks as triggers |
By how often people use them, the effects present cover nearly all real decks (Appear, Fade, Fly
In, Wipe, Zoom, Float In, Grow/Shrink, Pulse, Spin, motion lines): weighted, ~85% of use; by count,
~34%.
| Animation feature |
PowerPoint |
DeckCraft |
| Start On Click / With Previous / After Previous, duration, delay |
yes |
yes |
| Effect Options (direction, sequence by paragraph) |
yes |
yes |
| Effect dialog: sound, after-animation dim/hide, animate text by word/letter, smooth start/end, bounce end, repeat, rewind |
yes |
partly; rewind lost on PPTX save (#77) |
| By-paragraph text builds, sub-bullets follow parents |
yes |
yes |
| Triggers (on click of a shape) |
yes |
yes |
| Triggers on a media bookmark |
yes |
no |
| Animation Painter |
yes |
yes (#54) |
| Animation Pane: list, reorder, remove |
yes |
yes |
| Animation Pane: advanced timeline (bars you drag) |
yes |
no |
| Preview in the editor (current effect, from selected) |
yes |
partly |
| Motion path editing (edit points, reverse, lock) |
yes |
partly (no edit points) |
| Multiple animations on one object |
yes |
yes |
| Round trip of the timing tree |
yes |
flattened to the pane list on read, rebuilt on write (every_animation_effect_survives) |
Estimates
| Work |
Hours |
| Animation Pane timeline, preview from selected, effect dialog depth |
5–8 |
| The remaining ~126 effects (most are parameter variations of existing ones) |
3–6 |
| Rewind and other effect options on round trip (#77) |
1–2 |
| Transition sounds |
1–2 |
Morph across pictures, !! names, align once per transition (#67) |
2–4 |
| Cloth, paper and particle transitions as real meshes (Curtains, Peel Off, Page Curl, Airplane, Origami, Vortex, Shred, Honeycomb) |
4–8 |
| Total |
~16–30 (the Transitions and Animations rows of the feature table; part of the Features dimension's 140–240 h) |
Revision history
| Date |
Change |
Summary |
| 2026-10-13 |
major |
Transitions measured frame by frame against PowerPoint's video export and retuned (mean diff 35.7 → 15.0); PowerPoint's XML defaults and option meanings; new options |
| 2026-10-10 |
major |
Created: 48/48 transitions, 64 of ~190 animation effects, pane and option depth, estimates |