Morph Ppt

Morph

Generate visually compelling PPTs with smooth Morph animations.

Philosophy: Trust yourself to learn through practice. This skill provides workflow and references — you bring creativity and judgment.

Use when

• User wants to generate a .pptx

What is Morph?

PowerPoint's Morph transition creates smooth animations by matching shapes with identical names across adjacent slides.

Slide 1: shape name="!!circle" x=5cm  width=8cm
Slide 2: shape name="!!circle" x=20cm width=12cm
         ↓
Result: Circle smoothly moves and grows

Three core concepts:

• Scene Actors: Persistent shapes with !! prefix that evolve across slides
• Ghosting: Move shapes to x=36cm (off-screen) instead of deleting
• Content: Text/data added fresh per slide, previous content ghosted first

For details: reference/pptx-design.md

Workflow

Phase 1: Understand the Topic

Ask only when topic is unclear, otherwise proceed directly.

Phase 2: Plan the Story

FIRST: Read the thinking framework

→ Open and read reference/decision-rules.md — it provides the structured approach for planning compelling presentations (Pyramid Principle, SCQA, page types).

Then create brief.md with:

• Context: Topic, audience, purpose, narrative structure (SCQA or Problem-Solution)
• Outline: Conclusion first + slide-by-slide summary
• Page briefs: For each slide:
  • Objective (what should this slide achieve?)
  • Content (specific text/data to include)
  • Page type (title | evidence | transition | conclusion)
  • Design notes (visual emphasis, scene actor behavior)

Phase 3: Design and Generate

Before generation starts, always remind the user:

• The PPT file may be rewritten multiple times during build.
• Once the PPT file appears in the workspace, the user can preview the live generation progress directly in ContextGo.
• Do not click "Open with system app" during generation, to avoid file lock / write conflicts.
• Use clear, direct language and make this a concrete warning, not an optional suggestion.

FIRST: Ensure latest officecli version

Follow the installation check in reference/officecli-pptx-min.md section 0 (checks version and upgrades only if needed).

IMPORTANT: Use morph-helpers for reliable workflow

Generate a bash script that uses reference/morph-helpers.sh — this provides helper functions with built-in verification.

Shape naming rules (for best results):

Use these naming patterns for clear code and reliable verification:

1. Scene actors (persistent across slides):

   • Format: '!!actor-name' (double !! prefix, single quotes required)
   • Examples: '!!ring-1', '!!dot-accent', '!!line-top'
   • Behavior: Modify position/size/color, NEVER ghost

2. Content shapes (unique per slide):

   • Format: '#sN-description' (single quotes required)
   • Pattern: # + s + slide_number + - + description
   • Examples: '#s1-title', '#s2-card1', '#s3-stats'
   • Behavior: Ghost (x=36cm) when moving to next slide

Why single quotes? Shell treats ! and # as special characters. Single quotes prevent this: '#s1-title'

Why this naming matters:

• ✅ Better detection: Primary method (#sN- pattern matching) is fastest and most accurate
• ✅ Readable code: Anyone can tell #s1-title is slide 1's title
• ✅ Easy debugging: grep "#s1-" finds all slide 1 content quickly
• ⚠️ Backup detection exists: Even without # prefix, duplicate text detection will catch most issues (but has edge cases)

Bottom line: Follow these patterns in your code examples, and verification will work smoothly.

Then proceed with pattern:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

# Load helper functions (provides morph_clone_slide, morph_ghost_content, morph_verify_slide)
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
source "$SCRIPT_DIR/morph-helpers.sh"

OUTPUT="deck.pptx"
officecli create "$OUTPUT"

# ============ SLIDE 1 ============
echo "Building Slide 1..."
officecli add "$OUTPUT" '/' --type slide
officecli set "$OUTPUT" '/slide[1]' --prop background=1A1A2E

# Scene actors (!!-prefixed, will persist and morph across slides)
officecli add "$OUTPUT" '/slide[1]' --type shape --prop 'name=!!ring-1' --prop preset=ellipse --prop fill=E94560 --prop opacity=0.3 --prop x=5cm --prop y=3cm --prop width=8cm --prop height=8cm
officecli add "$OUTPUT" '/slide[1]' --type shape --prop 'name=!!dot-accent' --prop preset=ellipse --prop fill=0F3460 --prop x=28cm --prop y=15cm --prop width=1cm --prop height=1cm

# Content shapes (#s1- prefix, will be ghosted on next slide)
# ⚠️ Use generous width (25-30cm for titles) to avoid text wrapping!
officecli add "$OUTPUT" '/slide[1]' --type shape --prop 'name=#s1-title' --prop text="Main Title" --prop font="Arial Black" --prop size=64 --prop bold=true --prop color=FFFFFF --prop x=10cm --prop y=8cm --prop width=28cm --prop height=3cm --prop fill=none

# ============ SLIDE 2 ============
echo "Building Slide 2..."

# Use helper: automatically clone + set transition + list shapes + verify
morph_clone_slide "$OUTPUT" 1 2

# Use helper: ghost all content from slide 1 (shape indices 3 = #s1-title)
morph_ghost_content "$OUTPUT" 2 3

# Add new content for slide 2
officecli add "$OUTPUT" '/slide[2]' --type shape --prop 'name=#s2-title' --prop text="Second Slide" --prop font="Arial Black" --prop size=64 --prop bold=true --prop color=FFFFFF --prop x=10cm --prop y=8cm --prop width=28cm --prop height=3cm --prop fill=none

# Adjust scene actors to create motion
officecli set "$OUTPUT" '/slide[2]/shape[1]' --prop x=15cm --prop y=5cm  # !!ring-1 moves
officecli set "$OUTPUT" '/slide[2]/shape[2]' --prop x=5cm --prop y=10cm  # !!dot-accent moves

# Use helper: verify slide is correct (transition + ghosting)
morph_verify_slide "$OUTPUT" 2

# ============ SLIDE 3 ============
echo "Building Slide 3..."

morph_clone_slide "$OUTPUT" 2 3
morph_ghost_content "$OUTPUT" 3 4  # Ghost #s2-title (now at index 4)

officecli add "$OUTPUT" '/slide[3]' --type shape --prop 'name=#s3-title' --prop text="Third Slide" --prop font="Arial Black" --prop size=64 --prop bold=true --prop color=FFFFFF --prop x=10cm --prop y=8cm --prop width=28cm --prop height=3cm --prop fill=none

officecli set "$OUTPUT" '/slide[3]/shape[1]' --prop x=25cm --prop y=8cm
officecli set "$OUTPUT" '/slide[3]/shape[2]' --prop x=10cm --prop y=5cm

morph_verify_slide "$OUTPUT" 3

# ============ FINAL VERIFICATION ============
echo ""
echo "========================================="
morph_final_check "$OUTPUT"

echo ""
echo "✅ Build complete! Open $OUTPUT in PowerPoint to see morph animations."

Key advantages of using helpers:

• ✅ Fewer steps: morph_clone_slide = clone + transition + list + verify (4 steps → 1 function)
• ✅ Instant feedback: Each helper shows ✅ or ❌ immediately
• ✅ Can't forget: Transition and verification are automatic
• ✅ Clear errors: If something is wrong, you'll know exactly what and where
• ✅ Dual detection: Catches unghosted content by both naming pattern AND duplicate text detection
  • Even if you forget # prefix, duplicate detection will still catch the problem!

Essential rules:

• Naming: Scene actors use !! prefix, content uses #sN- prefix (best practice for verification and readability)
• Transition: Every slide after the first MUST have transition=morph (without this, no animation!)
• Ghosting: Before adding new slide content, ghost ALL previous content shapes to x=36cm (don't delete)
• Motion: Adjust scene actor (!!-*) positions between slides for animation
• Variety: Create spatial variety between adjacent slides
• Text Width: Use generous widths to prevent text wrapping:
  • Centered titles (64-72pt): 28-30cm width
  • Centered subtitles (28-40pt): 25-28cm width
  • Left-aligned titles: 20-25cm width
  • Body text: 8-12cm (single-column), 16-18cm (double-column)
  • When in doubt, make it wider! See reference/pptx-design.md for details

Design resources:

• reference/pptx-design.md — Design principles (Canvas, Fonts, Colors, Scene Actors, Page Types, Style References)
• reference/officecli-pptx-min.md — Command syntax
• reference/styles/<name>/ — Visual style examples (optional inspiration, browse by use case in styles/INDEX.md)

Phase 4: Deliver

Outputs (3 files):

1. <topic>.pptx
2. Build script (complete, re-runnable — bash/python/powershell/etc.)
3. brief.md

Verification (your build script already includes this):

If you used morph-helpers.sh, verification is already done! The build script calls morph_verify_slide and morph_final_check automatically.

Just validate the final structure:

officecli validate <file>.pptx
officecli view <file>.pptx outline

If verification fails, see Troubleshooting section below.

Final delivery message requirements:

• Tell the user the deck with polished Morph animations is ready.
• Explicitly recommend opening the generated PPT now to preview the motion effects.
• Use affirmative wording (e.g., "ready now", "open it now to preview the animation quality").

Troubleshooting

If morph_verify_slide or morph_final_check reports issues:

1. Missing transition:

   # Check which slides are missing transition
   officecli get <file>.pptx '/slide[2]' --json | grep transition
   officecli get <file>.pptx '/slide[3]' --json | grep transition
   # Expected: "transition": "morph"
   
   # Fix:
   officecli set <file>.pptx '/slide[2]' --prop transition=morph
   

2. Unghosted content:

   # Find unghosted shapes manually
   for slide in 2 3 4 5 6; do
       echo "Slide $slide:"
       officecli get <file>.pptx "/slide[$slide]" --depth 1 | grep -E "#s[0-9]"
   done
   # If you see shapes like "#s1-title" on slide 2 (not at x=36cm), they should be ghosted
   
   # Fix:
   officecli set <file>.pptx '/slide[N]/shape[X]' --prop x=36cm
   

3. Visual issues:

   # Open HTML preview to debug layout
   officecli view <file>.pptx html
   

Note: Scene actors (!!-prefixed) should appear on all slides — that's normal. Only content shapes (#sN- prefix) need ghosting.

Phase 5: Iterate

Ask user for feedback, support quick adjustments.

References

• reference/decision-rules.md — Planning logic, Pyramid Principle
• reference/pptx-design.md — Design principles (Canvas, Fonts, Colors, Scene Actors, Page Types)
• reference/officecli-pptx-min.md — Tool syntax
• reference/styles/INDEX.md — Visual style examples organized by use case

First time? Read "Understanding Morph" above, skim one style reference for inspiration, then generate. Always use morph-helpers.sh workflow. You'll learn by doing.

Trust yourself. You have vision, design sense, and the ability to iterate. These tools enable you — your creativity makes it excellent.