Animate PowerPoint Charts in .NET

Aspose.Slides for .NET supports animating the chart elements. Series, Categories, Series Elements, Categories Elements can be animated with ISequence.AddEffect method and two enums EffectChartMajorGroupingType and EffectChartMinorGroupingType.

Chart Series Animation

If you want to animate a chart series, write the code according to the steps listed below:

  1. Load a presentation.
  2. Get reference of the chart object.
  3. Animate the series.
  4. Write the presentation file to disk.

In the example given below, we animated chart series.

// Instantiate Presentation class that represents a presentation file 
using (Presentation presentation = new Presentation("ExistingChart.pptx"))
{
    // Get reference of the chart object
    var slide = presentation.Slides[0] as Slide;
    var shapes = slide.Shapes as ShapeCollection;
    var chart = shapes[0] as IChart;

    // Animate the series
    slide.Timeline.MainSequence.AddEffect(chart, EffectType.Fade, EffectSubtype.None,
    EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart,
    EffectChartMajorGroupingType.BySeries, 0,
    EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart,
    EffectChartMajorGroupingType.BySeries, 1,
    EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart,
    EffectChartMajorGroupingType.BySeries, 2,
    EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart,
    EffectChartMajorGroupingType.BySeries, 3,
    EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    // Write the modified presentation to disk 
    presentation.Save("AnimatingSeries_out.pptx", SaveFormat.Pptx);
}

Chart Category Animation

If you want to animate a chart series, write the code according to the steps listed below:

  1. Load a presentation.
  2. Get reference of the chart object.
  3. Animate the Category.
  4. Write the presentation file to disk.

In the example given below, we animated chart category.

using (Presentation presentation = new Presentation("ExistingChart.pptx"))
{
    // Get reference of the chart object
    var slide = presentation.Slides[0] as Slide;
    var shapes = slide.Shapes as ShapeCollection;
    var chart = shapes[0] as IChart;

    // Animate categories' elements
    slide.Timeline.MainSequence.AddEffect(chart, EffectType.Fade, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    // Write the presentation file to disk
    presentation.Save("AnimatingCategoriesElements_out.pptx", SaveFormat.Pptx);
}

Animation in Series Element

If you want to animate series elements, write the code according to the steps listed below:

  1. Load a presentation.
  2. Get reference of the chart object.
  3. Animate series elements.
  4. Write the presentation file to disk.

In the example given below, we have animated series' elements.

// Load a presentation
using (Presentation presentation = new Presentation("ExistingChart.pptx"))
{
    // Get reference of the chart object
    var slide = presentation.Slides[0] as Slide;
    var shapes = slide.Shapes as ShapeCollection;
    var chart = shapes[0] as IChart;

    // Animate series elements
    slide.Timeline.MainSequence.AddEffect(chart, EffectType.Fade, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 0, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 0, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 0, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 0, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 1, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 1, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 1, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 1, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 2, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 2, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 2, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInSeries, 2, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    // Write the presentation file to disk 
    presentation.Save("AnimatingSeriesElements_out.pptx", SaveFormat.Pptx);

Animation in Category Element

If you want to animate categories elements, write the code according to the steps listed below:

  1. Load a presentation.
  2. Get reference of the chart object.
  3. Animate categories elements.
  4. Write the presentation file to disk.

In the example given below, we have animated categories elements.

using (Presentation presentation = new Presentation("ExistingChart.pptx"))
{
    // Get reference of the chart object
    var slide = presentation.Slides[0] as Slide;
    var shapes = slide.Shapes as ShapeCollection;
    var chart = shapes[0] as IChart;

    // Animate categories' elements
    slide.Timeline.MainSequence.AddEffect(chart, EffectType.Fade, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 0, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 1, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 0, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 1, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 2, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
    ((Sequence)slide.Timeline.MainSequence).AddEffect(chart, EffectChartMinorGroupingType.ByElementInCategory, 2, 3, EffectType.Appear, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);

    // Write the presentation file to disk
    presentation.Save("AnimatingCategoriesElements_out.pptx", SaveFormat.Pptx);
}

FAQ

Are different effect types (e.g., entrance, emphasis, exit) supported for charts like for regular shapes?

Yes. A chart is treated as a shape, so it supports the standard animation effect types, including entrance, emphasis, and exit, with full control via the slide’s timeline and animation sequences.

Can I combine chart animation with slide transitions?

Yes. Transitions apply to the slide, while animation effects apply to objects on the slide. You can use both together in the same presentation and control them independently.

Are chart animations preserved when saving to PPTX?

Yes. When you save to PPTX, all animation effects and their ordering are preserved because they are part of the presentation’s native animation model.

Can I read existing chart animations from a presentation and modify them?

Yes. The API provides access to the slide timeline, sequences, and effects, allowing you to inspect existing chart animations and adjust them without recreating everything from scratch.

Can I produce a video that includes chart animations using Aspose.Slides?

Yes. You can export a presentation to video while preserving animations, configuring timings and other export settings so the resulting clip reflects the animated playback.

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