Tutorial: How to Add Effects to a Main Sequence with Aspose.Slides Cloud API

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, make sure you have:

An Aspose Cloud account (if you don’t have one, register for a free trial)
Your Client ID and Client Secret credentials from the Aspose Cloud Dashboard
A basic understanding of REST APIs and HTTP requests
Familiarity with one of the programming languages featured in the examples (cURL, Python, Java, or C#)
A PowerPoint presentation with slides containing multiple shapes

Introduction

The main animation sequence is the primary collection of animation effects that play during a slide show. Unlike setting all animations at once (as we covered in the Set Basic Animations tutorial, sometimes you need to add individual effects to an existing sequence.

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to add new effects to a main animation sequence using the Aspose.Slides Cloud API. This approach is particularly useful when:

You want to preserve existing animations and just add new ones
You’re building a complex sequence of animations step by step
You need to add animations programmatically based on dynamic content

Understanding Main Sequence Animations

The main sequence contains animation effects that play when a slide is viewed. These animations can be configured to play:

On Click: The animation plays when the slide or another element is clicked
With Previous: The animation plays at the same time as the previous animation
After Previous: The animation plays after the previous animation finishes

Each effect in the sequence has properties that control its appearance and behavior, such as type, duration, and delay time.

Step 1: Authenticate with the Aspose.Slides Cloud API

First, we need to obtain an access token using our client credentials:

curl -v "https://api.aspose.cloud/connect/token" \
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=MY_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=MY_CLIENT_SECRET" \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"

Replace MY_CLIENT_ID and MY_CLIENT_SECRET with your actual credentials.

Step 2: Add an Effect to the Main Sequence

To add an animation effect to the main sequence, we’ll use the CreateAnimationEffect endpoint. Let’s add a Wipe effect to shape 2 on slide 1:

curl -X POST "https://api.aspose.cloud/v3.0/slides/MyPresentation.pptx/slides/1/animation/mainSequence" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
           "Type": "Wipe",
           "PresetClassType": "Entrance",
           "ShapeIndex": 2,
           "TriggerType": "OnClick"
         }'

Replace YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN with the token obtained in Step 1, and MyPresentation.pptx with your actual presentation filename.

Understanding the Request Body

The JSON request body contains several important fields:

Type: The animation effect to apply (e.g., “Wipe”)
PresetClassType: The category of the effect (e.g., “Entrance”, “Emphasis”, “Exit”)
ShapeIndex: The 1-based index of the shape to animate
TriggerType: When the animation should start (e.g., “OnClick”, “WithPrevious”, “AfterPrevious”)

Example Response

{
  "mainSequence": [
    {
      "type": "Wipe",
      "subtype": "Bottom",
      "presetClassType": "Entrance",
      "shapeIndex": 2,
      "triggerType": "OnClick",
      "duration": 0.5,
      "triggerDelayTime": 0.0
    }
  ],
  "interactiveSequences": [],
  "selfUri": {
    "href": "https://api.aspose.cloud/v3.0/slides/MyPresentation.pptx/slides/1/animation",
    "relation": "self",
    "slideIndex": 1
  }
}

Step 3: Add Another Effect with Different Settings

Now, let’s add a second effect to the same slide. This time, we’ll add a Spin effect to shape 3, which will play automatically after the previous animation:

curl -X POST "https://api.aspose.cloud/v3.0/slides/MyPresentation.pptx/slides/1/animation/mainSequence" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
           "Type": "Spin",
           "PresetClassType": "Emphasis",
           "ShapeIndex": 3,
           "TriggerType": "AfterPrevious",
           "Duration": 1.5
         }'

Notice that we’ve added an additional parameter:

Duration: The length of the animation in seconds (in this case, 1.5 seconds)

Step 4: Add a Text Animation Effect

Animation effects can be applied to specific paragraphs within text shapes. Let’s add a Fade effect to the first paragraph of shape 4:

curl -X POST "https://api.aspose.cloud/v3.0/slides/MyPresentation.pptx/slides/1/animation/mainSequence" \
     -H "authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
           "Type": "Fade",
           "PresetClassType": "Entrance",
           "ShapeIndex": 4,
           "ParagraphIndex": 1,
           "TriggerType": "WithPrevious",
           "TriggerDelayTime": 0.5
         }'

In this example, we’ve introduced additional parameters:

ParagraphIndex: The 1-based index of the paragraph to animate
TriggerDelayTime: The delay (in seconds) before the animation starts

Try It Yourself

Now that you understand the basics, try these exercises to reinforce your learning:

Add a different animation type (such as Split, Fly, or Zoom) to a shape on slide 2
Create a sequence of animations with varying trigger types to create a choreographed entrance
Experiment with different duration values to control the speed of animations
Try animating different paragraphs within the same text shape

Using the SDK

While direct REST API calls work well, using SDKs can make your code more readable and maintainable. Here are examples using official Aspose.Slides Cloud SDKs:

Python Example

import asposeslidescloud
from asposeslidescloud.apis.slides_api import SlidesApi
from asposeslidescloud.models.effect import Effect

# Configure the API client
slides_api = SlidesApi(None, "MY_CLIENT_ID", "MY_CLIENT_SECRET")

# Create a Wipe effect for shape 2
wipe_effect = Effect()
wipe_effect.type = "Wipe"
wipe_effect.preset_class_type = "Entrance"
wipe_effect.shape_index = 2
wipe_effect.trigger_type = "OnClick"

# Add the effect to slide 1's main sequence
result = slides_api.create_animation_effect("MyPresentation.pptx", 1, wipe_effect)
print(f"Added {wipe_effect.type} effect to shape {wipe_effect.shape_index}")

# Create a Spin effect for shape 3
spin_effect = Effect()
spin_effect.type = "Spin"
spin_effect.preset_class_type = "Emphasis"
spin_effect.shape_index = 3
spin_effect.trigger_type = "AfterPrevious"
spin_effect.duration = 1.5

# Add the effect to slide 1's main sequence
result = slides_api.create_animation_effect("MyPresentation.pptx", 1, spin_effect)
print(f"Added {spin_effect.type} effect to shape {spin_effect.shape_index}")

# Get all animations to verify
animations = slides_api.get_animation("MyPresentation.pptx", 1)
print(f"Total effects in main sequence: {len(animations.main_sequence)}")

Java Example

import com.aspose.slides.ApiException;
import com.aspose.slides.api.SlidesApi;
import com.aspose.slides.model.Effect;
import com.aspose.slides.model.SlideAnimation;

public class AddMainSequenceEffect {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws ApiException {
        SlidesApi slidesApi = new SlidesApi("MY_CLIENT_ID", "MY_CLIENT_SECRET");

        // Create a Wipe effect for shape 2
        Effect wipeEffect = new Effect();
        wipeEffect.setType(Effect.TypeEnum.WIPE);
        wipeEffect.setPresetClassType(Effect.PresetClassTypeEnum.ENTRANCE);
        wipeEffect.setShapeIndex(2);
        wipeEffect.setTriggerType(Effect.TriggerTypeEnum.ONCLICK);

        // Add the effect to slide 1's main sequence
        SlideAnimation result = slidesApi.createAnimationEffect("MyPresentation.pptx", 1, wipeEffect, null, null, null);
        System.out.println("Added " + wipeEffect.getType() + " effect to shape " + wipeEffect.getShapeIndex());

        // Create a Spin effect for shape 3
        Effect spinEffect = new Effect();
        spinEffect.setType(Effect.TypeEnum.SPIN);
        spinEffect.setPresetClassType(Effect.PresetClassTypeEnum.EMPHASIS);
        spinEffect.setShapeIndex(3);
        spinEffect.setTriggerType(Effect.TriggerTypeEnum.AFTERPREVIOUS);
        spinEffect.setDuration(1.5);

        // Add the effect to slide 1's main sequence
        result = slidesApi.createAnimationEffect("MyPresentation.pptx", 1, spinEffect, null, null, null);
        System.out.println("Added " + spinEffect.getType() + " effect to shape " + spinEffect.getShapeIndex());

        // Get all animations to verify
        SlideAnimation animations = slidesApi.getAnimation("MyPresentation.pptx", 1, null, null, null, null, null);
        System.out.println("Total effects in main sequence: " + animations.getMainSequence().size());
    }
}

C# Example

using System;
using Aspose.Slides.Cloud.Sdk;
using Aspose.Slides.Cloud.Sdk.Model;

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        SlidesApi slidesApi = new SlidesApi("MY_CLIENT_ID", "MY_CLIENT_SECRET");

        // Create a Wipe effect for shape 2
        var wipeEffect = new Effect
        {
            Type = Effect.TypeEnum.Wipe,
            PresetClassType = Effect.PresetClassTypeEnum.Entrance,
            ShapeIndex = 2,
            TriggerType = Effect.TriggerTypeEnum.OnClick
        };

        // Add the effect to slide 1's main sequence
        var result = slidesApi.CreateAnimationEffect("MyPresentation.pptx", 1, wipeEffect);
        Console.WriteLine($"Added {wipeEffect.Type} effect to shape {wipeEffect.ShapeIndex}");

        // Create a Spin effect for shape 3
        var spinEffect = new Effect
        {
            Type = Effect.TypeEnum.Spin,
            PresetClassType = Effect.PresetClassTypeEnum.Emphasis,
            ShapeIndex = 3,
            TriggerType = Effect.TriggerTypeEnum.AfterPrevious,
            Duration = 1.5
        };

        // Add the effect to slide 1's main sequence
        result = slidesApi.CreateAnimationEffect("MyPresentation.pptx", 1, spinEffect);
        Console.WriteLine($"Added {spinEffect.Type} effect to shape {spinEffect.ShapeIndex}");

        // Get all animations to verify
        var animations = slidesApi.GetAnimation("MyPresentation.pptx", 1);
        Console.WriteLine($"Total effects in main sequence: {animations.MainSequence.Count}");
    }
}

Common Effect Types and Their Uses

Entrance Effects

Fade: A simple fade-in effect, good for subtle entrances
Fly: Slides in from a specified direction, great for dynamic entrances
Float: Moves in smoothly with a slight bounce at the end
Wipe: Reveals the object gradually from one edge, like wiping a window
Zoom: Grows the object from small to full size, good for emphasizing importance

Emphasis Effects

Pulse: Makes the object briefly grow and then return to normal size
Spin: Rotates the object, good for attracting attention
Teeter: Rocks the object back and forth
Blink: Makes the object blink briefly
Wave: Creates a wave-like effect through the object

Exit Effects

Disappear: Instantly removes the object
Fade: Gradually fades the object out
Fly Out: Slides the object off in a specified direction
Float Out: Moves the object off screen with a slight bounce
Shrink & Turn: Shrinks and rotates the object as it exits

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

404 Not Found: Ensure the presentation file exists at the specified location
Invalid shape index: Verify that the shape indices you’re using exist in the slide
Paragraph index out of range: Check that the text shape has the paragraph index you specified
Animation not compatible: Not all animation types work with all objects, check compatibility

What You’ve Learned

In this tutorial, you’ve learned how to:

Add individual animation effects to a main sequence
Configure animation properties like type, trigger, and timing
Apply animations to both shapes and text paragraphs
Create sequences of animations with different timing behaviors
Use the Aspose.Slides Cloud API with different programming languages

Next Steps

Now that you can add effects to a main sequence, you’re ready to move on to:

Tutorial: How to Update Animation Effects - Modify existing animation properties