Presentation Generation

Goal

Create professional PowerPoint presentations from simulation results (plots, tables, parameters) using python-pptx. The agent writes standalone Python scripts using a helper library, enabling direct iteration with the user on the script to refine slides.

Instructions

1. Import the Helper Library

All scripts should import slide_utils from this skill:

# Env: base-agent
import sys
sys.path.insert(0, ".agents/skills/general-presentation/scripts")
from slide_utils import *

2. Build Slides Using Helper Functions

Available functions:

Function	Purpose
create_presentation(title, subtitle, author)	Create a new presentation with a styled title slide
add_title_slide(prs, title, subtitle)	Additional title/divider slides
add_section_slide(prs, title)	Section divider (colored background)
add_image_slide(prs, title, image_path, caption, notes)	Single image/plot slide
add_two_image_slide(prs, title, left_img, right_img, ...)	Side-by-side images
add_image_and_text_slide(prs, title, image_path, text, ...)	Image + text layout
add_table_slide(prs, title, headers, rows)	Data table slide
add_bullets_slide(prs, title, bullets)	Bullet point slide
add_autofit_box(slide, left, top, height, text, bg_color)	Add a colored box that auto-scales width to text
save_presentation(prs, path)	Save to .pptx file

Every builder function returns the Slide (or Shape) object, allowing further customization with raw python-pptx calls if needed.

3. Customize the Theme (Optional)

Override the THEME dictionary before building slides:

from slide_utils import *
THEME["primary"] = RGBColor(0x00, 0x50, 0x80)
THEME["font_family"] = "Arial"

4. Save and Iterate Visually

save_presentation(prs, "output.pptx")

The agent edits the Python script and re-runs to reflect changes. CRITICAL ITERATION LOOP: The agent MUST visually inspect the generated slides using their VLM capabilities to ensure elements do not overlap, text fits perfectly within boxes, and the slide space is used efficiently with a universal, professional design style.

To preview a slide as an image for visual inspection:

# Render PPTX to PDF using LibreOffice, then to PNG
libreoffice --headless --convert-to pdf output.pptx --outdir .
pdftocairo -png output.pdf output
# This generates output-1.png, which you can visually inspect.

Examples

Generating a simulation report:

# Env: base-agent
import sys
sys.path.insert(0, ".agents/skills/general-presentation/scripts")
from slide_utils import *

prs = create_presentation("LiFePO4 Stability", "MACE-MP Results", "Research Agent")
add_image_slide(prs, "Phonon DOS", "phonon_dos.png", caption="No imaginary modes observed")
add_table_slide(prs, "Parameters", ["Param", "Value"], [["Model", "MACE-MP"], ["fmax", "0.02 eV/A"]])
add_bullets_slide(prs, "Conclusions", ["Dynamically stable", "E_hull = 0 meV/atom"])
save_presentation(prs, "LiFePO4_report.pptx")

See amorphorization example for a complete runnable example with structure images, tables, and RDF plots.

Constraints

• Environment: Scripts require base-agent with python-pptx installed.
• Image formats: PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF supported.
• Slide dimensions: Default 16:9 (13.333 × 7.5 inches). Override via THEME["width"] / THEME["height"].
• Tables: Large tables (>15 rows) may overflow the slide — split across multiple slides.

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Author: Bowen Deng Contact: GitHub @learningmatter-mit