`Powerpoint' like presentations using PDFLaTeX and PPower4
PPower4 can be used to postprocess documents for presentations created with pdflatex, where parts of the page are to be uncovered step by step during presentation with Acrobat Reader. Additional features include displaying parts of a page in any order, removing items from the page and inserting fancy transitions or backgrounds.
PPower4 is not a complete presentation package. It is intended as an enhancement to standard LaTeX classes such as foils or slides (although there is a foiltex based package with ppower4 called pp4slide).
To use ppower4 you first need to write a presentation in PDFLaTeX. The key difference between LaTeX and PDFLaTeX is the image formats you can include. With `standard' LaTeX you would use EPS files where as with PDFLaTeX you use PDF and JPEG files instead. Otherwise PDFLaTeX works in the same basic way as LaTeX.
The ppower4 specific packages are called pause and background and together provide all the additional latex commands required. To make it even easier a set of macros is also provide called pagetrans
To process the example tex file use the commands
pdflatex ppower4demo.tex
ppower4 ppower4demo.pdf ppower4demob.pdfThe first command produces the basic pdf file which contains markers that ppower 4 can then use the post process it to porduce the final pdf file eith the special effects.