Zooming effect for scientific figures in beamer

Question

I am usually not a fan of animations in scientific presentations, but here I am asking how to implement one.

I have two plots, with the second one (figure B below) being a close-up version of the first one (figure A below). I implemented this using the columns environment and onslide numbers:

\documentclass{beamer}

\usetheme{boxes}

\usepackage[export]{adjustbox}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows,positioning}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing,angles,quotes,decorations.pathmorphing}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}{Hello}
    \framesubtitle{I like trains}
    \begin{columns}
        \column{0.5\linewidth}
            \centering
            \begin{tikzpicture}
                \onslide<1->{
                    \draw[<->] (-0.8,0) -- (0.8,0);
                }
            \end{tikzpicture}
        \column{0.5\linewidth}
            \includegraphics<1>[width=\textwidth]{example-image-a}
            \includegraphics<2>[width=\textwidth]{example-image-b}
    \end{columns}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

Now when I go through the presentation this is really confusing, since we see figure A and then directly the super close-up version figure B without knowing which part of A it shows. Ideally I would like to have a simple "zooming effect". I thought the easiest option would be to insert a number of intermediate overlays betwee figure A and B, and then let them transition into each other with a certain pause time. However I don't know how to implement this without having to click through all of them. Any help on this or alternative implementations would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

How about this snippet?

\documentclass{beamer}

\usetheme{boxes}

\usepackage[export]{adjustbox}

\usepackage{tikz,animate}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows,positioning}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing,angles,quotes,decorations.pathmorphing}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}{Hello}
\animate<2-51>
\newcount\mysize
\animatevalue<2-42>{\mysize}{12}{52}
\transduration<2-42>{0.4}
    \framesubtitle{I like it when it rains}
    \begin{columns}
        \column{0.5\linewidth}
            \centering
            \begin{tikzpicture}
                \onslide<1->{
                    \draw[<->] (-0.8,0) -- (0.8,0);
                }
            \end{tikzpicture}
        \column{0.5\linewidth}
        \begin{tikzpicture}
        \node at (0,0) {\includegraphics[width=6cm]{example-image-a}};
        \pause
        \node at (0,0) {\includegraphics[width=\the\mysize mm]{example-image-b}};
        \end{tikzpicture}
    \end{columns}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

This produces a beamer animation that zooms the second picture in at the center of the first one, but by adjusting the position of the second node you can control this position.

And I should mention that the animation only works when certain requirements are met. I use the fullscreen mode of acroread. (And the \transduration<2-42>{0.4} command allows you to adjust the speed.)

Answer 2

Here is a slightly modified version of @marmot's answer, combining his animation method with this answer. That way one can include a new figure file in each animation step and the "zooming" is contained in what these figures show (they would have to be created externally). This is what I originally intended in the question.

\documentclass{beamer}

\usetheme{boxes}

\usepackage[export]{adjustbox}

\usepackage{tikz,animate}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows,positioning}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing,angles,quotes,decorations.pathmorphing}

\begin{document}

    \begin{frame}{Hello}
        \animate<2-9>
        \newcount\mysize
        %\animatevalue<2-42>{\mysize}{12}{52}
        \transduration<2-7>{0.4}
        \framesubtitle{I like it when it rains}
        \begin{columns}
            \column{0.5\linewidth}
            \centering
            \begin{tikzpicture}
            \onslide<1->{
                \draw[<->] (-0.8,0) -- (0.8,0);
            }
            \end{tikzpicture}
            \column{0.5\linewidth}
            \begin{tikzpicture}
            \node at (0,0) {\includegraphics[width=6cm]{example-image-a}};
            \foreach \x in {a,b,a,b,a,b}
            {
                \pause
                \node at (0,0) {\includegraphics[width=6cm]{example-image-\x}};
            }
            \end{tikzpicture}
        \end{columns}
    \end{frame}

\end{document}