Tikz external with beamer animations

Question

I'm trying to speed-up compilation of my multi-tikz .tex file.

I found this topic and successfully applied the solution ; unfortunately, it doesn't work for animations inside the tikzfigure: Only the first view of the animation is rendered on the final pdf.

Question: Is there a way to make tikz external work with beamer's animations?

The tikzset I use for my animations is the following (found also on texSE):

\tikzset{
    invisible/.style={opacity=0},
    visible on/.style={alt={#1{}{invisible}}},
    alt/.code args={<#1>#2#3}{%
        \alt<#1>{\pgfkeysalso{#2}}{\pgfkeysalso{#3}} % \pgfkeysalso doesn't change the path
    },
}

Here is a full document that illustrate the issue:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{pgfplots}              % handle plots
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.13}
\usepgfplotslibrary{external}
    \tikzexternalize[mode=list and make, prefix=tikz/]
    \tikzset{external/system call={pdflatex \tikzexternalcheckshellescape
        -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "\image" "\texsource"}
    } % to let pdflatex work

\tikzset{
    invisible/.style={opacity=0},
    visible on/.style={alt={#1{}{invisible}}},
    alt/.code args={<#1>#2#3}{%
        \alt<#1>{\pgfkeysalso{#2}}{\pgfkeysalso{#3}} % \pgfkeysalso doesn't change the path
    },
}
\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \node[draw] at (0,0) {auie};
        \pause
        \node[draw] at (1,0) {tsrn};
        \node[draw,visible on=<3->] at (1,1) {vdlj};
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Thanks for your MWE! Here is an example entirely based on this answer. You will see that if you compile it the second time, the external pictures will be loaded, so compilation is faster.

\documentclass{beamer}
%\url{https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/119428/86}
\usepackage{tikz}

\usetikzlibrary{external}
\usetikzlibrary{overlay-beamer-styles}

\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\overlaynumber}{\number\beamer@slideinframe}
\tikzset{
  beamer externalizing/.style={%
    execute at end picture={%
      \tikzifexternalizing{%
        \ifbeamer@anotherslide
        \pgfexternalstorecommand{\string\global\string\beamer@anotherslidetrue}%
        \fi
      }{}%
    }%
  },
  external/optimize=false
}
\let\orig@tikzsetnextfilename=\tikzsetnextfilename
\renewcommand\tikzsetnextfilename[1]{\orig@tikzsetnextfilename{#1-\overlaynumber}}
\makeatother

\tikzset{every picture/.style={beamer externalizing}}

\tikzexternalize

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}[t]{\texttt{overlay-beamer-styles} and \texttt{externalize}}
\begin{itemize}
  \item<1-> Image 1
  \item<2-> Image 2
  \item<3-> Image 3
\end{itemize}
  \tikzsetnextfilename{figure}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
    \node (1) {Overlay 1};
    \draw[-latex,visible on={<2->}] (1.east) -- ++ (1,0) node[right] (2) {Overlay 2};
    \draw[-latex,visible on={<3->}] (2.east) -- ++ (1,0) node[right] (3) {Overlay 3};
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

Answer 2

The previous answer solves the MWE in the question, but my experience is that the visible on=<overlay specification> tikzset and overlay-beamer-styles are not compatible with tikzexternalize when the figure contains transparency. Note this occurs even when setting opacity=1. Using the standard beamer overlay specification (e.g. \draw<1->), however, works as expected, and therefore may be a more general solution.

Oddly, the incorrect behavior is a bit different depending if the transparency is in a graphic included with \includegraphics vs a tikz drawing. Based on this limitation, it seems better to avoid the overlay-beamer-styles format or the "visible on" tikzset if externalizing figures with transparency might be needed.

Modified MWE to highlight this issue:

\documentclass{beamer}
%\url{https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/119428/86}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\usetikzlibrary{overlay-beamer-styles}
\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\overlaynumber}{\number\beamer@slideinframe}
\tikzset{
  beamer externalizing/.style={%
    execute at end picture={%
      \tikzifexternalizing{%
        \ifbeamer@anotherslide
        \pgfexternalstorecommand{\string\global\string\beamer@anotherslidetrue}%
        \fi
      }{}%
    }%
  },
  external/optimize=false
}
\let\orig@tikzsetnextfilename=\tikzsetnextfilename
\renewcommand\tikzsetnextfilename[1]{\orig@tikzsetnextfilename{#1-\overlaynumber}}
\makeatother
\tikzset{every picture/.style={beamer externalizing}}
\tikzexternalize
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}{\texttt{overlay-beamer-styles} and \texttt{externalize}}
    \tikzsetnextfilename{figure0}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
       \node (1) {Overlay 1};
       \draw[-latex,visible on={<2->},opacity=0.5] (1.east) -- ++ (1,0) node[right] (2) {Overlay 2};
       \draw[-latex,visible on={<3->},opacity=1] (2.east) -- ++ (1,0) node[right] (3) {Overlay 3};
    \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{frame}
\begin{frame}{\texttt{overlay specification} and \texttt{externalize}}
    \tikzsetnextfilename{figure1}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \node (1) {Overlay 1};
      \draw<2->[-latex,opacity=0.5] (1.east) -- ++ (1,0) node[right] (2) {Overlay 2};
      \draw<3->[-latex,opacity=1] (2.east) -- ++ (1,0) node[right] (3) {Overlay 3};
    \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{frame}
\end{document}