I recently discovered that you can embed animations directly in PDF files. For example, Adobe InDesign supports QuickTime video integration into PDFs. On the FOSS/LaTeX side, two main approaches exist:
animatepackage- Supply a sequence of frames (e.g. TikZ-generated images)
- Works in Adobe Acrobat, Firefox’s PDF.js, Okular (though playback can be less smooth), PDF‑XChange, Foxit Reader, etc.
- TikZ Animations Library (experimental)
- Define keyframes and let TikZ interpolate between them
I’ve successfully used the animate package with TikZ to create simple frame‑by‑frame animations, and it “just works” in the readers I mentioned. I’m happy to share my LaTeX examples (both source and resulting PDF) if that helps frame the discussion.
Why Animated PDFs Matter
Although PDFs were originally designed for static, print‑oriented documents, today they’ve become the de facto standard for distributing digital content. Especially in academia, embedded animations can significantly enhance:
- Teaching materials: Step‑by‑step visualizations of algorithms, physical phenomena, or data transformations.
- Scientific communications: Previewing time‑series data, simulations, or experimental setups without leaving the PDF.
- General documentation: Animated flowcharts, UI walkthroughs, or process demos.
For more on the pedagogical power of animated PDFs, see Joe Reddington’s blog post:
“…you can communicate complex ideas far more clearly with motion than with static diagrams alone.”
Why don’t my pdfs have animated gifs? | Joe Reddington
My Questions for the Typst Community
- Is there a way to generate animated (or video‑embedded) PDFs directly from Typst?
- If not today, is the hurdle in the Typst core (e.g. PDF backend limitations), or simply a lack of extensions/libraries?
- Are there any workarounds, perhaps via external tools or post‑processing, that play nicely with a Typst‑first workflow?