Academic Slides with Safe Fallbacks
Create academic decks that are evidence-led, readable, and honest about their production route.
Non-negotiable rules
- Use scientific visuals only from the paper, SI, or user-provided sources. Never fabricate, redraw, or semantically alter data figures, microscopy, spectra, molecular structures, mechanisms, tables, or charts.
- Write conclusion-style titles, trace every visual in a figure-source manifest, and calibrate claims to evidence.
- Do not call an editable or code-built deck Image2-only.
Choose one route
Route A: Image2-only authoritative deck
Use only when a full-slide Image2 backend is confirmed and can faithfully preserve supplied scientific crops. Keep image2_manifest.json, package one approved full-slide image per PPTX slide, and run scripts/validate_image_only_pptx.py.
Route B: template-fidelity fallback
Use only after explicit user consent and a passed hygiene audit. The template owns its navigation, footer, and mapped slots; code edits inherited objects in place and must not add a second navigation layer.
When the user explicitly asks to reproduce the bundled sample template exactly, use Route B's exact-template mode. Preserve the sample's navigation labels and decorative chrome intentionally, map each output page to a distinct source-slide archetype, and replace or remove every source-specific scientific object. Do not describe a code-redrawn Route C deck as an exact reproduction. Read references/exact-template-fidelity.md before building.
textpython scripts/build_fallback_template_pptx.py edit_plan.json exact.pptx --strict --fail-on-warnings python scripts/audit_fallback_template_pptx.py exact.pptx --build-report exact.build-report.json --check-masters --exact-template --fail-on-review python scripts/audit_exact_template_fidelity.py exact.pptx --plan edit_plan.json --build-report exact.build-report.json --fail-on-review
textpython scripts/audit_fallback_template_pptx.py template.pptx --check-masters --fail-on-review
Reject templates containing old scientific content, figure labels, sample names, or non-removable master/layout objects. For adaptive cross-domain reuse, also reject fixed legacy navigation. The only exception is exact-template mode, where the user has explicitly requested that navigation and it remains semantically appropriate. Read references/template-hygiene.md and references/fallback-template-pptx.md.
Route C: pragmatic fallback
Use only after explicit user consent when Image2 is unavailable and no clean, domain-compatible template passes Route B. Start from a blank 16:9 presentation: code owns every visible object. Never import a content-bearing master or layout.
Route C follows the visual grammar of assets/sample-literature-report.pptx—white canvas, red-black-gray palette, shallow top navigation, conclusion title, thin rule, and quiet footer/page number—without inheriting the sample's old content. Read references/first-template-style-contract.md and references/pragmatic-fallback.md.
Every page brief must specify one of: cover, text, figure_right, figure_wide, process, comparison, summary, or closing.
textpython scripts/build_pragmatic_fallback_pptx.py pragmatic_edit_plan.json --out editable_fallback_presentation.pptx python scripts/validate_pragmatic_fallback_pptx.py editable_fallback_presentation.pptx --plan pragmatic_edit_plan.json --fail-on-review
Every displayed scientific figure requires source_type: figure_crop, crop_verified: true, figure ID, source page, and source label. A full paper-page scan is not a figure crop.
Page ownership and fit contract
- Choose exactly one owner per slide: inherited template objects in Route B, or generated objects in Route C. Never combine the two.
- The builder treats every code-owned text box as a fixed template slot: it blocks copy that exceeds the slot's CJK-aware line capacity, as well as titles over 54 characters and overlong bullet lists. Shorten or restructure copy before building; never shrink one page's font or truncate with ellipses.
- Select the layout from the evidence: use wide figures for plots/tables, right-side figures for portrait images, process flow for 2–5 steps, comparison for two alternatives, and summary rows for 2–5 conclusions/parameters.
- Do not expose internal route names, template notes, model names, fallback labels, or build instructions in audience-facing slides.
Required production flow
- Confirm paper/SI source availability and explicit fallback consent.
- Create
paper_analysis.jsonfollowingreferences/paper-analysis-contract.md, then runscripts/validate_paper_analysis.py --fail-on-review. This is the source of truth for the logic tree, figure boundaries, evidence chains, adaptive navigation, and slide claims. - Derive the terminology table, figure-source manifest,
deck_order_map.md, and page briefs from the validated analysis. Do not introduce a slide claim, source figure, or navigation section that is absent from the analysis without updating and revalidating it. - Choose Route A, B, or C and prepare page briefs with source crops and page types.
- Build only through that route; do not silently substitute a different route.
- Run structural QA, render every slide with PowerPoint/LibreOffice where available, inspect individual pages and a montage, and fix all overflow, overlap, legacy residue, unreadable figures, and inconsistent chrome.
For exact-template mode, also compare the montage with the source-template montage. Passing structural QA alone is insufficient: the inherited navigation, title treatment, margins, footer band, image framing, and whitespace rhythm must remain visibly unchanged.
Route C delivery statement
textImage2 backend used: no Delivery mode: pragmatic editable fallback accepted by user Visual style: sample-deck-derived white/red/black academic grammar Scientific visuals: real paper/SI/user-provided figure crops only Structural QA completed: yes Render/layout QA completed: yes/no Editable elements may exist: yes
