Image → SVG → Editable PPTX Pro Skill

Use this skill when the user wants to turn a raster image, PPT screenshot, academic figure, UI screen, poster, report page, or AI-generated PPT image into a PowerPoint file that is as editable as possible while preserving visual fidelity.

The core route is:

source image → normalized image → semantic layout plan → high-fidelity SVG → editable PPTX reconstruction → QA comparison → correction pass

This skill is intentionally not a naive OCR-to-PPT workflow. It uses SVG as the stable intermediate representation because SVG can encode precise geometry, typography, image crops, vector primitives, and fallbacks before converting to Office shapes.

Output targets

Always produce, when possible:

1. reconstructed.pptx — main deliverable; editable PowerPoint.
2. reconstruction.svg — high-fidelity intermediate source.
3. layout_plan.json — editable semantic layout plan.
4. assets/ — cropped image/logo/icon/screenshot regions.
5. qa_report.md — visual and editability assessment.
6. Optional macros/insert_svg_fallback.bas — VBA helper for inserting SVG or fallback objects.

Operating principle

Prioritize final usefulness, not theoretical editability.

• Convert text, headings, cards, boxes, dividers, simple charts, arrows, bullets, tables, and simple icons into editable PowerPoint elements.
• Preserve complex photos, dense screenshots, logos, decorative illustrations, complex icons, gradients, and complicated path art as cropped image assets or SVG fallback groups.
• Never redraw a complex logo/icon if it will visibly degrade. Crop it from the source image and position it precisely.
• Never stretch text horizontally to match a screenshot. Use font size, letter spacing approximation, box width, and line breaks instead.
• For Chinese slides, prefer legibility and correct text over forced font matching.

Quality modes

When the user does not specify a mode, use balanced.

balanced

Best default. Core text and structure editable; complex visual regions preserved as cropped assets.

max_editable

Use when the user explicitly wants more editable elements. Vectorize more lines, charts, and simple icons. Still keep complex logos/photos as assets.

visual_locked

Use when fidelity is more important than editing. Put a full-slide image/SVG fallback underneath or as grouped locked visual, then overlay editable text and key elements.

Workflow

1. Normalize the source

Run:

python scripts/preprocess_image.py input.png --out work/normalized.png --meta work/source_meta.json

If the input is a phone photo of a screen, deskew/crop it first if needed. Keep the original file unchanged.

2. Build layout_plan.json

Use visual reasoning to decompose the normalized image into semantic layers. Follow references/layout_plan_schema.md.

The plan must include:

• canvas width and height in pixels.
• slide aspect ratio.
• background color or background image.
• text elements with exact text, x/y/w/h, font size, weight, color, alignment, line breaks.
• vector elements: rectangles, rounded rectangles, lines, arrows, circles, charts, tables.
• asset crop regions: photos, logos, screenshots, complex icons, decorative art.
• z-order.
• editability intent: editable, asset, or fallback.

Do not invent unreadable text. Mark uncertain text as needs_review: true.

3. Crop assets

Run:

python scripts/crop_assets.py work/normalized.png work/layout_plan.json --out work/assets

Complex image regions referenced in the plan must point to these cropped files.

4. Generate SVG

Run:

python scripts/plan_to_svg.py work/layout_plan.json --assets work/assets --out work/reconstruction.svg

The SVG is the canonical visual intermediate. Inspect or render it before generating PPTX.

5. Convert SVG/plan into editable PPTX

Prefer plan-based PPTX generation, because it preserves semantics better than arbitrary SVG parsing.

python scripts/plan_to_pptx.py work/layout_plan.json --assets work/assets --out work/reconstructed.pptx

If the plan is unavailable but an SVG exists, use the SVG parser fallback:

python scripts/svg_to_pptx_editable.py work/reconstruction.svg --out work/reconstructed.pptx

6. QA and correction pass

Create qa_report.md using references/quality_checklist.md.

Check:

• title hierarchy and position.
• text correctness, especially Chinese characters and numbers.
• margins and card alignment.
• colors and background balance.
• line thickness and rounded corner radius.
• whether logos/icons degraded.
• whether generated PPTX is actually editable for the main elements.

If the visual mismatch is obvious, update layout_plan.json and regenerate. Do not present the first broken result as final.

Recommended user-facing command

When the user gives an image and asks for conversion, proceed without asking follow-up unless required files are missing. Say briefly what files were produced and link the PPTX/ZIP.

Failure handling

If exact text is unreadable, do not hallucinate it. Use cropped image fallback for the region and flag it in qa_report.md.

If SVG-to-PPTX direct conversion loses filters, masks, gradients, or paths, keep those regions as cropped assets and overlay editable text/shapes.

If the user needs a fully editable corporate deck, tell them which elements remain image-based and why.