Remove the blank space caused by images in beamer

Question

I am making a beamer presentation in which I need to remove a figure completely and then replace it with items in an itemize list. However, when I remove an image completely, there is a blank space between the first and the third point (second point after removal of item 2, which contains the figures). How can I get rid of that space? Below is my frame.

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Title}
\begin{block}{Block 1}

    \begin{overlayarea}{\textwidth}{0.85\textheight}
        \begin{itemize}
            \item<1-> Item 1.
            \item<2-4> Item 2.
            \begin{figure}
                \includegraphics<2> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{image 1}
                \includegraphics<3> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{image 2}
                \includegraphics<4> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{image 3}
            \end{figure}
            \item<5> Item 3
            \only<5> ABCD
            \item<5> Item 4         
        \end{itemize}
    \end{overlayarea}
\end{block}
\end{frame}

I tried placing the figure environment in a only<2-4> . But that doesn't help either.

Answer 1

You can place the second item (and associated content) inside \only<2-4>:

\documentclass{beamer}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  \frametitle{Title}
  \begin{block}{Block 1}
    \begin{overlayarea}{\textwidth}{0.85\textheight}
      \begin{itemize}
        \item<1-> Item 1.
        \only<2-4>{\item Item 2.

          \bigskip\centering

          \includegraphics<2> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{example-image-a}
          \includegraphics<3> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{example-image-b}
          \includegraphics<4> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{example-image-c}
        }
        \item<5> Item 3
          \only<5> ABCD
        \item<5> Item 4         
      \end{itemize}
    \end{overlayarea}
  \end{block}

\end{frame}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Try to comment or remove \begin{figure} and \end{figure}: this way the blank space due to the floating environment disappear. Then, the only blank space before

\item<5> Item 3

\only<5> ABCD

\item<5> Item 4

is that due to the line of text in the item:

\item<2-4> Item 2

(and this is coherent with <1->, <2-4>, <5>).

Addendum: minimal example using \centering (please notice the blank line just before).

\documentclass[english,12pt]{beamer}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Title}
\begin{block}{Block 1}
    \begin{overlayarea}{\textwidth}{0.85\textheight}
        \begin{itemize}
            \item<1-> Item 1.
            \item<2-4> Item 2. %% blank line follows

                \centering
                \includegraphics<2> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{image 1}
                \includegraphics<3> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{image 2}
                \includegraphics<4> [width=6.5cm, height=2.5cm]{image 3}
            \item<5> Item 3
            \only<5> ABCD
            \item<5> Item 4         
        \end{itemize}
    \end{overlayarea}
\end{block}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

This way, the images appear to be horizontally centered within the block.