mutter/doc/cookbook/animations.xml
Elliot Smith da22150498 cookbook: Minor modification to wording to improve clarity
Text referred to three animation methods, but only provides
examples for two of them; and in future there may be more/fewer
than 3. So I reworded it.
2010-07-16 12:48:56 +01:00

509 lines
18 KiB
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<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
<chapter id="animations">
<title>Animations</title>
<epigraph>
<attribution>Walt Disney</attribution>
<para>Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive.</para>
</epigraph>
<section id="animations-introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>Clutter actors have a variety of <emphasis>properties</emphasis>
(position, size, rotation in 3D space, scale, opacity) which govern
their visual appearance in the UI. They may also have
<emphasis>constraints</emphasis> on how they are aligned
and/or positioned relative to each other.</para>
<para>The Clutter animation API provides a means of changing
properties and constraints as a function of time: moving, scaling,
rotating, changing opacity and colour, modifying postional
constraints, etc.</para>
<note><para>Clutter also makes it possible to animate non-visual
properties if desired.</para></note>
<section>
<title>High level overview</title>
<para>Here are the main concepts behind animation in Clutter:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>An <emphasis>animation</emphasis> changes one or more
properties of one or more actors over time: their rotation in
a particular dimension (<varname>x</varname>, <varname>y</varname>,
<varname>z</varname>), scale, size, opacity etc.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>An animation has an associated <emphasis>timeline</emphasis>.
Think of this as analogous to the "thing" you're controlling when
you watch a video on the internet: it's what you control with
the play/pause button and what is measured by the bar
showing how far through the video you are. As with the
controls on a video player, you can play/pause/skip a Clutter
timeline; you can also rewind it, loop it, and play it
backwards.</para>
<note>
<para>If a timeline is reversed, the progress along the
timeline is still measured the same way as it is in the forward
direction: so if you start from the end of the timeline and run
it backwards for 75% of its length, the progress is reported
as 0.25 (i.e. 25% of the way from the start of the
timeline).</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The <emphasis>duration</emphasis> of a timeline
(e.g. 500 milliseconds, 1 second, 10 seconds) specifies how
long its animation will last. The timeline can be inspected
to find out how much of it has elapsed, either as a value in
milliseconds or as a fraction (between 0 and 1) of the total
length of the timeline.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>An animation is divided into <emphasis>frames</emphasis>.
The number of frames which make up the animation isn't
constant: it depends on various factors, like how powerful
your machine is, the state of the drivers for your hardware,
and the load on he system. So you won't always get the same
number of frames in an animation of a particular duration.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The change to a property in an animation occurs over
the course of the timeline: the start value of the property
heads toward some target value. When it reaches the end of
the timeline, the property should have reached the target
value.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Exactly how the property changes over the course of the
timeline is governed by an <emphasis>alpha</emphasis>. This
is the trickiest idea to explain, so it has its own section
below.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section id="animations-introduction-alphas">
<title>Alphas</title>
<para>An alpha is generated for each frame of the animation.
The alpha varies between -1.0 and 2.0, and changes during the
course of the animation's timeline; ideally, the value should
start at 0.0 and reach 1.0 by the end of the timeline.</para>
<para>The alpha for any given frame of the animation is determined
by an <emphasis>alpha function</emphasis>. Usually, the alpha
function will return a value based on progress along the timeline.
However, the alpha function doesn't have to respect or pay
attention to the timeline: it can be entirely random if desired.</para>
<para>To work out the value of a property at a given frame
somewhere along the timeline for a given alpha:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Determine the difference between the start value and
the target end value for the property.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Multiply the difference by the alpha for the current
frame.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Add the result to the start value.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>The shape of the plot of the alpha function over time is
called its <emphasis>easing mode</emphasis>. Clutter provides
various modes ranging from <constant>CLUTTER_LINEAR</constant>
(the alpha value is equal to progress along the timeline),
to modes based on various polynomial and exponential functions,
to modes providing elastic and bounce shapes. See the
ClutterAlpha documentation for examples of the shapes produced
by these functions. There is also a good interactive demo
of the modes on
<ulink url="http://www.robertpenner.com/easing/easing_demo.html">Robert Penner's site</ulink>.
</para>
<para>Most of the time, you can use the built-in Clutter easing
modes to get the kind of animation effect you want. However,
in some cases you may want to provide your own alpha function.
Here's an example (based on the quintic ease in mode from
<filename>clutter-alpha.c</filename>):</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
static gdouble
_alpha_ease_in_sextic (ClutterAlpha *alpha,
gpointer dummy G_GNUC_UNUSED)
{
ClutterTimeline *timeline = clutter_alpha_get_timeline (alpha);
gdouble p = clutter_timeline_get_progress (timeline);
return p * p * p * p * p * p;
}
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>An alpha function just has to have a specified method
signature and return a <type>gdouble</type> value when called.
As stated above, you'd typically base the return value on the
timeline progress; the function above shows how you get the
timeline associated with the alpha, so you can apply the alpha
function to it.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Clutter's animation API</title>
<para>All of the animation approaches in Clutter use the same
basic underpinnings (as explained above), but the API provides
varying levels of abstraction and/or ease of use on top of those
underpinnings.</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>Implicit animations</emphasis> (created using
<function>clutter_actor_animate()</function> and related
functions) are useful where you want to apply
a simple or one-off animation to an actor. They enable you
to animate one or more properties using a single easing mode;
however, you only specify the target values for the properties
you're animating, not the start values.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>ClutterAnimator</emphasis> provides support
for declarative animations (defined using <type>ClutterScript</type>).
You can animate multiple actors with this approach, and
have more control over the easing modes used during an
animation: while implicit animations only allow a single
easing mode for all properties, <type>ClutterAnimator</type>
supports <emphasis>multiple</emphasis> easing modes for
<emphasis>each</emphasis> property; <emphasis>key frames</emphasis>
are used to indicate where in the animation each easing mode
should be applied.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>ClutterState</emphasis> enables you to describe
<emphasis>states</emphasis>: property values across one or
more actors, plus the easing modes used to transition to
those values. It can also be combined with <type>ClutterAnimator</type>
for finer grained definition of transitions if desired.</para>
<para>States are particularly useful if you need actors to
animate between a known set of positions/sizes/opacities etc.
during their lifecycles (e.g. animating a list of items in
a menu, or for animations in a picture viewer where you
click on thumbnails to display a full view of a photograph).</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>The recipes in this section show when and where it is
appropriate to use each of these approaches.</para>
</section>
</section>
<section id="animations-inversion">
<title>Inverting Animations</title>
<section>
<title>Problem</title>
<para>You want to have an animation exactly mirroring another one
that you just played.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Solution</title>
<para>Reverse the direction of the <type>ClutterTimeline</type>
associated with the animation.</para>
<para>For example, here's how to invert an implicit
animation which moves an actor along the <varname>x</varname>
axis. The direction of the animation is inverted when the
movement along the <varname>x</varname> axis is completed; it is
also inverted if the mouse button is pressed on the actor.</para>
<para>First, set up the animation:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
ClutterAnimation *animation;
/*
* animate actor to x = 300.0;
* the implicit animation functions return a ClutterAnimation
* which we can use to invert the timeline
*/
animation = clutter_actor_animate (actor,
CLUTTER_EASE_IN_OUT_CUBIC,
2000,
"x", 300.0,
NULL);
/* callback for when the animation completes */
g_signal_connect (animation,
"completed",
G_CALLBACK (_animation_done_cb),
NULL);
/*
* callback for when the mouse button is pressed on the actor;
* note the animation is passed as user data, so we can
* get at the timeline
*/
g_signal_connect (actor,
"button-press-event",
G_CALLBACK (_on_click_cb),
animation);
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>Next, add a function for inverting the timeline:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
static void
_invert_timeline (ClutterTimeline *timeline)
{
ClutterTimelineDirection direction = clutter_timeline_get_direction (timeline);
if (direction == CLUTTER_TIMELINE_FORWARD)
direction = CLUTTER_TIMELINE_BACKWARD;
else
direction = CLUTTER_TIMELINE_FORWARD;
clutter_timeline_set_direction (timeline, direction);
}
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>Then add a function which calls <function>_invert_timeline</function>
when the animation completes. More importantly, the callback should
stop emission of the "completed" signal by the animation. This
prevents the <type>ClutterAnimation</type> underlying the implicit
animation from being unreferenced; which in turn allows it to be
inverted:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
static void
_animation_done_cb (ClutterAnimation *animation,
gpointer user_data)
{
/* stop the completed signal before the ClutterAnimation is unreferenced */
g_signal_stop_emission_by_name (animation, "completed");
/* invert the timeline associated with the animation */
ClutterTimeline *timeline = clutter_animation_get_timeline (animation);
_invert_timeline (timeline);
}
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>Finally, the click callback function uses the same
<function>_invert_timeline</function> function if the animation
is playing; but if the animation is stopped, it will
start it instead:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
static void
_on_click_cb (ClutterActor *actor,
ClutterEvent *event,
gpointer user_data)
{
ClutterAnimation *animation = (ClutterAnimation *)user_data;
ClutterTimeline *timeline = clutter_animation_get_timeline (animation);
if (clutter_timeline_is_playing (timeline))
{
_invert_timeline (timeline);
}
else
{
clutter_timeline_start (timeline);
}
}
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
</section>
<section>
<title>Discussion</title>
<para>If you are using <type>ClutterAnimator</type> rather than
implicit animations, <function>clutter_animator_get_timeline()</function>
enables you to get the underlying timeline; you could then use
the techniques shown above to invert it.</para>
<para><type>ClutterState</type> enables a different approach
to "inverting" an animation: rather than having a single animation
which you invert, you would define two or more
<emphasis>keys</emphasis> for an actor (or set of actors) and
transition between them.</para>
<para>For the example above, you would define two keys:
one for the actor's initial position; and a second for the actor
at <code>x = 300.0</code>. You would also define the
transition between them: 2000 milliseconds with a
<constant>CLUTTER_EASE_IN_OUT_CUBIC</constant> easing mode.</para>
<para>With the states defined, you would then use
<function>clutter_state_set_state()</function> inside callbacks to
animate the actor between the two <varname>x</varname> positions.
Behind the scenes, <type>ClutterState</type> would handle the
animations and timelines for you.</para>
</section>
</section>
<section id="animations-fading">
<title>Fading an actor out of or into view</title>
<section>
<title>Problem</title>
<para>You want to animate an actor so that it fades out of or into
view.</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Solution</title>
<para>Animate the actor's opacity property.</para>
<para>You can do this using any of the approaches provided
by the animation API. Here's how to fade out an actor (until it's
completely transparent) using implicit animations:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
/* fade out actor over 4000 milliseconds */
clutter_actor_animate (actor,
CLUTTER_EASE_OUT_CUBIC,
4000,
"opacity", 0,
NULL);
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>Here's an example of a rectangle fading out using this
animation:</para>
<inlinemediaobject>
<videoobject>
<videodata fileref="videos/animations-fading-out.ogv"/>
</videoobject>
<alt>
<para>Video showing an actor fading out using implicit
animations</para>
</alt>
</inlinemediaobject>
<para><constant>CLUTTER_EASE_OUT_CUBIC</constant> is one of the
Clutter easing modes; see
<link linkend="animations-introduction-alphas">the introduction</link>
for more details about what these are and how to choose one.</para>
<para>Here's an example of the transitions you could use to
fade an actor in and out using <type>ClutterState</type>:</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
ClutterState *transitions = clutter_state_new ();
/* all transitions last for 2000 milliseconds */
clutter_state_set_duration (transitions, NULL, NULL, 2000);
/* transition from any state to "fade-out" state */
clutter_state_set (transitions,
NULL, /* from state (NULL means "any") */
"fade-out", /* to state */
actor, "opacity", CLUTTER_EASE_OUT_QUAD, 0,
NULL);
/* transition from any state to "fade-in" state */
clutter_state_set (transitions, NULL, "fade-in",
actor, "opacity", CLUTTER_EASE_OUT_QUAD, 255,
NULL);
/* put the actor into the "fade-out" state with no animation */
clutter_state_warp_to_state (transitions, "fade-out");
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>You would then trigger an animated state change as events
occur in the application (e.g. mouse button clicks):</para>
<informalexample>
<programlisting>
<![CDATA[
clutter_state_set_state (transitions, "fade-in");
]]>
</programlisting>
</informalexample>
<para>Here's an example of this animation fading in then out again:</para>
<inlinemediaobject>
<videoobject>
<videodata fileref="videos/animations-fading-in-then-out.ogv"/>
</videoobject>
<alt>
<para>Video showing an actor fading in then out using
<type>ClutterState</type></para>
</alt>
</inlinemediaobject>
<note>
<para><type>ClutterState</type> is most useful where you
need to animate an actor backwards and forwards between multiple
states (e.g. fade an actor in and out of view). Where you just
want to fade an actor in or out once,
<function>clutter_actor_animate()</function> is adequate.</para>
</note>
</section>
<section>
<title>Discussion</title>
<para>Reducing an actor's transparency to zero does not make it
inactive: the actor will still be reactive even if it's not
visible (responding to key events, mouse clicks etc.).
To make it really "disappear", you could use
<function>clutter_actor_hide()</function> once you'd made the actor
fully transparent.</para>
</section>
</section>
</chapter>