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Animation Options

When the Animation tab is open, you will see multiple options to control the behaviour of the animation. The exact options available depends on whether you opened the animation tab by clicking on an item (item mode) or by clicking on an animation card in the timeline (animation mode). If you clicked on a whiteboard item, you will see all animations on that item and have the ability to add new animations to that item. If you clicked on the timeline, you will only see the animations you selected - it isn't possible to add new animations from here. Click on the item itself on the whiteboard if you need the full array of options.

The options you will see on the animation tab are listed below and the list is in the same order as they appear on the user interface.

  1. The Animation Target. This only appears if the animation is opened in item mode and the selected item is a shape. For a shape, animations can be added to both the shape itself (the rectangle/circle/whatever shape you pick) or the text inside the shape. For instance, a Fly In animation can be targeted at the shape, in which case the rectangle will fly in, or it can be targeted at the text, in which case the text will fly in. This allows you to refine exactly how you want your animation to behave.

  2. The Animation Category. This only appears if the animation is opened in animation mode (e.g. by clicking on the timeline). There are four categories of animation:

    • Entry - Entry animations control how the item appears into the scene. Each item can only have one entry animation.
    • Exit - Exit animations control how the item leaves the scene. Each item can only have one exit animation.
    • Change - Change animations allow the item to change in some way while in the scene. Each item can have several change animations.
    • Camera - Camera animations specifically control how the scene moves from one camera to another. They can only be applied to camera items.

  3. The Animation Type. The type of animation (e.g. Fly In, Text Draw, Move, Shrink). A full description of all animation types is in the next section. Note that the list of animation types will only show types within the Animation Category that you have selected.

  4. Animation Customisation. These options are specific to the animation type chosen. For instance, for a Fly In animation, you will see an option asking you which direction you want the item to fly in from (left, right, top or bottom). These options are listed in the next section.

  5. Animation Start Type. When this animation starts relative to the previous animation on the timeline. There are three choices:

    • After Previous - The default. The animation will start right after the previous animation finishes.
    • With Previous - The animation starts at the same time as the previous animation starts. When you select this option, the animation and it's predecessor will form a Group on the Animation Timeline. See the Grouping Animations section for more info.
    • On Click - The animation will start when the mouse is clicked. Note that the behaviour of this animation type depends on whether you view your creation as a video or as a presentation:
      • Video Mode - In a video, we can't wait for a mouse click, so instead we use a fixed delay. This delay is controlled by the On-Click Animation Delay setting in the Board tab. The default is 2 seconds.
      • Presentation Mode - The animation acts like you'd expect - it waits until the presentation is advanced (either with mouse click, space bar or left arrow) until is starts.

    Note that intricate, overlapping animation sequences can be created by combining a start type of 'With Previous' with the Delay option. For instance, setting three animations to start With Previous and then setting a delay on each of 0.25 seconds will cause each animation to start 0.25 seconds after the previous (even if the previous animation hasn't finished yet). This can create really exciting effects.

  6. Animation Delay. This delays the start of the animation by a set time. The way this behaves depends on the Start Type of the animation:

    • Start Type of After Previous - A delay of 1 second would mean there is a gap of 1 second between the previous animation finishing and the current animation starting.
    • Start Type of With Previous - A delay of 1 second would mean that this animation starts 1 second after the previous animation starts (even if the previous animation hasn't finished yet).

  7. Animation Duration. How long the animation lasts. Shorter durations make for quick, snappy animations. Longer durations make for slower, smoother animations. For example, if you use a Text Draw animation, a larger amount of text should probably have a longer duration, otherwise the writing animation may not look realistic.