Because the Web is a dynamic medium, SVG supports the ability to change vector graphics over time. SVG content can be animated in the following ways:
SVG's animation elements were developed in collaboration with the W3C Synchronized Multimedia (SYMM) Working Group, developers of the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) 1.0 Specification [SMIL1].
The SYMM Working Group, in collaboration with the SVG Working Group, has authored the SMIL Animation specification [SMILANIM], which represents a general-purpose XML animation feature set. SVG incorporates the animation features defined in the SMIL Animation specification and provides some SVG-specific extensions.
For an introduction to the approach and features available in any language that supports SMIL Animation, see SMIL Animation overview and SMIL Animation animation model. For the list of animation features which go beyond SMIL Animation, seeSVG extensions to SMIL Animation.
SVG is a host language in terms of SMIL Animation and therefore introduces additional constraints and features as permitted by that specification. Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the normative definition for SVG's animation elements and attributes is the SMIL Animation [SMILANIM] specification.
SVG supports the following four animation elements which are defined in the SMIL Animation specification:
'animate' | allows scalar attributes and properties to be assigned different values over time | ||
'set' | a convenient shorthand for'animate', which is useful for assigning animation values to non-numeric attributes and properties, such as the'visibility' property | ||
'animateMotion' | moves an element along a motion path | ||
'animateColor' | modifies the color value of particular attributes or properties over time |
Additionally, SVG includes the following compatible extensions to SMIL Animation:
'animateTransform' | modifies one of SVG's transformation attributes over time, such as thetransform attribute | ||
path attribute | SVG allows any feature from SVG'spath data syntax to be specified in apath attribute to the'animateMotion' element (SMIL Animation only allows a subset of SVG's path data syntax within apath attribute) | ||
'mpath' element | SVG allows an'animateMotion' element to contain a child'mpath' element which references an SVG'path' element as the definition of the motion path | ||
keyPoints attribute | SVG adds akeyPoints attribute to the'animateMotion' to provide precise control of the velocity of motion path animations | ||
rotate attribute | SVG adds arotate attribute to the'animateMotion' to control whether an object is automatically rotated so that its x-axis points in the same direction (or opposite direction) as the directional tangent vector of the motion path |
For compatibility with other aspects of the language, SVG usesURI references via anxlink:href attribute to identify the elements which are to be targets of the animations.
SMIL Animation requires that the host language define the meaning fordocument begin and thedocument end. Since an'svg' is sometimes the root of the XML document tree and other times can be a component of a parent XML grammar, thedocument begin for a given SVG document fragment is defined to be the exact time at which the'svg' element'sSVGLoad event is triggered. Thedocument end of an SVG document fragment is the point at which the document fragment has been released and is no longer being processed by the user agent. However, nested'svg' elements within an SVG document do not constitute document fragments in this sense, and do not define a separate document begin; all times within the nested SVG fragment are relative to the document time defined for the root'svg' element.
For SVG, the termpresentation time indicates the position in the timeline relative to thedocument begin of a given document fragment.
SVG defines more constrained error processing than is defined in the SMIL Animation [SMILANIM] specification. SMIL Animation defines error processing behavior where the document continues to run in certain error situations, whereas all animations within an SVG document fragment will stop in the event of any error within the document (seeError processing).
Example anim01 below demonstrates each of SVG's five animation elements.
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?><!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd"><svg width="8cm" height="3cm" viewBox="0 0 800 300" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"> <desc>Example anim01 - demonstrate animation elements</desc> <rect x="1" y="1" width="798" height="298" fill="none" stroke="blue" stroke-width="2" /> <!-- The following illustrates the use of the 'animate' element to animate a rectangles x, y, and width attributes so that the rectangle grows to ultimately fill the viewport. --> <rect x="300" y="100" width="300" height="100" fill="rgb(255,255,0)" > <animate attributeName="x" attributeType="XML" begin="0s" dur="9s" fill="freeze" from="300" to="0" /> <animate attributeName="y" attributeType="XML" begin="0s" dur="9s" fill="freeze" from="100" to="0" /> <animate attributeName="width" attributeType="XML" begin="0s" dur="9s" fill="freeze" from="300" to="800" /> <animate attributeName="height" attributeType="XML" begin="0s" dur="9s" fill="freeze" from="100" to="300" /> </rect> <!-- Set up a new user coordinate system so that the text string's origin is at (0,0), allowing rotation and scale relative to the new origin --> <g transform="translate(100,100)" > <!-- The following illustrates the use of the 'set', 'animateMotion', 'animateColor' and 'animateTransform' elements. The 'text' element below starts off hidden (i.e., invisible). At 3 seconds, it: * becomes visible * continuously moves diagonally across the viewport * changes color from blue to dark red * rotates from -30 to zero degrees * scales by a factor of three. --> <text x="0" y="0" font-family="Verdana" font-size="35.27" visibility="hidden" > It's alive! <set attributeName="visibility" attributeType="CSS" to="visible" begin="3s" dur="6s" fill="freeze" /> <animateMotion path="M 0 0 L 100 100" begin="3s" dur="6s" fill="freeze" /> <animateColor attributeName="fill" attributeType="CSS" from="rgb(0,0,255)" to="rgb(128,0,0)" begin="3s" dur="6s" fill="freeze" /> <animateTransform attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="rotate" from="-30" to="0" begin="3s" dur="6s" fill="freeze" /> <animateTransform attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="scale" from="1" to="3" additive="sum" begin="3s" dur="6s" fill="freeze" /> </text> </g></svg>
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View this example as SVG (SVG-enabled browsers only)
The sections below describe the various animation attributes and elements.
The following attributes are common to all animation elements and identify the target element for the animation.
<!ENTITY %SVG.Animation.attrib "%SVG.XLink.attrib; %SVG.Animation.extra.attrib;"> |
Attribute definitions:
The following attributes identify the target attribute or property for the giventarget element whose value changes over time.
<!ENTITY %SVG.AnimationAttribute.attrib "attributeName CDATA #REQUIRED attributeType CDATA #IMPLIED %SVG.AnimationAttribute.extra.attrib;"> |
Attribute definitions:
attributeName
has an XMLNS prefix, the implementation must use the associated namespace as defined in the scope of the target element. The attribute must be defined as animatable in this specification.attributeName
to an attribute for the target element. The implementation must first search through the list of CSS properties for a matching property name, and if none is found, search the default XML namespace for the element.The following attributes are common to all animation elements and control the timing of the animation, including what causes the animation to start and end, whether the animation runs repeatedly, and whether to retain the end state the animation once the animation ends.
<!ENTITY %SVG.AnimationTiming.attrib "begin CDATA #IMPLIED dur CDATA #IMPLIED end CDATA #IMPLIED min CDATA #IMPLIED max CDATA #IMPLIED restart ( always | never | whenNotActive ) 'always' repeatCount CDATA #IMPLIED repeatDur CDATA #IMPLIED fill ( remove | freeze ) 'remove' %SVG.AnimationTiming.extra.attrib;"> |
In the syntax specifications that follow, optional white space is indicated as "S", defined as follows:
S ::= (#x20 | #x9 | #xD | #xA)*
Attribute definitions:
begin
orend
to identify whether to synchronize with the beginning or active end of the referenced animation element.f(t)
.The SMIL Animation [ SMILANIM] specification defines the detailed processing rules associated with the above attributes. Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the SMIL Animation [ SMILANIM] specification is the normative definition of the processing rules for the above attributes.
Clock values have the same syntax as in SMIL Animation [SMILANIM], which is repeated here:
Clock-val ::= Full-clock-val | Partial-clock-val | Timecount-valFull-clock-val ::= Hours ":" Minutes ":" Seconds ("." Fraction)?Partial-clock-val ::= Minutes ":" Seconds ("." Fraction)?Timecount-val ::= Timecount ("." Fraction)? (Metric)?Metric ::= "h" | "min" | "s" | "ms"Hours ::= DIGIT+; any positive numberMinutes ::= 2DIGIT; range from 00 to 59Seconds ::= 2DIGIT; range from 00 to 59Fraction ::= DIGIT+Timecount ::= DIGIT+2DIGIT ::= DIGIT DIGITDIGIT ::= [0-9]
For Timecount values, the default metric suffix is "s" (for seconds). No embedded white space is allowed in clock values, although leading and trailing white space characters will be ignored.
Clock values describepresentation time.
The following are examples of legal clock values:
02:30:03
= 2 hours, 30 minutes and 3 seconds 50:00:10.25
= 50 hours, 10 seconds and 250 milliseconds
02:33
= 2 minutes and 33 seconds 00:10.5
= 10.5 seconds = 10 seconds and 500 milliseconds 3.2h
= 3.2 hours = 3 hours and 12 minutes 45min
= 45 minutes 30s
= 30 seconds 5ms
= 5 milliseconds 12.467
= 12 seconds and 467 millisecondsFractional values are just (base 10) floating point definitions of seconds. Thus:
00.5s = 500 milliseconds
00:00.005 = 5 milliseconds
The following attributes are common to elements'animate','animateMotion','animateColor' and'animateTransform'. These attributes define the values that are assigned to the target attribute or property over time. The attributes below provide control over the relative timing of keyframes and the interpolation method between discrete values.
<!ENTITY %SVG.AnimationValue.attrib "calcMode ( discrete | linear | paced | spline ) 'linear' values CDATA #IMPLIED keyTimes CDATA #IMPLIED keySplines CDATA #IMPLIED from CDATA #IMPLIED to CDATA #IMPLIED by CDATA #IMPLIED %SVG.AnimationValue.extra.attrib;"> |
Attribute definitions:
calcMode
= "discrete | linear | paced | spline"calcMode
attribute is ignored and discrete interpolation is used.discrete
linear
calcMode
.paced
paced
" is specified, anykeyTimes
orkeySplines
will be ignored. For'animateMotion', this is the defaultcalcMode
.spline
values
list to the next according to a time function defined by a cubic Bézier spline. The points of the spline are defined in thekeyTimes
attribute, and the control points for each interval are defined in thekeySplines
attribute.attributeType
domain. Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the normative definition for this attribute is the SMIL Animation [ SMILANIM] specification. In particular, see SMIL Animation: 'values' attribute.keyTimes
= "<list>"values
attribute list, and defines when the value is used in the animation function. Each time value in thekeyTimes
list is specified as a floating point value between 0 and 1 (inclusive), representing a proportional offset into the simple duration of the animation element. keyTimes
is specified, there must be exactly as many values in thekeyTimes
list as in thevalues
list. ThekeyTimes
list semantics depends upon the interpolation mode:
keyTime
associated with each value defines when the value is set; values are interpolated between thekeyTimes
.keyTimes
.keyTimes
attribute is ignored.keyTimes
specification (bad values, too many or too few values), the document fragment is in error (seeerror processing).keyTimes
specification will be ignored.keySplines
= "<list>"keyTimes
list, defining a cubic Bézier function that controls interval pacing. The attribute value is a semicolon separated list of control point descriptions. Each control point description is a set of four values:x1 y1 x2 y2
, describing the Bézier control points for one time segment. ThekeyTimes
values that define the associated segment are the Bézier "anchor points", and thekeySplines
values are the control points. Thus, there must be one fewer sets of control points than there arekeyTimes
. calcMode
is set to "spline".keySplines
specification (bad values, too many or too few values), the document fragment is in error (seeerror processing).The SMIL Animation [ SMILANIM] specification defines the detailed processing rules associated with the above attributes. Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the SMIL Animation [ SMILANIM] specification is the normative definition of the processing rules for the above attributes.
The animation values specified in the animation element must be legal values for the specified attribute. Leading and trailing white space, and white space before and after semicolon separators, will be ignored.
All values specified must be legal values for the specified attribute (as defined in the associated namespace). If any values are not legal, the document fragment is in error (seeerror processing).
If a list of values is used, the animation will apply the values in order over the course of the animation. If a list ofvalues is specified, anyfrom,to andby attribute values are ignored.
The processing rules for the variants offrom/by/to animations are described in Animation function values.
The following figure illustrates the interpretation of thekeySplines
attribute. Each diagram illustrates the effect ofkeySplines
settings for a single interval (i.e. between the associated pairs of values in thekeyTimes
andvalues
lists.). The horizontal axis can be thought of as the input value for theunit progress of interpolation within the interval - i.e. the pace with which interpolation proceeds along the given interval. The vertical axis is the resulting value for theunit progress, yielded by thekeySplines
function. Another way of describing this is that the horizontal axis is the inputunit time for the interval, and the vertical axis is the outputunit time. See also the section Timing and real-world clock times.
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To illustrate the calculations, consider the simple example:
<animate dur="4s" values="10; 20" keyTimes="0; 1" calcMode="spline"keySplines={as in table} />
Using the keySplines values for each of the four cases above, the approximate interpolated values as the animation proceeds are:
keySplines values | Initial value | After 1s | After 2s | After 3s | Final value |
0 0 1 1 | 10.0 | 12.5 | 15.0 | 17.5 | 20.0 |
.5 0 .5 1 | 10.0 | 11.0 | 15.0 | 19.0 | 20.0 |
0 .75 .25 1 | 10.0 | 18.0 | 19.3 | 19.8 | 20.0 |
1 0 .25 .25 | 10.0 | 10.1 | 10.6 | 16.9 | 20.0 |
For a formal definition of Bézier spline calculation, see [FOLEY-VANDAM].
It is frequently useful to define animation as an offset or delta to an attribute's value, rather than as absolute values. A simple "grow" animation can increase the width of an object by 10 pixels:
<rect width="20px" ...> <animate attributeName="width" from="0px" to="10px" dur="10s" additive="sum"/></rect>
It is frequently useful for repeated animations to build upon the previous results, accumulating with each interation. The following example causes the rectangle to continue to grow with each repeat of the animation:
<rect width="20px" ...> <animate attributeName="width" from="0px" to="10px" dur="10s" additive="sum" accumulate="sum" repeatCount="5"/></rect>
At the end of the first repetition, the rectangle has a width of 30 pixels. At the end of the second repetition, the rectangle has a width of 40 pixels. At the end of the fifth repetition, the rectangle has a width of 70 pixels.
For more information about additive animations, see SMIL Animation: Additive animation. For more information on cumulative animations, see SMIL Animation: Controlling behavior of repeating animation - Cumulative animation.
The following attributes are common to elements'animate','animateMotion','animateColor' and'animateTransform'.
<!ENTITY %SVG.AnimationAddtion.attrib "additive ( replace | sum ) 'replace' accumulate ( none | sum ) 'none' %SVG.AnimationAddtion.extra.attrib;"> |
Attribute definitions:
by
andto
, as described in SMIL Animation: How from, to and by attributes affect additive behavior.to
attribute.SVG allows both attributes and properties to be animated. If a given attribute or property is inheritable by descendants, then animations on a parent element such as a'g' element has the effect of propagating the attribute or property animation values to descendant elements as the animation proceeds; thus, descendant elements can inherit animated attributes and properties from their ancestors.
The'animate' element is used to animate a single attribute or property over time. For example, to make a rectangle repeatedly fade away over 5 seconds, you can specify:
<rect> <animate attributeType="CSS" attributeName="opacity" from="1" to="0" dur="5s" repeatCount="indefinite" /></rect>
Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the normative definition for this element is the SMIL Animation [SMILANIM] specification. In particular, see SMIL Animation: 'animate' element.
<!ENTITY % SVG.animate.extra.content "" ><!ENTITY % SVG.animate.element "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animate.element;[<!ENTITY % SVG.animate.content "( %SVG.Description.class; %SVG.animate.extra.content; )\*"><!ELEMENT %SVG.animate.qname; %SVG.animate.content; ><!-- end of SVG.animate.element -->]]><!ENTITY % SVG.animate.attlist "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animate.attlist;[<!ATTLIST %SVG.animate.qname; %SVG.Core.attrib; %SVG.Conditional.attrib; %SVG.AnimationEvents.attrib; %SVG.External.attrib; %SVG.Animation.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAttribute.attrib; %SVG.AnimationTiming.attrib; %SVG.AnimationValue.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAddtion.attrib;> |
For a list of attributes and properties that can be animated using the'animate' element, seeElements, attributes and properties that can be animated.
The'set' element provides a simple means of just setting the value of an attribute for a specified duration. It supports all attribute types, including those that cannot reasonably be interpolated, such as string and boolean values. The'set' element is non-additive. The additive and accumulate attributes are not allowed, and will be ignored if specified.
Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the normative definition for this element is the SMIL Animation [SMILANIM] specification. In particular, see SMIL Animation: 'set' element.
<!ENTITY % SVG.set.extra.content "" ><!ENTITY % SVG.set.element "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.set.element;[<!ENTITY % SVG.set.content "( %SVG.Description.class; %SVG.set.extra.content; )*"><!ELEMENT %SVG.set.qname; %SVG.set.content; ><!-- end of SVG.set.element -->]]><!ENTITY % SVG.set.attlist "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.set.attlist;[<!ATTLIST %SVG.set.qname; %SVG.Core.attrib; %SVG.Conditional.attrib; %SVG.AnimationEvents.attrib; %SVG.External.attrib; %SVG.Animation.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAttribute.attrib; %SVG.AnimationTiming.attrib; to CDATA #IMPLIED> |
Attribute definitions:
For a list of attributes and properties that can be animated using the'set' element, seeElements, attributes and properties that can be animated.
The'animateMotion' element causes a referenced element to move along a motion path.
Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the normative definition for this element is the SMIL Animation [SMILANIM] specification. In particular, see SMIL Animation: 'animateMotion' element.
<!ENTITY % SVG.animateMotion.extra.content "" ><!ENTITY % SVG.animateMotion.element "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animateMotion.element;[<!ENTITY % SVG.animateMotion.content "(( %SVG.Description.class; )*, %SVG.mpath.qname;? %SVG.animateMotion.extra.content; )"><!ELEMENT %SVG.animateMotion.qname; %SVG.animateMot\ion.content; ><!-- end of SVG.animateMotion.element -->]]><!ENTITY % SVG.animateMotion.attlist "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animateMotion.attlist;[<!ATTLIST %SVG.animateMotion.qname; %SVG.Core.attrib; %SVG.Conditional.attrib; %SVG.AnimationEvents.attrib; %SVG.External.attrib; %SVG.Animation.attrib; %SVG.AnimationTiming.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAddtion.attrib; calcMode ( discrete | linear | paced | spline ) 'paced' values CDATA #IMPLIED keyTimes CDATA #IMPLIED keySplines CDATA #IMPLIED from CDATA #IMPLIED to CDATA #IMPLIED by CDATA #IMPLIED path CDATA #IMPLIED keyPoints CDATA #IMPLIED rotate CDATA #IMPLIED origin CDATA #IMPLIED> |
Attribute definitions:
calcMode
= "discrete | linear | paced | spline"keyTimes
attribute list.keyPoints
is specified, there must be exactly as many values in thekeyPoints
list as in thekeyTimes
list. keyPoints
specification (bad values, too many or too few values), then the document is in error (seeError processing).<!ENTITY % SVG.mpath.extra.content "" ><!ENTITY % SVG.mpath.element "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.mpath.element;[<!ENTITY % SVG.mpath.content "( %SVG.Description.class; %SVG.mpath.extra.content; )*"><!ELEMENT %SVG.mpath.qname; %SVG.mpath.content; ><!-- end of SVG.mpath.element -->]]><!ENTITY % SVG.mpath.attlist "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.mpath.attlist;[<!ATTLIST %SVG.mpath.qname; %SVG.Core.attrib; %SVG.XLinkRequired.attrib; %SVG.External.attrib;> |
Attribute definitions:
For'animateMotion', the specified values forfrom,by,to andvalues consists of x, y coordinate pairs, with a single comma and/or white space separating the x coordinate from the y coordinate. For example,from="33,15" specifies an x coordinate value of33 and a y coordinate value of15.
If provided, thevalues attribute must consists of a list of x, y coordinate pairs. Coordinate values are separated by at least one white space character or a comma. Additional white space around the separator is allowed. For example,values="10,20;30,20;30,40" orvalues="10mm,20mm;30mm,20mm;30mm,40mm". Each coordinate represents alength. Attributesfrom,by,to andvalues specify a shape on the current canvas which represents the motion path.
Two options are available which allow definition of a motion path using any of SVG'spath data commands:
Note that SVG'spath data commands can only contain values in user space, whereasfrom,by,to andvalues can specify coordinates in user space or using unit identifiers. SeeUnits.
The various (x,y) points of the shape provide a supplemental transformation matrix onto the CTM for the referenced object which causes a translation along the x- and y-axes of the current user coordinate system by the (x,y) values of the shape computed over time. Thus, the referenced object is translated over time by the offset of the motion path relative to the origin of the current user coordinate system. The supplemental transformation is applied on top of any transformations due to the target element'stransform attribute or any animations on that attribute due to'animateTransform' elements on the target element.
Theadditive andaccumulate attributes apply to'animateMotion' elements. Multiple'animateMotion' elements all simultaneously referencing the same target element can be additive with respect to each other; however, the transformations which result from the'animateMotion' elements are always supplemental to any transformations due to the target element'stransform attribute or any'animateTransform' elements.
The default calculation mode (calcMode) foranimateMotion is "paced". This will produce constant velocity motion along the specified path. Note that while animateMotion elements can be additive, it is important to observe that the addition of two or more "paced" (constant velocity) animations might not result in a combined motion animation with constant velocity.
When apath is combined with "discrete", "linear" or "spline"calcMode settings, and if attributekeyPoints is not provided, the number of values is defined to be the number of points defined by the path, unless there are "move to" commands within the path. A "move to" command within thepath (i.e. other than at the beginning of thepath description) A "move to" command does not count as an additional point when dividing up the duration, or when associatingkeyTimes
,keySplines
andkeyPoints
values. When apath is combined with a "paced"calcMode setting, all "move to" commands are considered to have 0 length (i.e. they always happen instantaneously), and is not considered in computing the pacing.
For more flexibility in controlling the velocity along the motion path, thekeyPoints attribute provides the ability to specify the progress along the motion path for each of thekeyTimes specified values. If specified,keyPoints causeskeyTimes to apply to the values inkeyPoints rather than the points specified in thevalues attribute array or the points on thepath attribute.
The override rules for'animateMotion are as follows. Regarding the definition of the motion path, the'mpath' element overrides the thepath attribute, which overridesvalues, which overridesfrom/by/to. Regarding determining the points which correspond to thekeyTimes attributes, thekeyPoints attribute overridespath, which overridesvalues, which overridesfrom/by/to.
At any timet within a motion path animation of durationdur, the computed coordinate (x,y) along the motion path is determined by finding the point (x,y) which ist/dur distance along the motion path using the user agent'sdistance along the path algorithm.
The following example demonstrates the supplemental transformation matrices that are computed during a motion path animation.
Example animMotion01 shows a triangle moving along a motion path.
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?><!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd"><svg width="5cm" height="3cm" viewBox="0 0 500 300" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" > <desc>Example animMotion01 - demonstrate motion animation computations</desc> <rect x="1" y="1" width="498" height="298" fill="none" stroke="blue" stroke-width="2" /> <!-- Draw the outline of the motion path in blue, along with three small circles at the start, middle and end. --> <path d="M100,250 C 100,50 400,50 400,250" fill="none" stroke="blue" stroke-width="7.06" /> <circle cx="100" cy="250" r="17.64" fill="blue" /> <circle cx="250" cy="100" r="17.64" fill="blue" /> <circle cx="400" cy="250" r="17.64" fill="blue" /> <!-- Here is a triangle which will be moved about the motion path. It is defined with an upright orientation with the base of the triangle centered horizontally just above the origin. --> <path d="M-25,-12.5 L25,-12.5 L 0,-87.5 z" fill="yellow" stroke="red" stroke-width="7.06" > <!-- Define the motion path animation --> <animateMotion dur="6s" repeatCount="indefinite" rotate="auto" > <mpath xlink:href="#path1"/> </animateMotion> </path></svg>
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View this example as SVG (SVG-enabled browsers only)
The following table shows the supplemental transformation matrices that are applied to achieve the effect of the motion path animation.
After 0s | After 3s | After 6s | |
Supplemental transform due to movement along motion path | translate(100,250) | translate(250,100) | translate(400,250) |
Supplemental transform due to rotate="auto" | rotate(-90) | rotate(0) | rotate(90) |
For a list of elements that can be animated using the'animateMotion' element, seeElements, attributes and properties that can be animated.
The'animateColor' element specifies a color transformation over time.
Except for any SVG-specific rules explicitly mentioned in this specification, the normative definition for this element is the SMIL Animation [SMILANIM] specification. In particular, see SMIL Animation: 'animateColor' element.
<!ENTITY % SVG.animateColor.extra.content "" ><!ENTITY % SVG.animateColor.element "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animateColor.element;[<!ENTITY % SVG.animateColor.content "( %SVG.Description.class; %SVG.animateColor.extra.conte\nt; )*"><!ELEMENT %SVG.animateColor.qname; %SVG.animateColor\.content; ><!-- end of SVG.animateColor.element -->]]><!ENTITY % SVG.animateColor.attlist "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animateColor.attlist;[<!ATTLIST %SVG.animateColor.qname; %SVG.Core.attrib; %SVG.Conditional.attrib; %SVG.AnimationEvents.attrib; %SVG.External.attrib; %SVG.Animation.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAttribute.attrib; %SVG.AnimationTiming.attrib; %SVG.AnimationValue.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAddtion.attrib;> |
Thefrom,by andto attributes take color values, where each color value is expressed using the following syntax (the same syntax as used in SVG's properties that can take color values):
<color> [icc-color(<name>[,<icccolorvalue>]*)]
Thevalues attribute for the'animateColor' element consists of a semicolon-separated list of color values, with each color value expressed in the above syntax.
Out of range color values can be provided, but user agent processing will be implementation dependent. User agents should clamp color values to allow color range values as late as possible, but note that system differences might preclude consistent behavior across different systems.
The'color-interpolation' property applies to color interpolations that result from'animateColor' animations.
For a list of attributes and properties that can be animated using the'animateColor' element, seeElements, attributes and properties that can be animated.
The'animateTransform' element animates a transformation attribute on a target element, thereby allowing animations to control translation, scaling, rotation and/or skewing.
<!ENTITY % SVG.animateTransform.extra.content "" ><!ENTITY % SVG.animateTransform.element "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animateTransform.element;[<!ENTITY % SVG.animateTransform.content "( %SVG.Description.class; %SVG.animateTransform.extra.c\ontent; )*"><!ELEMENT %SVG.animateTransform.qname; %SVG.anim\ateTransform.content; ><!-- end of SVG.animateTransform.element -->]]><!ENTITY % SVG.animateTransform.attlist "INCLUDE" ><![%SVG.animateTransform.attlist;[<!ATTLIST %SVG.animateTransform.qname; %SVG.Core.attrib; %SVG.Conditional.attrib; %SVG.AnimationEvents.attrib; %SVG.External.attrib; %SVG.Animation.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAttribute.attrib; %SVG.AnimationTiming.attrib; %SVG.AnimationValue.attrib; %SVG.AnimationAddtion.attrib; type ( translate | scale | rotate | skewX | skewY ) 'translate'> |
Attribute definitions:
Thefrom,by andto attributes take a value expressed using the same syntax that is available for the given transformation type:
Thevalues attribute for the'animateTransform' element consists of a semicolon-separated list of values, where each individual value is expressed as described above forfrom,by andto.
IfcalcMode has the valuepaced, then a total "distance" for each component of the transformation is calculated (e.g., for a translate operation, a total distance is calculated for bothtx andty) consisting of the sum of the absolute values of the differences between each pair of values, and the animation runs to produce a constant distance movement for each individual component.
When an animation is active, the effect of non-additive'animateTransform' (i.e.,additive="replace") is to replace the given attribute's value with the transformation defined by the'animateTransform'. The effect of additive (i.e.,additive="sum") is to post-multiply the transformation matrix corresponding to the transformation defined by this'animateTransform'. To illustrate:
<rect transform="skewX(30)"...> <animateTransform attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="rotate" from="0" to="90" dur="5s" additive="replace" fill="freeze"/> <animateTransform attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="scale" from="1" to="2" dur="5s" additive="replace" fill="freeze"/></rect>
In the code snippet above, because the both animations haveadditive="replace", the first animation overrides the transformation on the rectangle itself and the second animation overrides the transformation from the first animation; therefore, at time 5 seconds, the visual result of the above two animations would be equivalent to the following static rectangle:
<rect transform="scale(2)" ... />
whereas in the following example:
<rect transform="skewX(30)"...> <animateTransform attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="rotate" from="0" to="90" dur="5s" additive="sum" fill="freeze"/> <animateTransform attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="scale" from="1" to="2" dur="5s" additive="sum" fill="freeze"/></rect>
In this code snippet, because the both animations haveadditive="sum", the first animation post-multiplies its transformation to any transformations on the rectangle itself and the second animation post-multiplies its transformation to any transformation from the first animation; therefore, at time 5 seconds, the visual result of the above two animations would be equivalent to the following static rectangle:
<rect transform="skewX(30) rotate(90) scale(2)" ... />
For a list of attributes and properties that can be animated using the'animateTransform' element, seeElements, attributes and properties that can be animated.
The following lists all of the elements which can be animated by an'animateMotion' element:
Each attribute or property within this specification indicates whether or not it can be animated by SVG's animation elements. Animatable attributes and properties are designated as follows:
Animatable: yes.
whereas attributes and properties that cannot be animated are designated:
Animatable: no.
SVG has a defined set ofbasic data types for its various supported attributes and properties. For those attributes and properties that can be animated, the following table indicates which animation elements can be used to animate each of the basic data types. If a given attribute or property can take values of keywords (which are not additive) or numeric values (which are additive), then additive animations are possible if the subsequent animation uses a numeric value even if the base animation uses a keyword value; however, if the subsequent animation uses a keyword value, additive animation is not possible.
Data type | Additive? | 'animate' | 'set' | 'animate Color' | 'animate Transform' | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
<angle> | yes | yes | yes | no | no | |
<color> | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | Only RGB color values are additive. |
<coordinate> | yes | yes | yes | no | no | |
<frequency> | no | no | no | no | no | |
<integer> | yes | yes | yes | no | no | |
<length> | yes | yes | yes | no | no | |
<list of xxx> | no | yes | yes | no | no | |
<number> | yes | yes | yes | no | no | |
<paint> | yes | yes | yes | yes | no | Only RGB color values are additive. |
<percentage> | yes | yes | yes | no | no | |
<time> | no | no | no | no | no | |
<transform-list> | yes | no | no | no | yes | Additive means that a transformation is post-multiplied to the base set of transformations. |
<uri> | no | yes | yes | no | no | |
All other data types used in animatable attributes and properties | no | yes | yes | no | no |
Any deviation from the above table or other special note about the animation capabilities of a particular attribute or property is included in the section of the specification where the given attribute or property is defined.
Example dom01 shows a simple animation using the DOM.
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?><!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd"><svg width="4cm" height="2cm" viewBox="0 0 400 200" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" onload="StartAnimation(evt)" version="1.1"> <script type="text/ecmascript"><![CDATA[ var timevalue = 0; var timer_increment = 50; var max_time = 5000; var text_element; function StartAnimation(evt) { text_element = evt.target.ownerDocument.getElementById("TextElement"); ShowAndGrowElement(); } function ShowAndGrowElement() { timevalue = timevalue + timer_increment; if (timevalue > max_time) return; // Scale the text string gradually until it is 20 times larger scalefactor = (timevalue * 20.) / max_time; text_element.setAttribute("transform", "scale(" + scalefactor + ")"); // Make the string more opaque opacityfactor = timevalue / max_time; text_element.setAttribute("opacity", opacityfactor); // Call ShowAndGrowElement again <timer_increment> milliseconds later. setTimeout("ShowAndGrowElement()", timer_increment) } window.ShowAndGrowElement = ShowAndGrowElement ]]></script> <rect x="1" y="1" width="398" height="198" fill="none" stroke="blue" stroke-width="2"/> <g transform="translate(50,150)" fill="red" font-size="7"> <text>SVG</text> </g></svg>
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
View this example as SVG (SVG-enabled browsers only)
The above SVG file contains a single graphics element, a text string that says "SVG". The animation loops for 5 seconds. The text string starts out small and transparent and grows to be large and opaque. Here is an explanation of how this example works:
onload="StartAnimation(evt)"
attribute indicates that, once the document has been fully loaded and processed, invoke ECMAScript functionStartAnimation
.StartAnimation()
function is only called once to give a value to global variabletext_element
and to make the initial call toShowAndGrowElement()
.ShowAndGrowElement()
is called every 50 milliseconds and resets thetransform
andstyle
attributes on the text element to new values each time it is called. At the end ofShowAndGrowElement
, the function tells the ECMAScript engine to call itself again after 50 more milliseconds.If scripts are modifying the same attributes or properties that are being animated by SVG'sanimation elements, the scripts modify the base value for the animation. If a base value is modified while an animation element is animating the corresponding attribute or property, the animations are required to adjust dynamically to the new base value.
If a script is modifying a property on the override style sheet at the same time that ananimation element is animating that property, the result is implementation-dependent; thus, it is recommended that this be avoided.
Elements | Attributes | Content Model |
---|---|---|
animate | Core.attrib, Conditional.attrib, External.attrib, AnimationEvents.attrib, Animation.attrib, AnimationAttribute.attrib, AnimationTiming.attrib, AnimationValue.attrib, AnimationAddtion.attrib | (Description.class) |
set | Core.attrib, Conditional.attrib, External.attrib, AnimationEvents.attrib, Animation.attrib, AnimationAttribute.attrib, AnimationTiming.attrib, to | (Description.class) |
animateMotion | Core.attrib, Conditional.attrib, External.attrib, AnimationEvents.attrib, Animation.attrib, AnimationTiming.attrib, AnimationAddtion.attrib, AnimationValue.attrib, path, keyPoints, rotate, origin | (Description.class | mpath) |
animateTransform | Core.attrib, Conditional.attrib, External.attrib, AnimationEvents.attrib, Animation.attrib, AnimationAttribute.attrib, AnimationTiming.attrib, AnimationValue.attrib, AnimationAddtion.attrib, type | (Description.class) |
animateColor | Core.attrib, Conditional.attrib, External.attrib, AnimationEvents.attrib, Animation.attrib, AnimationAttribute.attrib, AnimationTiming.attrib, AnimationValue.attrib, AnimationAddtion.attrib | (Description.class) |
mpath | Core.attrib, XLinkRequired.attrib, External.attrib | (Description.class) |
The Animation Module defines the Animation.class content set.
Content Set Name | Elements in Content Set |
---|---|
Animation.class | animate, animateColor, animateTransform, animateMotion, set |
The Animation Module defines the Animation.attrib, AnimationAttribute.attrib, AnimationTiming.attrib, AnimationValue.attrib and AnimationAddtion.attrib attribute sets.
Collection Name | Attributes in Collection |
---|---|
Animation.attrib | XLink.attrib |
AnimationAttribute.attrib | attributeName, attributeType |
AnimationTiming.attrib | begin, dur, end, min, max, restart, repeatCount, repeatDur, fill |
AnimationValue.attrib | calcMode, values, keyTimes, keySplines, from, to, by |
AnimationAddtion.attrib | additive, accumulate |
The following two interfaces are fromSMIL Animation. They are included here for easy reference:
TheElementTimeControl interface, part of theorg.w3c.dom.smil module and defined in SMIL Animation: Supported interfaces, defines common methods for elements which define animation behaviors compatible with SMIL Animation.
CallingbeginElement()
causes the animation to begin in the same way that an animation with event-based begin timing begins. The effective begin time is the current presentation time at the time of the DOM method call. Note thatbeginElement()
is subject to therestart
attribute in the same manner that event-based begin timing is. If an animation is specified to disallow restarting at a given point,beginElement()
methods calls must fail. Refer also to the section Restarting animation.
CallingbeginElementAt(seconds)
has the same behavior asbeginElement()
, except that the effective begin time is offset from the current presentation time by an amount specified as a parameter. Passing a negative value for the offset causes the element to begin as forbeginElement()
, but has the effect that the element begins at the specified offset into its active duration. ThebeginElementAt()
method must also respect therestart
attribute. The restart semantics for abeginElementAt()
method call are evaluated at the time of the method call, and not at the effective begin time specified by the offset parameter.
CallingendElement()
causes an animation to end the active duration, just asend
does. Depending upon the value of thefill
attribute, the animation effect may no longer be applied, or it may be frozen at the current effect. Refer also to the section Freezing animations. If an animation is not currently active (i.e. if it has not yet begun or if it is frozen), theendElement()
method will fail.
CallingendElementAt()
causes an animation to end the active duration, just asendElement()
does, but allows the caller to specify a positive offset, to cause the element to end at a point in the future. Other than delaying when the end actually happens, the semantics are identical to those forendElement()
. IfendElementAt()
is called more than once while an element is active, the end time specified by the last method call will determine the end behavior.
interface ElementTimeControl { boolean beginElement ( ) raises( DOMException ); boolean beginElementAt ( in float offset ) raises( DOMException ); boolean endElement ( ) raises( DOMException ); boolean endElementAt ( in float offset ) raises( DOMException );};
Causes this element to begin the local timeline (subject to restart constraints).
boolean | true if the method call was successful and the element was begun.false if the method call failed. Possible reasons for failure include:
|
DOMException | SYNTAX_ERR: The element was not defined with the appropriate syntax to allow beginElement calls. |
Causes this element to begin the local timeline (subject to restart constraints), at the passed offset from the current time when the method is called. If the offset is >= 0, the semantics are equivalent to an event-base begin with the specified offset. If the offset is < 0, the semantics are equivalent to beginElement(), but the element active duration is evaluated as though the element had begun at the passed (negative) offset from the current time when the method is called.
infloatoffset | The offset in seconds at which to begin the element. |
boolean | true if the method call was successful and the element was begun.false if the method call failed. Possible reasons for failure include:
|
DOMException | SYNTAX_ERR: The element was not defined with the appropriate syntax to allow beginElementAt calls. |
boolean | true if the method call was successful and the element was ended.false if method call failed. Possible reasons for failure include:
|
DOMException | SYNTAX_ERR: The element was not defined with the appropriate syntax to allow endElement calls. |
Causes this element to end the local timeline at the specified offset from the current time when the method is called.
infloatoffset | The offset in seconds at which to end the element. Must be >= 0. |
boolean | true if the method call was successful and the element was ended.false if the method call failed. Possible reasons for failure include:
|
DOMException | SYNTAX_ERR: The element was not defined with the appropriate syntax to allow endElementAt calls. |
The corresponding Java binding:
package org.w3c.dom.svg;import org.w3c.dom.DOMException;public interface ElementTimeControl { boolean beginElement ( ) throws DOMException; boolean beginElementAt ( float offset ) throws DOMException; boolean endElement ( ) throws DOMException; boolean endElementAt ( float offset ) throws DOMException;}
TheTimeEvent interface, defined in SMIL Animation: Supported interfaces defined in SMIL Animation: Supported interfaces, provides specific contextual information associated with Time events.
The different types of events that can occur are:
beginElement()
orbeginElementAt()
methods. Note that if an element is restarted while it is currently playing, the element will raise an end event and another begin event, as the element restarts.endElement()
orendElementAt()
methods. Note that if an element is restarted while it is currently playing, the element will raise an end event and another begin event, as the element restarts.interface TimeEvent : events::Event { readonly attribute views::AbstractView view; readonly attribute long detail; void initTimeEvent ( in DOMString typeArg, in views::AbstractView viewArg, in long detailArg );};
view
attribute identifies theAbstractView [DOM2-VIEWS] from which the event was generated.inDOMStringtypeArg | Specifies the event type. | |
inviews::AbstractViewviewArg | Specifies the Event'sAbstractView. | |
inlongdetailArg | Specifies theEvent's detail. |
The corresponding Java binding:
package org.w3c.dom.svg;import org.w3c.dom.events.Event;import org.w3c.dom.views.AbstractView;public interface TimeEvent extends Event { public AbstractView getView( ); public int getDetail( ); void initTimeEvent ( String typeArg, AbstractView viewArg, int detailArg );}
The following interfaces are defined below:SVGAnimationElement,SVGAnimateElement,SVGSetElement,SVGAnimateMotionElement,SVGMPathElement,SVGAnimateColorElement,SVGAnimateTransformElement.
TheSVGAnimationElement interface is the base interface for all of the animation element interfaces:SVGAnimateElement,SVGSetElement,SVGAnimateColorElement,SVGAnimateMotionElement andSVGAnimateTransformElement.
Unlike other SVG DOM interfaces, the SVG DOM does not specify convenience DOM properties corresponding to the various language attributes on SVG's animation elements. Specification of these convenience properties in a way that will be compatible with future versions of SMIL Animation is expected in a future version of SVG. The current method for accessing and modifying the attributes on the animation elements is to use the standardgetAttribute
,setAttribute
,getAttributeNS
andsetAttributeNS
defined in DOM2.
interface SVGAnimationElement : SVGElement, SVGTests, SVGExternalResourcesRequired, smil::ElementTimeControl, events::EventTarget { readonly attribute SVGElement targetElement; float getStartTime ( ); float getCurrentTime ( ); float getSimpleDuration ( ) raises( DOMException );};
Returns the start time in seconds for this animation.
float | The start time in seconds for this animation relative to the start time of the time container. |
Returns the current time in seconds relative to time zero for the given time container.
float | The current time in seconds relative to time zero for the given time container. |
Returns the number of seconds for the simple duration for this animation. If the simple duration is undefined (e.g., the end time is indefinite), then an exception is raised.
float | The number of seconds for the simple duration for this animation. |
DOMException | NOT_SUPPORTED_ERR: The simple duration is not determined on the given element. |
TheSVGAnimateElement interface corresponds to the'animate' element.
Object-oriented access to the attributes of the'animate' element via the SVG DOM is not available.
interface SVGAnimateElement : SVGAnimationElement {};
TheSVGSetElement interface corresponds to the'set' element.
Object-oriented access to the attributes of the'set' element via the SVG DOM is not available.
interface SVGSetElement : SVGAnimationElement {};
TheSVGAnimateMotionElement interface corresponds to the'animateMotion' element.
Object-oriented access to the attributes of the'animateMotion' element via the SVG DOM is not available.
interface SVGAnimateMotionElement : SVGAnimationElement {};
TheSVGMPathElement interface corresponds to the'mpath' element.
interface SVGMPathElement : SVGElement, SVGURIReference, SVGExternalResourcesRequired {};
TheSVGAnimateColorElement interface corresponds to the'animateColor' element.
Object-oriented access to the attributes of the'animateColor' element via the SVG DOM is not available.
interface SVGAnimateColorElement : SVGAnimationElement {};
TheSVGAnimateTransformElement interface corresponds to the'animateTransform' element.
Object-oriented access to the attributes of the'animateTransform' element via the SVG DOM is not available.
interface SVGAnimateTransformElement : SVGAnimationElement {};