Interpolation

Interpolation is a powerful feature in react-ui-animate that maps input ranges to output ranges, enabling complex animations based on the animated values. The interpolate function provides a flexible way to convert an animated value into another range or value type.

Basic Interpolation

An interpolation maps input ranges to output ranges. By default, it uses linear interpolation but also supports easing functions. Interpolation can extrapolate the curve beyond the given ranges or clamp the output value.

Basic Usage

To perform a basic interpolation, you can use the interpolate function. For example, to map a 0-1 range to a 0-100 range:

interpolate(value, [0, 1], [0, 100]);

This converts the value from a 0-1 range to a 0-100 range linearly.

Example: Moving an Element

Suppose you want to move an element from left 0px to 200px and change its width from 100px to 400px. Here's how you can achieve this with interpolate:

import { useAnimatedValue, AnimatedBlock, interpolate } from 'react-ui-animate';

export default function () {
  const left = useAnimatedValue(0);

  return (
    <>
      <AnimatedBlock
        style={{
          width: interpolate(left.value, [0, 200], [100, 400]),
          height: 100,
          backgroundColor: '#3399ff',
          borderRadius: 4,
          position: 'relative',
          left: left.value,
        }}
      />

      <button onClick={() => (left.value = 200)}>Animate</button>
    </>
  );
}

In this example:

1. left: An animated value initialized to 0.
2. AnimatedBlock: The element we want to animate.
3. interpolate: Maps left.value from the range [0, 200] to [100, 400] for the width style property.

tip

Instead of setting the position to relative and animating the left CSS property, you can use the provided helper CSS properties such as translateX, scaleX, and rotateZ for transforms in all the Higher Order Components provided by react-ui-animate.

Advanced Interpolation

The interpolate function can also handle more complex scenarios, such as multiple range segments and clamping.

Multiple Range Segments

You can define multiple input and output range segments, useful for creating animations with dead zones or other non-linear mappings:

interpolate(value, [0, 0.5, 1], [0, 100, 200]);

This maps the value from 0 to 0.5 to 0 to 100 and 0.5 to 1 to 100 to 200.

Color Interpolation

Interpolation can also handle non-numeric values, such as colors:

interpolate(value, [0, 1], ['red', 'black']);

This changes the color from red to black as the value goes from 0 to 1.

Extrapolation

By default, interpolate extrapolates values beyond the given input range. To control this behavior, you can use the fourth argument, which is an extrapolation configuration object. This object can include extrapolate, extrapolateLeft, or extrapolateRight options.

• extrapolate: Sets the extrapolation for both sides (default is extend).
• extrapolateLeft: Sets the extrapolation for the left side.
• extrapolateRight: Sets the extrapolation for the right side.

The options are:

• extend: (default) Extends the curve beyond the input range.
• clamp: Clamps the value to the output range.
• identity: No extrapolation, returns the input value directly.

Example with clamping:

interpolate(value, [0, 1], [0, 100], { extrapolate: 'clamp' });

This clamps the output value to the range [0, 100], preventing it from exceeding the specified range.

Summary

Interpolation in react-ui-animate provides a flexible and powerful way to create complex animations. Whether you're converting simple ranges, handling multiple segments, or animating colors, interpolate offers the tools you need to map animated values to desired output ranges effectively.

By mastering interpolation, you can create sophisticated and responsive animations that enhance the user experience in your React applications.

What's Next ?

In the next section, we will look at Configuring Animations.