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Animation Style Type Parameters

One of the best things about FusionMaps XT is the animated sequences that users get to relish. Using the Animation Style Type, you can animate different objects of the map.

The live map shown below shows a very basic animation. In case you missed it you can reload the animation clicking on the button below saying - "Click here to animate the map above".

You can define custom animation styles and apply them to various objects of the map. Each map object has a list of supported animation properties that can be set through Animation Style Type.

Before we get to the parameters supported by the animation style type, let's quickly glance through the properties of map objects that we can animate using Animation Style Type. The animation style type helps you with the animation of following properties:
Property Description
_x Helps animate the x position of the given map object
_y Helps animate the y position of the given map object.
_xScale Using this property, you can animate the x-scale (horizontal scale) of the given map object
_yScale Like xScale, this animates the y-scale.
_alpha Helps alpha transition (transparency fading) animation effect
Note: In JavaScript maps, customized animation styles are not available.

Not all parameters can be applied to all map objects. For example, text fields cannot be x-scaled or y-scaled. The list of animation parameters for each map object is given in Overview page of this section.

Multiple animations in combination or multiple animations in sequence can also be applied to any map object. For example, you can opt to y-scale and alpha-fade the plot or you might go for x-scale and y-scale.

Let's now get to the attributes that Animation Style Type exposes to help us control the functionalities:

Attribute Description
param This attribute lets you specify the property of map object which you want to animate e.g., _x, _y, _xscale etc
start The start value of animation e.g., if you're animating the map plot for fade in alpha effect, the start value of alpha will be 0
Duration Using this, you can control the duration of animation in seconds
Easing This attribute lets you specify the pattern of animation easing. Valid values are "elastic", "bounce", "regular", "strong" or "none".

For the Animation Style Type, except Easing, all the above attributes are mandatory

Before getting to detailed explanations, let's quickly cruise through a quick animation sample. Let's try and animate our plot (map drawing) so that it scales up after the map is loaded.

To do so, we first need to define our custom style. Since scaling up involves increment of both _xScale and _yScale, we'll now need to define two animation styles and then apply them to Plot object. The style definition goes as under:

<styles>
     <definition>
           <style name='MyXAnim' type='animation' param='_xScale' start='0' duration='1' />
           <style name='MyYAnim' type='animation' param='_yScale' start='0' duration='1' />
     </definition>
              ... More XML Here ....
</styles>

In the above code, we name the two styles as MyXAnim and MyYAnim with their param (animation parameter) as _xscale and _yscale respectively. We set start value as 0, we want the plot to scale up from 0 to 100 (remember that scales are always from 0-100 in FusionMaps XT). We also specify the duration as 1 for the animation sequence.

To apply this animation style to plot, the following code is used:
<styles>
             ... More XML Here ....
    <application>
           <apply toObject='Plot' styles='MyXAnim,MyYAnim' />
    </application> 
</styles>

If you run the above code against any map, you'll see that the map scales up from 0 size to full size, before the data is animated and rendered. Bingo! Exactly what we needed! Let's move on to the attributes in details now.

param attribute

The param attribute specifies the property of map object, which is to be animated. As earlier discussed, it can take one of the following values, depending on the map object:

  • _x
  • _y
  • _xScale
  • _yScale
  • _alpha
  • _rotation

We reiterate that not all map objects support all the above properties.

Setting the start position of animation object

In our above example, where we were scaling the plot from 0 to 100, we had set the start value of animation to 0, as we want the plot to scale from 0 to 100. You always need to set a start value for any animation style. The end value is decided by FusionMaps XT based on the map object and animation parameter.

For example, if you want to animate the x position of plot from 0 to their final position, you need to set start position to 0. But since you do not know the end position of individual map entity, it's automatically set by FusionMaps XT.

Macros in start values

Often, you might want to specify the start x and y position for the animation as the start, center, or end position of the canvas or map. FusionMaps XT introduces Macros to bail you out of this trouble. Macros are pre-defined variables which assume values at run time. For example, $canvasStartY represents the start y position of the canvas, and it assumes a value at run-time only. So, if you need to animate the y position from canvas start Y to their final actual positions, all you need to do is:

<style name='DivYAnim' type='ANIMATION' duration='1' start='$canvasStartY' param="_y" />

FusionMaps XT, at run-time, will automatically calculate and assign the value for this macro and you will see the animation sequence starting from start Y Position of canvas. So, now even if you resize the map or opt to modify any map object, you never need to keep a tab on the y position of canvas. FusionMaps XT does that for you.

FusionMaps XT supports the following Macro values for Animation Style Type:

$chartStartX Chart Start X Position. It's 0 if you are loading the map in an HTML page. However, if you are loading the map in another Flash movie, it will take the given X position.
$chartStartY Chart Start Y Position. It's 0 if you are loading the map in an HTML page. However, if you are loading the map in another Flash movie, it will take the given Y position.
$chartWidth Width of the map.
$chartHeight Height of the map.
$chartEndX End X Position of the map. Same as width of map if you are loading the map in an HTML page.
$chartEndY End Y Position of the map. Same as height of map if you are loading the map in an HTML page.
$chartCenterX Center X Position of the map.
$chartCenterY Center Y Position of the map.
$canvasStartX Canvas Start X Position (from left), that is, x co-ordinate of left side of the canvas.
$canvasStartY Canvas Start Y Position (from top), that is, y co-ordinate of the top of canvas.
$canvasWidth Width of canvas.
$canvasHeight Height of canvas.
$canvasEndX End X Position of Canvas, that is, x co-ordinate of right side of canvas.
$canvasEndY End Y Position of Canvas, that is, y co-ordinate of bottom of canvas.
$canvasCenterX Center X Position of canvas.
$canvasCenterY Center Y Position of canvas.

Macro names are case-sensitive. As such, you need to make sure that you are providing the macro names in proper case, that is, $canvasstarty will not work and it will log an error in debug window. You will need to correctly specify it as $canvasStartY.

More Example using Macros:
<style name='LabelsAnim' type='ANIMATION' duration='1' start='$canvasCenterX' param="_x" />
<style name='YValuesAnim' type='ANIMATION' duration='1' start='$canvasCenterY' param="_y" />
 
Creating Macro Expressions

You can also add numeric (integer) values to pre-defined macros to offset the animation when using macros. For example, if you wanted to animate the div lines from 10 pixels above canvas starting Y position, you could use:

<style name='DivYAnim' type='ANIMATION' duration='1' start='$canvasStartY-10' param="_y" />

Or, if you wanted to animate from 10 pixels below the canvas start position, you could use:

<style name='DivYAnim' type='ANIMATION' duration='1' start='$canvasStartY+10' param="_y" />

Currently, FusionMaps XT allows only + (addition) and - (subtraction) operation in Macro expressions.

Specifying the easing for animation

Easing refers to gradual acceleration or deceleration during an animation. For example, a map object might gradually increase its speed near the beginning of an animation, but slow down right at the end of the animation before it arrives at a full stop. There are many different equations for the acceleration and deceleration, which change the easing animation accordingly. Easing helps your animations appear more realistic.

FusionMaps XT supports the following easing methods:

Methods Description
Elastic Adds an elastic effect that falls outside the transition range at one or both ends. The amount of elasticity is unaffected by the duration.
Bounce Adds a bouncing effect within the transition range at one or both ends. The number of bounces relates to the duration—longer durations produce more bounces.
Strong Adds slower movement at one or both ends. This effect is similar to Regular easing, but it's more pronounced.
Regular Adds slower movement at one or both ends. This feature enables you to add a speeding-up effect, a slowing-down effect, or both.
None Adds an equal movement from start to end without effects, slowing, or speeding up. This transition is also referred to as a linear transition.

For any of the above easing method, FusionMaps XT provides the easing effect at the end of the transition. For example, if you animate the plots from 0 _yscale to 100 _yscale, you'll see that the plots animated very fast in the start (they grow up very soon) but the animation at the end part is slow.

You can use any of the above easing methods for any animation style that you define.