EasyAnimation
A Swift library that extends UIKit's animation APIs to easily animate layers, create spring animations, and chain animations together.
What is EasyAnimation?
EasyAnimation is a Swift library that extends UIKit's animation capabilities, allowing iOS developers to animate CALayer properties, create spring animations, and chain multiple animations together using familiar UIView animation syntax. It solves the problem of verbose and complex Core Animation code by providing a simpler, more intuitive API for advanced animations.
iOS developers who need to create complex animations in their apps but want to avoid the steep learning curve and boilerplate code of Core Animation.
Developers choose EasyAnimation because it integrates seamlessly with existing UIKit code, reduces animation complexity, and enables advanced features like layer spring animations and chaining without requiring a completely new animation framework.
Overview
A Swift library to take the power of UIView.animateWithDuration(_:, animations:...) to a whole new level - layers, springs, chain-able animations and mixing view and layer animations together!
Use Cases
Best For
- Animating CALayer properties like cornerRadius or borderWidth within UIView animation blocks
- Creating spring-based animations for layers on iOS 8 and above
- Building sequential animation chains for multi-step UI transitions
- Simplifying Core Animation code by using UIView-like syntax
- Adding advanced animation effects to iOS apps without importing large third-party frameworks
- Maintaining clean and readable animation code in Swift projects
Not Ideal For
- Projects requiring dynamic modification of animation sequences after they start
- Teams building exclusively with SwiftUI or other declarative UI frameworks
- Apps needing advanced keyframe animations along custom paths
- Developers who prefer automatic framework integration without manual setup
Pros & Cons
Pros
Extends the standard UIView animation APIs with a one-time enable call, allowing developers to use familiar syntax for advanced animations without learning a new framework.
Enables animating CALayer properties like cornerRadius or position directly within UIView animation blocks, eliminating the need for verbose CABasicAnimation code as shown in the README examples.
Provides spring-based animations for layers with automatic fallback to RBBSpringAnimation for iOS 8 compatibility, using a UIKit-like API for consistency.
Allows chaining multiple animations sequentially with simple method calls, making complex sequences straightforward to implement and cancel, as demonstrated with the `animateAndChain` method.
Cons
Version 2.0 introduced a breaking change where developers must explicitly call `EasyAnimation.enable()`, which can be overlooked and cause animations to fail silently.
Animation chains are scheduled once and cannot be modified dynamically, limiting flexibility for interactive or adaptive UI sequences, as noted in the README.
The library's 'To Do' list includes missing features like autoreverse for chains and keyframe path animations, which might be essential for some advanced animation needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
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SpringA library to simplify iOS animations in Swift.
IBAnimatableDesign and prototype customized UI, interaction, navigation, transition and animation for App Store ready Apps in Interface Builder with IBAnimatable.
ViewAnimatorViewAnimator brings your UI to life with just one line
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