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Animation Control Guide

This interactive infographic demonstrates best practices for animation controls in MicroSims, providing a template that designers can follow when building educational simulations.

Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

The guide showcases the essential components of a well-designed animation control system:

  1. Sample Animation Viewport - A physics simulation demonstrating bouncing balls, showing how the controls affect the animation in real-time.

  2. Transport Controls - Standard media player-style buttons:

  3. Reset (skip to start) - Returns animation to initial state
  4. Step backward - Move back one frame
  5. Play/Pause - Central, prominent control for starting/stopping
  6. Step forward - Advance one frame

  7. Skip to end - Jump to final state

  8. Timeline/Scrubber - Visual progress indicator with:

  9. Progress bar showing current position
  10. Draggable playhead for random access
  11. Segment markers showing animation structure

  12. Time display (current/total)

  13. Speed Control - Adjustable playback speed:

  14. Options: 0.25x, 0.5x, 1x (default), 1.5x, 2x

  15. Visual indicator of current speed

  16. Advanced Controls - Optional features:

  17. Loop toggle for continuous playback
  18. Fullscreen button
  19. Quality/detail level selector

Best Practices

Controls should follow these guidelines:

  • :white_check_mark: Follow media player conventions - Users already know how video players work
  • :white_check_mark: Make important controls prominent - Play/pause should be the most visible element
  • :white_check_mark: Provide keyboard shortcuts - Space for play/pause, arrows for stepping
  • :white_check_mark: Remember user preferences - Store settings between sessions

  • :material-check-circle:{ .lg .middle } DO

    • Use familiar iconography
    • Make controls touch-friendly
    • Show current state clearly
    • Support keyboard navigation

  • :material-close-circle:{ .lg .middle } DON'T

    • Auto-play without consent
    • Hide essential controls
    • Use non-standard icons
    • Forget mobile users

Interactive Features

Try out the controls to see how they work:

  • Click Play/Pause to start and stop the animation
  • Drag the scrubber to jump to any point in the animation
  • Click speed markers to change playback speed
  • Toggle Loop to enable continuous playback
  • Use keyboard shortcuts: Space (play/pause), Arrow keys (step), R (reset), L (loop)

Implementation Notes

This MicroSim demonstrates:

  • p5.js for rendering the animation and controls
  • Responsive design that adapts to container width
  • Event handling for mouse, touch, and keyboard input
  • State management for tracking animation progress and settings

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key Action
Space Play/Pause
Left Arrow Step backward
Right Arrow Step forward
R Reset to start
L Toggle loop

p5.js Editor Template

You can experiment with this code in the p5.js web editor.

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// Animation Control Guide MicroSim
// Shows best practices for animation controls

let isPlaying = false;
let animationTime = 0;
let animationDuration = 100;
let animationSpeed = 1.0;
let loopEnabled = false;

function setup() {
  updateCanvasSize();
  createCanvas(canvasWidth, canvasHeight);
  textFont('Arial');
}

function draw() {
  background(248, 250, 252);

  if (isPlaying) {
    animationTime += animationSpeed;
    if (animationTime >= animationDuration) {
      if (loopEnabled) {
        animationTime = 0;
      } else {
        isPlaying = false;
      }
    }
  }

  drawViewport();
  drawTransportControls();
  drawScrubber();
  drawSpeedControl();
}

function keyPressed() {
  if (key === ' ') {
    isPlaying = !isPlaying;
    return false;
  }
}

References