Unlocking Scroll Animations with Anime.js: A Beginner’s Guide

Are you interested in adding dynamic scroll-based animations to your WordPress site but unsure where to start? You’re not alone. Many developers and enthusiasts are exploring animation libraries like Anime.js to bring more interactivity and visual appeal to their websites. If you’ve been diving into Anime.js documentation and feeling overwhelmed by scroll effects, this post will help clarify the basics and guide you through creating smooth scroll-triggered animations.

Understanding Scroll Animations with Anime.js

Anime.js is a versatile JavaScript library that simplifies the process of creating engaging animations. While it excels at timeline-based animations, implementing scroll-driven effects requires a bit of extra setup, usually involving listening to scroll events and dynamically adjusting elements based on scroll positions.

A Practical Example: Centering a Shape on Scroll

Imagine you have a hero section that spans the full viewport height (100vh). Within this section, you have some text on the left and a shape (e.g., a hexagon) on the right. The goal is to animate the shape so that when the user scrolls to a new section, the shape smoothly moves to the center of the screen, then moves out as the user scrolls further.

Here’s a simplified HTML structure for such a setup:

“`html

“`

The challenge is to animate .hexagon so that it moves to the center on scroll, then moves out again. While Anime.js handles the animations for transitions, coordinating with scroll requires listening for scroll events and calculating progress.

Getting Started: Tips and Approach

1. Detect Scroll Position: Use JavaScript to listen for the scroll event and determine when the user enters or leaves specific sections.

2. Calculate Scroll Progress: Measure how much the user has scrolled within a section to determine the appropriate animation state.

3. Animate with Anime.js: Use Anime.js to animate properties (like position or opacity) based on scroll progress to create a seamless effect.

Here’s a simplified example to get you started:

“`javascript
const shape = document.querySelector(‘.hexagon’);