Animate
Animate[expr,{u,umin,umax}]
generates an animation of expr in which u varies continuously from umin to umax.
Animate[expr,{u,umin,umax,du}]
takes u to vary in steps du.
Animate[expr,{u,{u1,u2,…}}]
makes u take on discrete values u1, u2, ….
Animate[expr,{u,…},{v,…},…]
varies all the variables u, v, ….
Details and Options



- expr can be any expression; it does not need to be a graphic.
- Animate evaluates expr only for the specific literal values of u it requires.
- Animate[expr,{{u,u0},umin,umax}] takes u to have initial value u0.
- When umax is finite, u is taken to vary at such a rate as to make the animation last for the time given by the setting for DefaultDuration.
- Animate[expr,{u,umin,Infinity}] makes an infinite animation in which the value of u increases forever at a rate of one unit per second.
- Animate[expr,{u,-Infinity,Infinity}] also allows u to decrease forever if the animation is run in reverse.
- Animate generates a Manipulate object containing an Animator.
- Animate[expr,{{u,u0, ulbl},…},…] uses ulbl as the label for the u animator etc.
- Animate has the same options as Manipulate, with the following additions and changes:
-
AnimationDirection Forward the direction of the animation AnimationRate Automatic the rate at which to take variables to vary AnimationRepetitions Infinity how many times to run before stopping AnimationRunning True whether the animation is running AnimationRunTime 0 time elapsed since the animation last started running, or 0 if the animation is not running AnimationTimeIndex Automatic time index for the animation, where 0 is the beginning and the value of DefaultDuration is the end AppearanceElements Automatic control elements to include BaseStyle {} base style specifications for the animator DefaultDuration 5. the default duration in seconds Deinitialization None an expression to evaluate if the output from the Animate is deleted DisplayAllSteps False whether to force all discrete steps to be displayed Exclusions {} specific values to be excluded Initialization None an expression to evaluate when output is first generated LabelStyle {} style specifications for the label area RefreshRate Automatic the default number of times per second to refresh ShrinkingDelay Automatic how long to delay before shrinking if the displayed object gets smaller - The default for du is determined by the setting for the RefreshRate option, and is negative if umin is larger than umax.
- If du is given as 0, it is taken to be the minimum positive or negative value determined by the setting for RefreshRate.
- If an explicit setting is specified for AnimationRate, it takes precedence over the setting for DefaultDuration.
- The following elements are included by default: "ProgressSlider", "PlayPauseButton", "FasterSlowerButtons", "DirectionButton". These elements can be specified in any order in a list given as the setting for AppearanceElements.
- The settings for BaseStyle and LabelStyle are appended to the default styles typically given by the "Animate" and "AnimateLabel" styles in the current stylesheet.
Examples
open allclose allBasic Examples (3)
Scope (8)
Animate Control (6)
Specify a range for animation:
Specify the animator controls using AppearanceElements:
Specify an infinite animation, where the animation variable increases at unit speed:
Options (23)
AnimationRunning (2)
By default Animate starts running when evaluated:
By setting AnimationRunning->False, Animate starts in a paused state:
AppearanceElements (2)
Deinitialization (1)
Specify expressions to be evaluated when Animate is no longer displayed:
Deployed (2)
By default the contents can be selected and edited:
Use Deployed to restrict the interactivity of the contents:
DisplayAllSteps (1)
With the default setting, some steps may be skipped:
Use DisplayAllSteps to prevent skipping:
Applications (9)
Properties & Relations (2)
Animated behavior can also be built using Animator as a building block:
Animating a fixed list of expressions can be done directly with ListAnimate:
Possible Issues (2)
Fix PlotRange to stop animations from jiggling:
Use ImagePadding to make sure different labels do not make the image size change:
Text
Wolfram Research (2007), Animate, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Animate.html (updated 2014).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 2007. "Animate." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2014. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Animate.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (2007). Animate. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Animate.html