Swift Design and prototype UI, interaction, navigation, transition and animation for App Store ready Apps in Interface Builder with IBAnimatable.
Design and prototype UI, interaction, navigation, transition and animation for App Store ready Apps in Interface Builder with IBAnimatable.
The app was made in Interface Builder with IBAnimatable without a single line of code. Due to the size of the GIF file on Dribbble, it only demonstrates a subset of features. We can also find the full HD version on YouTube or MP4 on Github
Here is the design in Interface Builder (Storyboard).
With IBAnimatable, we can design a UI in an Interface Builder like Sketch, and prototype animations in a Swift playground like Framer Studio. Also we can use the output of the design directly in the production ready App.
As a designer, we love Sketch, which is a simple but yet super powerful tool to design UI. However, Sketch can't design interaction, navigation, transition and animation, we may need another tool like Framer Studio to design some of them. Moreover, to make an App Store ready App, we need to use Xcode and Interface Builder to implement the UI and animations. To speed up the process and minimize the waste, we create IBAnimatable to make Interface Builder designable and animatable.
From prototype to shippable App Store ready App - What you design in Interface Builder is what the App exactly looks like.
Designer friendly - Sketch style setting panel on Attributes Inspector to lower the learning curve for using Interface Builder.
Animation design support in Swift playground - Similar to Framer Studio, we can prototype animations in Swift playground to save time for running on simulator or actual iOS devices.
Built-in Auto Layout support - We can use Auto Layout and Size Classes with IBAnimatable to support orientations and multiple iOS devices.
Navigation and transition support - We can use default navigation pattern in the App and IBAnimatable also adds unwind segues to navigate back or dismiss scene without any code. More transitions will be added soon.
Protocol oriented programming - IBAnimatable uses a protocol oriented programming paradigm. With Swift protocol extension, it is easy to support more designable or animatable features. We can even use these protocol extensions to create other custom UI elements instead of using the default ones from IBAnimatable.
Use cases
Prototyping - Create interactive prototypes to validate ideas quickly.
Redesigning in Interface Builder - Redesign UI from Sketch and animation from Framer Studio without writing any code.
Making custom UI elements - Use IBAnimatable protocols to make custom UI elements. e.g. Buttons with a default color palette.
The easy way to learn and understand how powerful of IBAnimatableis to run the example App and play around the settings in Interface Builder. Just few steps we can run the App as below:
$ cd IBAnimatable
$ open IBAnimatableApp.xcodeproj
3) Compile and run the app in your simulator or iOS device
How to design in Interface Builder
To use IBAnimatable to design the UI and animations in Interface Builder, just follow few steps as below:
Open a storyboard or Xib file.
Drag and drop a UIKit element e.g.. UIView to a ViewController.
In Identity Inspector, connect the UI element to Animatable custom UI class e.g.. AnimatableView, you can find all Animatable classes in APIs section.
Configure the UI and animations in Attribute Inspector.
How to animate in Swift playground
We can configure the animation settings in Attribute Inspector. However, Interface Builder doesn't support previewing Animations, but we can still prototype animations in Swift playground. There are three sample pages to demonstrate how to design animation in Swift playground. You can find them in IBAnimatable.playground.
Open IBAnimatableApp.xcodeproj
Select IBAnimatable Framework scheme and build it with Command + b
Select IBAnimatable.playground, select one page in Swift playground, then click on "Assistant editor" button to split the playground. After that, select "Timeline" on the top of right-hand side to preview the animation. We can use Xcode menu "Editor" -> "Execute" to re-run the playground.
How to animate programmatically
As you saw above, we can prototype an App fully in Interface Builder without single line of code, but IBAnimatable also provides APIs to let us fully control the UI and animations. IBAnimatable provides simple APIs like pop(). We can simply call them in one line.
view.pop() // pop animation for the view
view.squeezeFadeInLeft() // squeeze and fade in from left animation
There are some properties we can change to customize the animation. What we need to do is to set the properties and call animate() method to start the animation.
// Setup the animation
view.animationType ="SqueezeInLeft"
view.delay =0.5
view.damping =0.5
view.velocity =2
view.force =1// Start the animation
view.animate()
Sometimes, we need to run another animation after the previous one. With IBAnimatable, we can easily chain animations together to provide a sleek user experience.
// Simply put the next animation within `{}` closure as below. It is an example to pop the view after squeeze in from the top.
view.squeezeInDown{ view.pop() }
// Heaps of animations have been chained together, it is the source code of animated GIF in "Animate in Swift playground" section
view.squeezeInDown{ view.pop { view.shake{ view.squeeze{ view.wobble{ view.flipX { view.flash{ view.flipY { view.fadeOutDown() } } } } } } } }
How to install
Manually install
Copy and paste IBAnimatable folder in your Xcode project.
Add github "JakeLin/IBAnimatable" ~> 2.0 to your Cartfile.
Git submodule
Add this repo as a submodule, and add the project file to your workspace. You can then link against IBAnimatable.framework for your application target.
APIs
Animatable UI elements
The easiest way to use IBAnimatable is to drag and drop UIKit elements and connect with Animatable UI elements in Identity Inspector. Here are the supported Animatable UI elements to map UIKit elements.
UIKit elements
Animatable UI elements
Remark
UIView
AnimatableView
UIBarButtonItem
AnimatableBarButtonItem
UIButton
AnimatableButton
UIButton
AnimatableCheckBox
Connect UIButton as AnimatableCheckBox to make CheckBox control
UIImageView
AnimatableImageView
UILabel
AnimatableLabel
To style the text in Label, we can use Interface Builder built-in Attributed Text
UIStackView
AnimatableStackView
UITableView
AnimatableTableView
UITableViewCell
AnimatableTableViewCell
UITextField
AnimatableTextField
UITextView
AnimatableTextView
UINavigationBar
DesignableNavigationBar
UIViewController
AnimatableViewController
UINavigationController
AnimatableNavigationController
Designable protocols
IBAnimatable provides a set of Designable protocols as below. Because of the power of protocol oriented programming in Swift, we don't even have to use Animatable default UI elements e.g.. AnimatableView to unlocked the power of IBAnimatable. We can conform to IBAnimatable protocols to use the default implementation in protocol extension to create other custom UI elements.
BarButtonItemDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
roundedImage
Optional<UIImage>
By default, Interface Builder can only support outline images for Bar Button Item. With roundedImage, we can display a rounded image. The image can not be previewed in Interface Builder.
BlurDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
blurEffectStyle
Optional<String>
Support three different blur effects: ExtraLight, Light and Dark, also can be found in emum BlurEffectStyle. The look of blur effect in Interface Builder is different from Simulator or device.
blurOpacity
CGFloat
Opacity of the blur effect specified above. Default value is CGFloat.NaN, the value is from 0.0 to 1.0.
BorderDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
borderColor
Optional<UIColor>
border color
borderWidth
CGFloat
border width. Default value is CGFloat.NaN, the value is greater than 0.
borderSide
Optional<String>
border side: Top, Right, Bottom or Left, also can be found in emum BorderSide. If not specified, then display four sides.
CheckBoxDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
checked
Bool
Default value is false
checkedImage
Optional<UIImage>
The image to display when CheckBox is checked.
uncheckedImage
Optional<UIImage>
The image to display when CheckBox is unchecked.
CornerDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
cornerRadius
CGFloat
rounded corner radius. Default value is CGFloat.NaN, the value is greater than 0.
FillDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
fillColor
Optional<UIColor>
fill color of the UI Element
opacity
CGFloat
opacity, alpha of the UI Element, Default value is CGFloat.NaN, the value is from 0.0 to 1.0.
predefinedColor
Optional<String>
Predefined color. All predefined colors are in enum ColorType. To find the predefined flat colors, you can use flatuicolors.com, all flat color start with Flat, e.g. PETER RIVER on the website maps to FlatPeterRiver in the enum.
GradientDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
startColor
Optional<UIColor>
start gradient color
endColor
Optional<UIColor>
end gradient color
predefinedGradient
Optional<String>
Predefined gradients. All predefined gradients are in enum GradientType, To find the predefined gradients, you can use uigradients.com, e.g. Juicy Orange on the website maps to JuicyOrange in the enum.
whether to display solid color only. Default value is false. Need to manually unpick translucent in Interface Builder, otherwise, it will have constraint issue in IB although it is correct in run time.
MaskDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
maskType
Optional<String>
Supported maks type: All predefined animations are in enum MaskType
Supported MaskType:
Circle
Polygon
Triangle
Star: Can alse specify the points of the Star, e.g. use Star(6) to have a star with 6 points. If not specified, default is 5 points.
Wave: Can use pramaters to cumstomize the Wave shape like maskWave(waveUp: Bool, waveWidth: CGFloat, waveOffset: CGFloat). Wave(down, 20, 5) means the Wave faces down, width is 20 and offset is 5. If not specified, default value is Wave(up, 40, 0).
PaddingDesignable
It is used in AnimatableTextField to add padding on either or both sides.
Property name
Data type
Remark
paddingLeft
CGFloat
padding on left-hand side. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
paddingRight
CGFloat
padding on right-hand side. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
paddingSide
CGFloat
padding on both sides. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
PlaceholderDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
placeholderColor
Optional<UIColor>
placeholder text color in AnimatableTextField.
RootWindowDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
rootWindowBackgroundColor
Optional<UIColor>
root window background color. Can be seen when we use flip transition.
RotationDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
rotate
CGFloat
rotation of the UI element in degrees. Default value is CGFloat.NaN, value is from -360 to 360, if the value is negative, it rotates reverse.
ShadowDesignable
Drop shadow of the UI element, it is popular in Material Design. These properties are not able to render in IB correctly, it maybe an Interface Builder's bug.
Property name
Data type
Remark
shadowColor
Optional<UIColor>
shadow color
shadowRadius
CGFloat
shadow corner radius. Default value is CGFloat.NaN, the value is greater than 0.
shadowOpacity
CGFloat
shadow opacity. Default value is CGFloat.NaN, the value is from 0.0 to 1.0.
shadowOffset
CGPoint
x is horizontal offset and y is vertical offset.
SideImageDesignable
Display a side hint image in AnimatableTextField
Property name
Data type
Remark
leftImage
Optional<UIImage>
the image to display on the left-hand side.
leftImageLeftPadding
CGFloat
left padding of hint image. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
leftImageRightPadding
CGFloat
right padding of hint image. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
leftImageTopPadding
CGFloat
top padding of hint image. Default value is CGFloat.NaN. If not specified, the image will center vertically.
rightImage
Optional<UIImage>
the image to display on the right-hand side.
rightImageLeftPadding
CGFloat
left padding of hint image. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
rightImageRightPadding
CGFloat
right padding of hint image. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
rightImageTopPadding
CGFloat
top padding of hint image. Default value is CGFloat.NaN. If not specified, the image will center vertically.
StatusBarDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
lightStatusBar
Bool
to display white or black text status bar. Default value is false to display black text.
TableViewCellDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
removeSeparatorMargins
Bool
whether to remove separator margins in AnimatableTableViewCell. Default value is false. There maybe a bug of Interface Builder when setting "Separator Insert" to 0 doesn't work.
TintDesignable
Easily add color layer on top of the UI element especially AnimatableImageView.
Property name
Data type
Remark
tintOpacity
CGFloat
opacity of tint color (white color). Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
shadeOpacity
CGFloat
opacity of shade color (black color). Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
toneColor
Optional<UIColor>
tone color
toneOpacity
CGFloat
opacity of tone color. Default value is CGFloat.NaN.
ViewControllerDesignable
Property name
Data type
Remark
hideNavigationBar
Bool
whether to hide navigation bar. Default value is false.
Animatable protocol
Properties
Property name
Data type
Remark
animationType
Optional<String>
Supported animations. All predefined animations are in enum AnimationType
autoRun
Bool
Whether to automatically start the animation. Default value is true. if it is true, the animation will automatically run when the view is loaded. If want to manually start the animation should set it to false.
duration
CGFloat
Animation duration in seconds. Default value is 0.7.
delay
Double
Delay to start the animation in seconds. Default value is 0.
damping
CGFloat
Used in UIView Spring animation (0 ~ 1 seconds). To smoothly decelerate the animation without oscillation, use a value of 1. Employ a damping ratio closer to zero to increase oscillation. Default value is 0.7. Notice: FadeOutIn, FadeInOut, Shake, Pop, Morph, Squeeze, Flash, Wobble and Swing animations do not use damping.
velocity
CGFloat
used in UIView Spring animation. A value of 1 corresponds to the total animation distance traversed in one second. For example, if the total animation distance is 200 points and you want the start of the animation to match a view velocity of 100 pt/s, use a value of 0.5. Default is 0.7. Notice: FadeOutIn, FadeInOut, Shake, Pop, Morph, Squeeze, Flash, Wobble and Swing animations do not use damping.
force
CGFloat
used to apply force to the animation. The number is higher, the animation property has more changes. e.g.. for Pop animation, higher force causes the view popping bigger. Default value is 1.
repeatCount
Float
Used to specify the count to repeat the animation. Can only be used in Shake, Pop, Morph, Squeeze, Flash, Wobble, Swing, Rotate and RotateCCW (roate counterclockwise) animations. Default value is 1.
x
CGFloat
Used to specify the absolute x to move in MoveTo animation and x offset in MoveBy. When used in MoveBy, negative means moving left and positive means moving right. Default values is CGFloat.NaN
y
CGFloat
Used to specify the absolute y to move in MoveTo animation and y offset in MoveBy. When used in MoveBy, negative means moving up and positive means moving down. Default values is CGFloat.NaN
TransitionAnimatable protocol
Property name
Data type
Remark
transitionAnimationType
Optional<String>
Supported transition animations. All predefined transition animations are in enum TransitionAnimationType, the type starts with System can only use in Push/Pop transitions, not Present/Dismiss transitions
transitionDuration
Double
transition duration. Default value is defined in Constants (0.5 seconds)
interactiveGestureType
Optional<String>
interactive gesture type. used to specify the gesture to dismiss/pop current scence. All supported interactive gesture types are in InteractiveGestureType
Extension
UIViewController
With these methods, we can navigate back or dismiss current ViewController without any code in Interface Builder.
Used in Interface Builder to dismiss current ViewController
CALayer
Method name
Remark
class func animate(animation: AnimatableExecution, completion: AnimatableCompletion? = nil)
Simplify CALayer animations with completion closure
Segue
Segue name
Remark
DismissSegue
Used to dismiss current ViewController, use unwindToViewController or dismissCurrentViewController methods in UIViewController extension if possible first
PresentFadeSegue
Used to present ViewController with Fade transition animation
PresentFadeInSegue
Used to present ViewController with FadeIn transition animation
PresentFadeOutSegue
Used to present ViewController with FadeOut transition animation
PresentFadeWithDismissInteractionSegue
Used to present ViewController with Fade transition animation and dismiss interaction
PresentFadeInWithDismissInteractionSegue
Used to present ViewController with FadeIn transition animation and dismiss interaction
PresentFadeOutWithDismissInteractionSegue
Used to present ViewController with FadeOut transition animation and dismiss interaction
How to contribute
All of us can contribute to this project. Fewer overheads mean less time to build quality Apps and more time to enjoy coffee ☕️.
If you are a designer, you can design in Interface Builder with IBAnimatable without designing tool like Sketch, or implement your existing design from Sketch or Photoshop in Interface Builder rapidly. With IBAnimatable, you should be able to do all most of design work in Interface Builder. If you have any feature request, please create a GitHub Issue and we will put it in the backlog. If you have done any design with IBAnimatable, please let us know via creating Pull Request or GitHub Issue. We will add it to README file.
If you are a developer, you can work on features or fix bugs, please check out Vision, Technical Considerations and Roadmap and GitHub Issues to find out the backlogs. If you have used IBAnimatable in your App, please let us know via creating Pull Request or GitHub Issue. We will add it to README file.
If you are good at English, please correct my English 😁. If you are good at other languages, please create a README file in those languages.
If you like the project, please share it with the other designers and developers, and star 🌟 the project. 🤗
IBDesignable and IBInspectable - The entire project is based on that.
Sketch - Interface Builder should be as easy as Sketch to use.
Framer Studio - Design and preview animations in one place.
Spring by Meng To - steal a lot of animation parameters from this project.
Invision ToDo App UI Kit, The demo App's original design is from this UI Kit and redone in Interface Builder. We also added interaction, navigation and animations.
