Getting Started with Lottie.js

The decade of transformation of web animation: From the fall of Flash to the rise of Lottie

About ten years ago, web animation faced a huge challenge. Adobe Flash is gradually declining, but lacks a suitable alternative. We need a fast, easy to create, web-friendly format that can create large-scale animation presentations, cartoons and banner ads.

Luckily, in 2014, Airbnb provided us with a solution - Lottie.JS.

Key points:

1. Lottie.js emerged as a Flash alternative: About a decade ago, due to the decline of Adobe Flash, the field of web animation was in the midst of change, and there was a lack of clear alternatives to create web-friendly animations. . In 2014, Airbnb introduced Lottie.js, a vector-based animation format designed to create fast, low bandwidth animations that run seamlessly on multiple platforms including Web, iOS, Android, Windows, and React Native. . Developed by Salih Abdul-Karim of Airbnb, Lottie is designed to provide scalable and efficient solutions for vector graphics animations as an alternative to GIF, MPEG or CSS animations.
2. The advantages and ecosystem of Lottie.js: Among the numerous web animation options, Lottie.js has a growing ecosystem of high-quality visual animation tools and a smooth, fast and scriptable The ability to animation stands out. By leveraging JSON files for animation instructions, Lottie provides a simplified workflow that creates high-quality and efficient animations, reminiscent of the combination of Adobe Flash’s creative and deployment benefits.
3. Tools and practical use cases for creating Lottie animations: Lottie animations can be created through various "Lottie-enabled" animation tools, taking into account the quality of the animation tools and the difficulty of deploying Lottie code. From Adobe After Effects to Keyshape and LottieFiles, each tool offers unique features, pricing and platform support to meet the different needs and expertise of animations. With its one-time pricing, Keyshape represents a cost-effective solution for users who do not often animation, and Flow provides a comprehensive package for the work that does often animation. LottieFiles further enriches the ecosystem by providing community, marketplace, and simple editing utilities to support the creation and sharing of Lottie animations.

What is Lottie?

Lottie.js is an open source, vector-based animation format created by Airbnb experience and dynamic designer Salih Abdul-Karim. The Lottie engine is designed to render fast, clear, low bandwidth vector animations in the same way on the Web, iOS, Android, Windows, and React Native.

In short, if you like using SVG to create images, Lottie is a great way to animate these vector graphics. If you want to replace GIF, MPEG, or CSS animation with something lighter, faster, and more scalable, Lottie is probably your best answer.

As shown by Bashir Ahmed’s beautiful example, Lottie generates rich characters, light and smooth movements from tiny files—this animation is generated from a 54kb file.

The most basic Lottie animations (such as Bashir's) require only two files:

1. Lottie Animation Player (Lottie.js)
2. JSON animation instruction file

Why should I choose Lottie?

There are many ways to animate web vectors—from CSS animations to SMILs in SVGs, to GreenSock, AnimeJS and other JavaScript libraries.

However, Lottie has the advantage of killer "one plus one is greater than two":

• The growing ecosystem of high-quality visual animation tools
• Ability to export smooth, fast, efficient and scriptable animations

Despite many well-known shortcomings of Adobe Flash, its long-term success is based on combining good creative tools with simple cross-platform deployment. I think Lottie has some of the advantages of Flash.

How to create Lottie animation?

Because the Lottie file is nothing more than JSON text files, you can technically write animation code directly in any IDE. Actually, you need to select an animation tool that supports Lottie. Here are my thoughts on several tools I've tried and tested.

Lottie Tool Review

• Adobe After Effects
• Haiku Animator
• Flow
• Keyshape
• LottieFiles

In my opinion, there are two factors to consider when choosing Lottie animation tool:

1. Is it a good animation tool?
2. Is it easy to deploy Lottie code?

I will introduce these two aspects for each tool separately.

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Summary

If you often need to create lightweight vector animations, Flow is probably the most focused and complete Lottie development tool right now. It has a clear workflow and the export options are as good or better as most competitors.

If you already know and like Adobe After Effects, use the tools you know.

In my case, I like animation, but that's not the main part of my working hours. Several months have passed and I may not be exposed to animation projects. Do I really want another monthly subscription? Maybe...no.

To me, Keyshape ($29) seems like a stunning value for money tool, even if it is hidden well.

Lottie.js FAQ

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What is Lottie.js? Lottie.js is a JavaScript library created by Airbnb that allows developers to easily embed and play Adobe After Effects animations in web and mobile applications using a lightweight JSON format called Bodymovin.

How does Lottie.js work? Lottie.js works by exporting animations created in Adobe After Effects to the JSON format using the Bodymovin plugin. The Lottie.js library then parses and renders these JSON files in real time, making it easy to integrate high-quality animations into both web and mobile applications.

What are the advantages of using Lottie.js? Lottie.js simplifies the process of integrating complex animations into web and mobile applications without the need for heavy GIFs or large video files. It provides high-quality, scalable, and interactive animations that can be easily controlled through JavaScript.

In which environments can I use Lottie.js? Lottie.js is versatile and available in a variety of environments, including web browsers, React Native, and other web-based projects. It supports a variety of platforms and frameworks.

Are there any size or performance considerations when using Lottie.js? Lottie.js animations are usually smaller in file size, thus saving bandwidth. However, the After Effects animation must be optimized for Lottie exports for optimal performance.

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