Plugin installs: Before setup or freshness commands, follow plugin execution rules when this skill is inside a HyperFrames plugin. Standalone installs keep the update instructions below.
HyperFrames Animation
All motion knowledge in one skill: rules (atomic recipes), blueprints (multi-phase scene templates), transitions (scene-to-scene), techniques (broader motion-design patterns), and adapters (per-runtime APIs).
For the composition contract (data attributes, sub-compositions, determinism) see hyperframes-core.
Default: compose atomic rules
Pick 2-4 rules from rules-index.md, glue them together with a single paused GSAP timeline, done. This is faster and produces less code than starting from a blueprint.
Load a blueprint when
- The scene matches an existing pre-designed multi-phase template (brand-reveal, social-proof, etc.) and reusing its phase pipeline saves real authoring time
- You want runnable ground-truth code for a complex 4-5 phase choreography
Blueprints live in blueprints-index.md. Each entry points to blueprints/<id>.md (recipe). Do not read it speculatively; load it when you've already decided you need scene-level orchestration.
Routing
| Want to… | Read |
|---|---|
| Pick an atomic motion pattern by trigger / tag | rules-index.md |
| Read one rule's full HTML / CSS / GSAP recipe | rules/<name>.md |
| Pick a multi-phase scene template | blueprints-index.md |
| Read one blueprint's full recipe | blueprints/<id>.md |
| Author a scene transition (CSS-driven, between two clips) | transitions/overview.md, transitions/catalog.md |
| Look up a broader motion-design technique | techniques.md |
| Motion blur — shutter smear on an element, and when not to use it | references/motion-blur.md |
| Analyze an existing composition's animation map | scripts/animation-map.mjs |
| GSAP API — timeline / tweens / position parameters | adapters/gsap.md |
| GSAP — drop-in effect recipes | rules/gsap-effects.md |
| GSAP — transforms / perf | adapters/gsap-transforms-and-perf.md |
| GSAP — eases / stagger | adapters/gsap-easing-and-stagger.md |
| GSAP — timeline / labels | adapters/gsap-timeline-and-labels.md |
Lottie / dotLottie (After Effects exports, window.__hfLottie) | adapters/lottie.md |
| Character animation (walk cycle, mascot, jointed puppet, gestures) | adapters/lottie.md → Characters |
Three.js / WebGL (3D scenes, AnimationMixer, hf-seek) | adapters/three.md |
Anime.js (window.__hfAnime) | adapters/animejs.md |
CSS keyframes (animation-delay / play-state / fill-mode) | adapters/css-animations.md |
Web Animations API (element.animate(), currentTime seek) | adapters/waapi.md |
TypeGPU / WebGPU (navigator.gpu, WGSL, compute pipelines) | adapters/typegpu.md |
HTML-as-texture + WebGL/GLSL post-fx (capture live DOM via drawElementImage) | adapters/html-in-canvas-patterns.md |
Named text-animation effects (24 IDs via external animate-text skill) | adapters/animate-text.md |
Picking a runtime
- GSAP is the default for 95% of motion work — covers timeline orchestration, transforms, easing, stagger. All atomic rules in this skill are GSAP-based.
- Lottie when an asset has its own pre-baked timeline (typically After Effects exports), including characters that walk, gesture or react.
- Three.js for 3D scenes, camera motion, shader-driven visuals.
- Anime.js for lightweight tweening when GSAP is overkill.
- CSS for simple repeated motifs, decoration, shimmer — no JavaScript animation cost.
- WAAPI for native browser keyframes without a GSAP dependency.
- TypeGPU / WebGPU for GPU-rendered canvases (particles, liquid glass, custom shaders).
Multiple runtimes can coexist in one composition. Each registers its instances on the runtime-specific global so HyperFrames can seek all of them in one pass.
Critical Constraints
Prerequisite: hyperframes-core → Non-Negotiable Rules (single paused timeline, data-duration governs length, no Math.random / Date.now / performance.now, no repeat: -1, no page-load gsap.set on later-scene clips, no display or raw visibility tweens, and no timeline construction inside async / setTimeout / Promise). GSAP autoAlpha and zero-duration visibility sets at explicit timeline boundaries remain allowed by core. Use those exceptions only on non-clip elements or wrappers inside a clip; the framework owns .clip lifecycle. Don't restate the full contract here.
Animation-craft additions on top of core's contract:
- Pre-calculated layout constants — never derive positions from
getBoundingClientRect()at tween time. Tween-time DOM measurements desync because the renderer samples in parallel; compute coordinates once at composition setup and reuse. - Spatial motion uses GSAP transform aliases only (
x,y,scale,rotation). Core's allowlist also permitsopacity/color/backgroundColor/borderRadiusfor non-spatial property tweens — but neverwidth/height/top/leftfor layout changes.
Scripts
node skills/hyperframes-animation/scripts/animation-map.mjs <composition-dir> \
--out <composition-dir>/.hyperframes/anim-map
Reads every GSAP timeline registered on window.__timelines, enumerates tweens, samples bboxes, computes flags, outputs animation-map.json. Use it to audit choreography (dead zones, stagger consistency, lifecycle warnings) after authoring.
animation-map.mjs resolves helper packages from the current project first, then can bootstrap the bundled HyperFrames package version. Set HYPERFRAMES_SKILL_PKG_VERSION=<version> only when running the skill outside the bundled CLI/skill install and you need to pin that bootstrap version explicitly.
See Also
hyperframes-core— composition structure, data attributes, sub-compositions, deterministic render contracthyperframes-creative— palettes, typography, narration, beat planning (non-animation creative direction)hyperframes-cli—npx hyperframes lint / check / snapshot / preview / render