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Ask DN: From Animation Prototype to Xcode - Steps

9 years ago from , Senior UX/UI Designer @ AdStage

I'm confused. I see tons of tools to allow prototyping of UI animations and transitions in mobile apps. However, what I don't see is a clear path from those prototypes to actual implementation in, for example, an Xcode project. So, how does one go from UI animation prototype to actual working ObjC/Swift? Do you just have to eyeball it and recreate those interactions/animations/transitions within Xcode? Seems like a lot of extra work potentially. Is there an easier way? Or do you just try to find a built-in effect or effects library that gets close to what you want, incorporate that, and call it good enough?

5 comments

  • Noam ElbazNoam Elbaz, 9 years ago

    As far as I understand, a designer can create, iterate and re-iterate an interaction until perfection (with Framer JS - for example) using opacity, scale, rotation, position, and animation curves - spring, bounce. And than the designer can easily direct the developer.

    Button X position from 200px to 400 px with a spring curve (100, 14,0).... much more efficient than having the developer code it, build it, and show to designer 30 times until perfect.

    1 point
    • Eric Foster, 9 years ago

      But why can't we turn the designer's design into code directly -- let the dev concentrate on the low-level functionality? That was the basis of my thought, I suppose.

      0 points
  • Kenny Chen, 9 years ago

    A lot of the times it's not the designer who is coding the animation so the designer can use a simpler tool and doesn't have to spend time learning ObjC/Swift to demonstrate an animation. From what I've read, animation in ObjC/Swift isn't that easy.

    1 point
    • Eric Foster, 9 years ago

      I suppose, as a coder/designer hybrid, I was hopeful there was a tool to bridge the gap. Just seems like duplication of work to me.

      0 points
  • Brendan GramerBrendan Gramer, almost 9 years ago

    Have you tried Paintcode? http://www.paintcodeapp.com/

    You can do Variables and Expressions. It even works with Swift.

    0 points