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hyperframes/skills/hyperframes-animation/adapters/gsap-timeline-and-labels.md
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WaterrrForever 47276edcc6 feat(skills): align easing docs with motion doctrine, add baked springEase (#1989)
* feat(skills): align easing docs with motion doctrine, add baked springEase

The easing adapter contradicted the workflow doctrine: it taught a
power2.out entrance default and pitched back/elastic as playful
defaults, while motion-language.md says power3 / smooth-beats-bouncy.
A worker following the adapter produced exactly the flat, cheap motion
users complain about.

- gsap-easing-and-stagger: power3.out becomes the documented house
  default; back/elastic/bounce capped as RARE playful-only; new
  "Spring Eases (baked physics, seek-safe)" section — closed-form
  damped-spring ease springEase(response, dampingFraction), measured
  damping ladder, response/duration table, craft notes
- gsap-timeline-and-labels: last leftover power2.out default -> power3
- spring-pop-entrance: exact-physics option (zeta=1) for the settle;
  playful variant now prefers spring zeta 0.6-0.7 over back.out
- motion-language x3 (product-launch-video, faceless-explainer,
  pr-to-video): doctrine "Smooth beats bouncy" wired to the baked
  springEase — real physics, same doctrine, not a license for bounce

Verified with node + GSAP 3.15: zeta=1 strictly monotone with zero
overshoot; scrambled out-of-order seeks return bit-identical values;
ease(0)=0 and ease(1)=1 exact; snippet re-extracted from the published
markdown and re-run.

* chore: format README.md (landed unformatted on main; unblocks the repo-wide Format check)
2026-07-07 12:38:01 +08:00

3.6 KiB

Timelines and Labels

HyperFrames is a seek-driven runtime. Build one paused timeline per composition, attach it to window.__timelines["<composition-id>"], and let HyperFrames seek it. Never call .play() for render-critical motion.

Creating a Timeline

const tl = gsap.timeline({
  paused: true,
  defaults: { duration: 0.5, ease: "power3.out" },
});

tl.to(".a", { x: 100 }).to(".b", { y: 50 }).to(".c", { opacity: 0 });

Timeline options:

  • paused: true — required in HyperFrames. The framework drives the playhead.
  • repeat, yoyo — apply to the whole timeline. repeat: -1 is forbidden; use finite counts.
  • defaults — vars merged into every child tween. Use this instead of repeating ease and duration on every line.

Position Parameter

The third argument to .to()/.from()/.fromTo() controls placement on the timeline:

Form Meaning
0, 1.5 Absolute time in seconds
"+=0.5" 0.5s after the end of the timeline
"-=0.2" 0.2s before the end of the timeline
"intro" At the intro label
"intro+=0.3" 0.3s after the intro label
"<" Same start as the previous tween
">" Right after the previous tween ends
"<0.2" 0.2s after the previous tween starts
">-0.1" 0.1s before the previous tween ends
tl.to(".a", { x: 100 }, 0);
tl.to(".b", { y: 50 }, "<"); // same start as .a
tl.to(".c", { opacity: 0 }, "<0.2"); // 0.2s after .b starts

Prefer the position parameter over delay: — it composes naturally and survives refactors that re-order tweens.

Labels

tl.addLabel("intro", 0);
tl.to(".a", { x: 100 }, "intro");

tl.addLabel("outro", "+=0.5");
tl.to(".a", { opacity: 0 }, "outro");

Labels make a long timeline readable and let multiple tweens converge on the same beat without re-typing absolute times.

Nesting Timelines

const master = gsap.timeline({ paused: true });

const child = gsap.timeline();
child.to(".a", { x: 100 }).to(".b", { y: 50 });

master.add(child, 0);

In HyperFrames, do not nest sub-composition timelines into the host. Sub-compositions loaded via data-composition-src are seeked independently by HyperFrames from their own data-start. Nesting is only for grouping pieces of the same composition's timeline.

Inside Sub-Compositions: prefer fromTo over from

For entrance tweens inside a sub-composition, prefer gsap.fromTo() over gsap.from():

// Sub-composition entrance — survives re-seek cleanly
tl.fromTo(".title", { y: 60, opacity: 0 }, { y: 0, opacity: 1, duration: 0.6 }, 0.2);

Why: HyperFrames re-seeks the sub-composition every time its host clip becomes visible. gsap.from() snapshots the starting state at registration time (page load); when the playhead jumps back past data-start, that snapshot can desync from the actual CSS state and the element renders in the wrong position. gsap.fromTo() declares both endpoints explicitly, so the seek-back always produces the same start state.

In top-level (standalone) compositions either form works — there's no re-seek-through-mount cycle.

Playback Control (debug / preview only)

tl.play();
tl.pause();
tl.reverse();
tl.restart();
tl.time(2);
tl.progress(0.5);
tl.kill();

These are useful when previewing in the browser. In rendered output HyperFrames calls seek() internally — your timeline must produce identical state for the same time value every time it is seeked.