Using Windows Animation Manager

Animation is the process through which an image changes over time, and if the interval between the changes is small, then to the human eye the changes appear continuous and give the impression of movement. Some animations may be simple linear changes with time, others may be more complex involving changes that accelerate or decelerate, and some animations are built up of several component movements. All of this can involve some quite complex coding and so to address this challenge Windows 7 provides a component called the Windows Animation Manager.

Using The Windows Animation Manager

Animation can be viewed as a series of frames in a storyboard. Each frame is made up of items and the changes to these items between frames makes up the animation. The changes may be made to the color, position or shape of the items, and the changes may be smooth or discrete, and if smooth, the change could be constant, or the rate of change may increase or decrease. In some cases several properties of an item change. Figure 1 shows a simple storyboard made up of five frames where a red circle changes position on each frame.

Figure 1 Storyboard showing variables and transition