Introduction: What is a Lottie Animation
Lottie Animations are a game-changer when it comes to app development. Originally created by Airbnb, Lottie is an open-source library that lets developers add high-quality and engaging animations to their apps with ease. These animations are lightweight, scalable, and are created using Adobe After Effects
In this article, we will cover the basics of Lottie animations, how they work and how you can use them in your own projects.
What Makes Lottie Animations So Unique
You’ve probably heard of GIF, short for Graphics Interchange Format or even mp4 or mov files. But I’m guessing you haven’t heard of a JSON file, which is what’s used to make Lottie Animations. That’s one of the things that makes them unique.
Lottie animations are often used in mobile apps, but they can also be used in other mediums such as the Web and TV. They’re very popular because they can be exported to a wide range of formats and they work on both Android and iOS devices.
The best thing about Lottie animations is that they have an extremely low file size, which means that the end user doesn’t need to download a large file in order to see the animation. With flexible playback options, it means that you can customise them to suit your needs.
How to Create Lottie Animations
Lottie animations are created in After Effects. Simply put, they are animations from After Effects exported as JSON files.
Here is a detailed process:
1. Sketch out a rough design of your UI to determine what elements need to be animated.
2. Once you have identified the elements that will be animated, design them in a vector graphics program like Adobe Illustrator.
3. Export each element as an SVG file.
4. Open Adobe After Effects and import your SVG files.
5. Create a new composition and drag your SVG files onto the timeline.
6. Animate the SVG by keyframing movements
7. Export your animation as JSON file
8. Import the animation into your app or website.
9. Test your UI to ensure that it functions correctly and looks great.
How to Use Lotties in Your Mobile App Development Project
Lottie animations can be used to create interactive user interfaces, such as loading screens, progress bars, and other UI elements. They are compatible with both iOS and Android platforms, making them a great solution for cross-platform development.
What makes the so powerful, is that Lottie is designed to optimise performance, which means that your animations will load quickly and run smoothly.
The Benefits of Using Lottie Animations in your App Development:
1. Improved user experience: Lottie Animations can help improve the user experience by adding delightful and engaging animations to your app.
2. Saves development time: The animations are pre-made and easy to integrate, which saves developers time in creating animations from scratch.
3. Lightweight and Scalable: Lottie Animations are vector-based, which means they are lightweight and can be scaled to any size without losing quality.
4. Cross-Platform Support: Lottie Animations are supported across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, React Native, Web, and others.
5. Customisable: Developers can customise Lottie Animations to fit their app's branding and design, creating a unique experience and making their brand stand out.
Conclusion
Lotte Animation has been designed to streamline the design process, making it easier and more efficient to incorporate animations into your app designs and web projects.
In conclusion, Lottie Animations are a powerful tool for app developers looking to enhance their app's user experience with high-quality animations. With its ease of use, cross-platform support, and scalability, Lottie Animations are well positioned to revolutionise the way developers incorporate animations into their apps.
