animating the "build up" transition of your interface

[SpockBert]

I'm quite happy designing interfaces, when I'm finished with it I do the preloader and the very last bit that I HATE doing...

The animation where you have to show a transition from a basic preloader to your finished interface, all in a few seconds. You know what I'm talking about

"whoosh.....zip...[ this bit slides down ]...whoosh flash [ this bit opens up ] zip...zip..whoosh" etc etc


Obviously 2A are the absolute masters of this, where everything builds up quickly and nice and smooth.

This is the weakest part of my game, at the moment I stick to just stuff fading in and the good 'ole white flash with new content appearing immediately after. But I need to learn how to do it better.

I've seen tutorials on just about everything but nothing that teaches this sort of thing.

Anybody know any useful resources that might help me improve my interface transitions?

[Mr. Tackle]

Funny, I was justthinking the same thing, while in cool sites. I find my self refreshing the page over and over again to see how things were done.

on some 2A sites i see alot where the image is outlined in white and then that "glints" to form the shape.

also the tweens ( or sections sliding in) have an elasticity to them that gives a less robotic feel.

just some stuff i was noticing earlier.

[SpockBert]

Take ages all that stuff don't it?

mucking about with tweens, masks etc

[Mr. Tackle]

<hijack> spockbert, you still looking for a wacom? I got a 5x7 (graphire?), i dont use. ill trade ya somethin for it, whadya got? PM me </hijack>

[baxxy]

Hi
Are there any tutorials for doing things like this, as everytime i try it look v poor.

[sense]

Maybe this comes in handy.

http://www.tableau.com.au/tutorials/smooth_transitions/

[MarvynDT]

I closely studied a lot of sites with good transitions and I began to realize that a lot of their transitions are very basic. IE, usually alpha/motion tweens. Its just that the transition is so fast and/or a lot is going on, that its hard to decipher what just happened.

[jonesey_333]

That's right-I find that a lot of good ones have a lot of transitions happening very fast so it looks more impressive, but sometimes less is more. Sometimes, if the transitions are done too slow I get impatient waiting for everything to "load in".

[sk8Krog]

I read an interview with EJ the other day and it brought up a point that the transitions and intros need to have a beat to them. Just like any song, they have to follow a beat that keeps the user interested and keeps it flowing smoothly. Probably why he makes all the techno-tunes for the intros.

[jonesey_333]

I agree, just like there are interesting engaging songs, there are interesting and engaging transitions