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Animate prototypes

  1. Adobe XD User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. What's new in Adobe XD
    2. Common questions
    3. Design, prototype, and share with Adobe XD
    4. Color Management
    5. System requirements
      1. Hardware and software requirements
      2. Adobe XD, Big Sur, and Apple silicon | macOS 11
    6. Workspace basics
    7. Change app language in Adobe XD
    8. Access UI design kits
    9. Accessibility in Adobe XD
    10. Keyboard shortcuts
    11. Tips and tricks
  3. Design
    1. Artboards, guides, and layers
      1. Get started with artboards
      2. Use guides and grids
      3. Create scrollable artboards
      4. Work with layers
      5. Create scroll groups
    2. Shapes, objects, and path
      1. Select, resize, and rotate objects
      2. Move, align, distribute, and arrange objects
      3. Group, lock, duplicate, copy, and flip objects
      4. Set stroke, fill, and drop shadow for objects
      5. Create repeating elements
      6. Create perspective designs with 3D transforms
      7. Edit objects using Boolean operations
    3. Text and fonts
      1. Work with drawing and text tools
      2. Fonts in Adobe XD
    4. Components and states
      1. Work with components
      2. Work with nested components
      3. Add multiple states to components
    5. Masking and effects
      1. Create a mask with shapes
      2. Work with blur effects
      3. Create and modify gradients
      4. Apply blend effects
    6. Layout
      1. Responsive resize and constraints
      2. Set fixed padding for components and groups
      3. Create dynamic designs with stacks
    7. Videos and Lottie animations
      1. Work with videos
      2. Create prototypes using videos
      3. Work with Lottie animations
  4. Prototype
    1. Create interactive prototypes
    2. Animate prototypes
    3. Object properties supported for auto-animate
    4. Create prototypes with keyboard and gamepad
    5. Create prototypes using voice commands and playback
    6. Create timed transitions
    7. Add overlays
    8. Design voice prototypes
    9. Create anchor links
    10. Create hyperlinks
    11. Preview designs and prototypes
  5. Share, export, and review
    1. Share selected artboards
    2. Share designs and prototypes
    3. Set access permissions for links
    4. Work with prototypes
    5. Review prototypes
    6. Work with design specs
    7. Share design specs
    8. Inspect design specs
    9. Navigate design specs
    10. Review and comment design specs
    11. Export design assets
    12. Export and download assets from design specs
    13. Group sharing for enterprise
    14. Back up or transfer XD assets
  6. Design systems
    1. Design systems with Creative Cloud Libraries
    2. Work with document assets in Adobe XD
    3. Work with Creative Cloud Libraries in Adobe XD
    4. Migrate from linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries
    5. Work with design tokens 
    6. Use assets from Creative Cloud Libraries
  7. Cloud documents
    1. Cloud documents in Adobe XD
    2. Collaborate and coedit designs
    3. Coedit documents shared with you
  8. Integrations and plugins
    1. Work with external assets
    2. Work with design assets from Photoshop
    3. Copy and paste assets from Photoshop
    4. Import or open Photoshop designs
    5. Work with Illustrator assets in Adobe XD
    6. Open or import Illustrator designs
    7. Copy vectors from Illustrator to XD
    8. Plugins for Adobe XD
    9. Create and manage plugins
    10. Jira integration for XD
    11. Slack plugin for XD
    12. Zoom plug-in for XD
    13. Publish design from XD to Behance
  9. XD for iOS and Android
    1. Preview on mobile devices
    2. Adobe XD on mobile FAQ
  10. Troubleshooting
    1. Known and fixed issues
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
    2. Installation and updates
      1. XD appears as not compatible on Windows
      2. Error code 191
      3. Error code 183
      4. Issues installing XD plugins
      5.  Prompt to uninstall and reinstall XD on Windows 10
      6. Issues with preferences migration
    3. Launch and crash
      1.  XD crashes when launched on Windows 10
      2.  XD quits when you sign out of Creative Cloud
      3. Issue with subscription status on Windows
      4. Blocked-app warning when launching  XD on Windows
      5. Crash dump generation on Windows
      6. Crash log collection and sharing
    4. Cloud documents and Creative Cloud Libraries
      1. Issues with XD cloud documents
      2. Issues with linked components
      3. Issues with libraries and links
    5. Prototype, publish, and review
      1. Unable to record prototype interactions on macOS Catalina
      2. Issues with publish workflows
      3. Published  links do not appear in browsers
      4. Prototypes do not render correctly in browsers
      5. Commenting panel suddenly showing up on shared links
      6. Unable to publish libraries
    6. Import, export, and working with other apps
      1. Import and export in XD
      2. Photoshop files in XD
      3. Illustrator files in XD
      4. Export to After Effects from XD
      5. Sketch files in XD
      6. Third-party apps not visible in Export

Learn how to create micro-interactions using auto-animate.

With auto-animate, you can create immersive transitions to visualize the movement of content across artboards.

Combined with the power of Drag and Time triggers, it helps you create a wide range of effects such as a YouTube swipe and drag to tell a better prototype story.

Ripple interactions in a website
Ripple effect in a website

Swipe and drag effect on a touch enabled device
Swipe and drag effect on a touch enabled device

To create an animated prototype, follow these steps:

  1. Before you begin, use these simple rules to understand how objects are handled during animation:

    • If an object isn't present on the destination artboard, it fades in.
    • If an object isn't present on the source artboard, it fades out.
    • If an object has a match both in terms of its layer name and its group, attributes are animated. For a comprehensive list of supported properties and transitions, read Object properties.
    • If you want to prototype a horizontal or vertical scroll effect, use scroll groups.
  2. Wire the artboards in the prototype mode. 

  3. Click the connector to view the interaction panel that appears in Property Inspector and set the following options:

    • Trigger: Select an option to trigger an animation. For example, to simulate a tapping card experience, select Tap. 
    • Action: Select Auto-Animate. You can now assign two actions in a single trigger such as Tap. To do so, set the first Action + button in the Property Inspector to TransitionAuto-AnimateOverlayScroll to, or Previous Artboard, and set the second Action + button to a non-transitional action such as Audio playback or Speech playback. Note that if you select Audio or Speech playback as the first action, you cannot add a second action.
    • Destination: Select the destination artboard to transition the animation.
    • Easing: Select an option to simulate easing effects. For example, select Ease Out if you want your animations to ease out from your prototype.
    Auto-animate workflow
    Auto-animate workflow

    A. Select the trigger type B. Select action to auto-animate C. Select the destination artboard D. Select easing effects 

  4. To define more interaction for an object, select the object with an interaction already defined, and click the + button on the artboard; alternatively, you can also click + on the Property Inspector.

     Remember that you can apply Tap, Drag, Hover, and Time triggers once, and VoiceKeys & Gamepad many times. 

  5. Select    preview your animations in supported browsers

     Remember that XD does not support scrolling when previewing auto-animated artboards.

Examples and sample files

Want to learn the nuts and bolts of auto-animate? Get started with this UI kit that has basic interactions, UI elements, drag examples, and much more.

You can also use more such sample files to test auto-animate.

Want to achieve a YouTube swipe effect without the hassle of timelines and key frames?

Wire up your artboards and select these options in the prototype Property Inspector:

  • Trigger: select Drag.  
  • Action: select Auto-Animate.
  • Destination: select the destination artboard to transition the animation.
  • Easing: select an option to create easing effects. For example, select Ease In-Out to ease in-out your animations from your prototype.

Do download the sample files and try them yourself or watch this video for more information.

Viewing time: 1 minute.

Want to learn how to create an animated mobile menu with an ease in effect? 

  1. Download the sample files.
  2. In the prototype mode, wire the hamburger menu to the home_expanded artboard and select the following options in the prototype Property Inspector:
  • Trigger: select Tap.  
  • Action: select Auto-Animate.
  • Destination: select the destination artboard to transition the animation.
  • Easing: select Ease In effect.
  • Duration: select the duration to 0.8 seconds.

Want to add advanced animations to your designs? Watch this video for working with After-Effects. 

Export from Adobe XD to After-Effects (Viewing time: 1 minute)

Learn more

To learn more about auto-animate in XD, watch this video.
Viewing time: 6 minutes

 Adobe

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Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX 2024

Adobe MAX
The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online