# Atelier Motion

> Atelier suite — motion & micro-interactions (the "feel" layer). Add animation that reads premium, not gimmicky: correct easing/spring defaults, the right durations, the 12 animation principles applied to UI, component/gesture/layout/exit animation with Motion (motion/react), micro-interactions (buttons, toggles, likes), and the often-skipped states (skeleton/shimmer, optimistic UI, empty/loading/error). Use whenever adding or fixing UI animation, transitions, hover/press feedback, loading states, or when motion feels janky, abrupt, excessive, or cheap. Default stack: Motion for React UI — with Anime.js v4 / native CSS / GSAP for vanilla & non-React work, and Lottie / Rive for designer-authored assets; defer scroll-driven work to atelier-scroll and pre-ship checks to atelier-perf-a11y. Part of the Atelier suite.

- Skill: `luminary19/atelier-motion` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 5 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add luminary19/atelier-motion`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/luminary19/atelier-motion/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Web & Frontend
- Author: luminary19 (https://skillmd.com/u/luminary19)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/luminary19/atelier-motion

---


# Atelier — Motion & Micro-interactions

Motion is what separates a premium interface from a static one — and bad motion (too slow, too much,
wrong easing, animating the wrong property) instantly reads cheap. The rule that governs everything
here: **motion should be felt, not seen.** If the user consciously waits on an animation, it's too slow
or too big.

> **Project memory:** if **`ATELIER.md`** exists, read its **Interactivity** level and **Motion policy**
> (library triggers, easing, reduced-motion) first and honor them — they set the budget. Set up memory with
> **`/atelier init`** (the **`atelier`** router).
>
> **Inputs:** the Direction Doc's *motion budget* (none / restrained / award-grade). **Default stack:**
> Motion (`motion/react`) for component/gesture/layout/exit animation; GSAP for complex sequencing;
> **scroll-driven motion → `atelier-scroll`**; **the perf/a11y gate → `atelier-perf-a11y`** (animate
> only `transform`/`opacity`, respect reduced motion); **where these hooks mount in a real component tree
> → `atelier-components`.** The *words* in the states you build (empty/error/loading) → **`atelier-copy`**;
> making the optimistic/skeleton/error states production-grade (rollback, no stuck spinner) → **`atelier-harden`**.
> Deep reference: `references/fundamentals-deepdive.md`
> (§1, §5).

---

## The flow

1. **Set the budget** (from the Direction Doc) → 2. **Pick durations + easing** → 3. **Choose the tool**
→ 4. **Build the interaction** → 5. **Add the missing states** → 6. **Gate it** (reduced motion + perf).

## 1. Motion budget

Match motion to the world (Direction Doc):
- **Production** — purposeful only: feedback (<100ms), state changes, attention guidance, latency masking.
  Durations ≤300ms, one thing moving at a time. Restraint reads as confidence.
- **Award/creative** — motion is part of the brand; bigger gestures, choreography, signature moments.
  Still ships reduced-motion fallbacks.
When in doubt, do less. The most common slop tell is *too much* motion (infinite-loop micro-animations
everywhere), not too little.

## 2. Durations & easing (defaults to internalize)

Full table + cubic-beziers + spring params in **`references/timing-easing.md`**. The essentials:
- **Hover / press / toggle: 120–200ms.** Reveal / small move: 200–300ms. Modal / drawer / page:
  300–450ms. **Ceiling ~500ms.** Respond to input **≤100ms** always (immediate press/scale).
- **Easing by intent:** ease-**out** for entrances (fast→settle, feels responsive); ease-**in** for
  exits; ease-in-out for moves between two on-screen states; **linear only** for continuous (spinner,
  marquee, progress).
- **Springs for direct manipulation / interruptible UI** (drag, sheets, toggles) — they carry velocity
  and feel physical. Duration+easing for deterministic, choreographed sequences.
- Distance/size scale duration (bigger/farther → slightly longer).

## 3. Choose the tool

- **Motion (`motion/react`)** — the default for React UI: declarative `animate`/`whileHover`/`whileTap`/
  `whileInView`, `AnimatePresence` for exit animations, `layout`/`layoutId` for shared-element "magic
  move", springs, gestures. Springs are the default **only for transforms** (x/y/scale/rotate); opacity/
  color default to tween/ease. Recipes in **`references/motion-react.md`**.
- **react-spring** (`@react-spring/web`) — lighter pure-springs alternative when springs are the whole
  story and you want R3F interop; reach for Motion when you need orchestration/exit/shared-element.
- **GSAP** — reach for it for complex timelines, SVG morph/draw, or when you need a single engine for an
  intricate sequence. Also the home of the **Flip** plugin for FLIP layout / shared-element transitions
  between two *arbitrary* DOM states (expand/collapse, grid reflow, reorder) — the explicit-control
  escalation for when Motion's `layout`/`layoutId` (the React default) or Auto-Animate's auto-diff don't
  fit; recipe in `references/microinteractions-states.md` (GSAP plugins are all free now — details there).
  (Scroll-driven motion **and** pointer-driven flourishes — magnetic buttons, custom cursor, infinite
  marquee — live in `atelier-scroll`, not here.)
- **Anime.js v4** (`animejs` ~4.4, ESM **named** imports — no global `anime`; v3 code won't run) — free,
  tree-shakeable general timeline for **vanilla / non-Motion** contexts; built-in `onScroll()` observer and
  `svg` morph/draw, plus a ~3KB `waapi` adapter for WAAPI-only cases. Reach for it over GSAP when you need a
  light timeline, not the full engine.
- **Native CSS** — transitions and keyframes are perfect for simple hover/toggle/state changes with zero
  JS; prefer them when they suffice (they're cheap and run off the main thread). For entry **and** exit
  with no JS, `@starting-style` + `transition-behavior: allow-discrete` animates popovers/dialogs/toasts
  in and out (Baseline) — often replacing `<AnimatePresence>` for lightweight reveals.
- **Auto-Animate** (`@formkit/auto-animate` ~0.9) — one-line FLIP for list add/remove/move when you want
  zero config; ~2KB, respects reduced motion out of the box.
- **Designer-authored / interactive assets** — play After-Effects motion with **Lottie**, preferring
  **`@lottiefiles/dotlottie-web`** (Rust+WASM on ThorVG 1.0; `DotLottieWorker` for off-main-thread GPU
  playback) over `lottie-web`. For *interactive, stateful, data-bound* graphics (UI characters, game-like
  UI) use **Rive** — state machines + data binding live in the `.riv` (`@rive-app/react-canvas`;
  `@rive-app/webgl2` Rive Renderer is the default, `@rive-app/canvas` for grids/lists). Both are playback
  of pre-authored assets — build component interactions on Motion, not here.

> **Don't start new work on** Motion One (folded into Motion — use `motion`/`motion/mini`), Popmotion, or
> Velocity (all frozen); treat Theatre.js as dormant (stale 0.7.2 public release, 1.0 private).

## 4. Build the interaction

Use the patterns in `references/motion-react.md`. Core moves: variants with `staggerChildren` for lists,
`AnimatePresence` for mount/unmount, `layout` for size/position changes, `useReducedMotion()` to branch.
Keep to `transform`/`opacity`. Stagger 30–80ms/item, total cascade <600ms.

- **Reveal-safety (don't ship a blank page):** scroll/entrance reveals must *enhance an already-visible
  default* — never gate content visibility on a class- or JS-triggered transition. Transitions pause on
  hidden tabs and don't fire in SSR / headless / no-JS renders, so the content stays at opacity 0 and the
  section ships blank. Animate *from* a visible baseline (content present in the DOM and legible, then
  enhanced), and make the reduced-motion / no-JS path show the final state immediately.
- **Suppress the uniform-entrance reflex:** one identical fade-up applied to every section is itself a tell.
  Each reveal should fit what it reveals; staggering items *within* one list is fine — cloning one entrance
  across the whole page is not. (Verified at ship by `atelier-perf-a11y`'s anti-slop check.)

## 5. Add the missing states (the part everyone skips)

A premium feel is mostly about the *non-happy* states (*which* ones each screen needs is enumerated upstream
by **`atelier-ux`**; here you build them). Patterns in
**`references/microinteractions-states.md`**:
- **Skeleton / shimmer** loaders (perceived speed > spinner; static under reduced motion).
- **Optimistic UI** — `useOptimistic` (React 19): update instantly, reconcile/rollback. Only for
  likely-success, cheap-to-reverse actions (likes, toggles, list adds) — never irreversible/financial.
- **Empty / loading / error** states designed deliberately (empty = onboarding + CTA; error = human
  language + cause + recovery, preserve input).
- **Micro-interactions** — button press/scale, toggle, like, copy-confirm, input focus; tie a clear
  signifier to every action (Don Norman: affordance → signifier → feedback ≤100ms).
- **Animated numbers** — `NumberFlow` (`@number-flow/react`) for counters/prices/stats: accessible,
  `Intl.NumberFormat`-aware, respects reduced motion by default. The correct default over a hand-rolled
  (janky + inaccessible) odometer.
- **Haptics** — `navigator.vibrate` for short confirmations, but **Android Chrome/Edge only (~77%); NOT
  iOS Safari, NOT Firefox.** Mobile-only, needs a user gesture, never haptic-only — always pair a visible cue.

## 6. Gate it

- **Reduced motion is mandatory.** `useReducedMotion()` (Motion) or `@media (prefers-reduced-motion:
  reduce)`. **Reduce, don't always nuke** — keep opacity fades and shortened durations; remove large
  movement, parallax, spin, springy overshoot. Provide non-motion signifiers so no info is lost.
- **Perf:** animate only `transform`/`opacity`; prefer CSS/WAAPI/Motion (off main thread) over JS rAF
  tweening **of layout/paint props**. A transform-only rAF loop (e.g. a lerped custom cursor in
  `atelier-scroll`) is fine — the rule targets `width/top/box-shadow`, not `transform`. Run the full
  **`atelier-perf-a11y`** gate before shipping.

---

## The 12 principles → UI (mental backbone)
Squash&stretch (press squish), anticipation (wind-up), staging (dim bg for modal), follow-through/
overlap (stagger, spring settle), **slow in/out = easing (the most important)**, arcs (curved paths),
secondary action, timing (conveys weight), exaggeration (sparingly, for delight), appeal (brand
personality). Full mapping in `references/timing-easing.md`.

## Operating principles
- **Felt, not seen.** Subtle + fast by default; reserve big gestures for one signature moment.
- **One thing moving at a time** in production UI; orchestrate with overlap, not chaos.
- **Springs for manipulation, easing for choreography.**
- **Design the empty/loading/error states** — that's where perceived quality actually lives.
- **Always reduced-motion + `transform`/`opacity` only.** Beauty ≠ inaccessible or janky.