How To Create And Animate Svg Elements Using Javascript

Animate SVG with JavaScript Creative Bloq

SVG has become a popular graphics format on the web due to its resolution independence and support for animation. SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics and is a vector-based graphics format that enables you to create and manipulate shapes, lines, and other graphic elements. SVG elements can be created and animated using JavaScript, and this article will walk you through the process.

Table of Contents

What is SVG?

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics, and is a graphics format that is resolution independent. This means that SVG images can be scaled to any size without losing quality. SVG images are composed of shapes, lines, and other graphic elements, and can be manipulated and animated using JavaScript. SVG is supported by all modern browsers, and is used widely on the web.

Creating SVG Elements

Creating SVG elements is relatively straightforward. All you need to do is create an SVG element, set its attributes, and then append it to the DOM. For example, to create a circle, you would use the following code:

let circle = document.createElementNS("http://www.w3.org/2000/svg", "circle"); 
 
 circle.setAttribute("cx", 100); 
 circle.setAttribute("cy", 100); 
 circle.setAttribute("r", 50); 
 
 document.querySelector("svg").appendChild(circle);

This code creates an SVG element, sets its attributes, and then appends it to an SVG element that is already in the DOM. You can use this same approach to create any other SVG element, like a rectangle, line, or polygon.

Animating SVG Elements

Once you have created an SVG element, you can animate it using JavaScript. The easiest way to do this is to use the requestAnimationFrame() API, which allows you to create a loop that runs at a set frame rate. In the loop, you can update the attributes of your SVG element to create the desired effect. For example, to create a simple animation of a circle moving across the screen, you could use the following code:

let x = 0;
 
 function animate() {
 x += 5;
 circle.setAttribute("cx", x);
 
 requestAnimationFrame(animate);
 }
 
 animate();

This code creates a loop that updates the cx attribute of the circle element, and thus moves it across the screen. You can use the same approach with any other SVG element, and can even combine multiple elements to create more complex animations.

Conclusion

SVG is a powerful graphics format that enables you to create and manipulate shapes, lines, and other graphic elements. It is resolution independent and can be animated using JavaScript. Creating and animating SVG elements using JavaScript is relatively straightforward, and this article has shown you how to do it.