How to Implement Implicit and Explicit Animations in Flutter

Animation brings life to mobile applications, making them more engaging and intuitive for users. In Flutter, we have two primary ways to create animations: implicit and explicit. Let’s dive into both approaches and see how we can implement them effectively.

Understanding Implicit Animations

Implicit animations are the simplest way to add motion to your Flutter app. They automatically animate changes in widget properties, handling all the complex animation logic under the hood. Think of them as “set it and forget it” animations.

Working with Implicit Animations

Flutter provides several implicit animation widgets that start with “Animated”. Here are some commonly used ones:

• AnimatedContainer
• AnimatedOpacity
• AnimatedPositioned
• AnimatedPadding

These widgets automatically handle transitions when you change their properties. For instance, an AnimatedContainer will smoothly animate between different sizes, colors, or positions whenever these values change.

AnimatedContainer(
  duration: Duration(milliseconds: 300),
  width: isExpanded ? 200.0 : 100.0,
  height: isExpanded ? 200.0 : 100.0,
  color: isExpanded ? Colors.blue : Colors.red,
  curve: Curves.easeInOut,
)

Mastering Explicit Animations

Explicit animations offer more control over the animation process. They’re perfect when you need complex animations or want to control the animation programmatically.

Animation Controllers

The heart of explicit animations is the AnimationController. It acts like a conductor, orchestrating the timing and progress of your animation.

late AnimationController _controller;

@override
void initState() {
  super.initState();
  _controller = AnimationController(
    duration: Duration(seconds: 2),
    vsync: this,
  );
}

Tween Animations

Tweens define the range of values your animation moves between. Combined with an AnimationController, they create smooth transitions:

final _animation = Tween<double>(
  begin: 0,
  end: 1,
).animate(_controller);

Best Practices

1. Choose implicit animations for simple transitions
2. Use explicit animations for complex, chained animations
3. Always dispose of animation controllers
4. Keep animations subtle and purposeful
5. Use curves to make animations feel natural

Remember, great animations enhance user experience without being distracting. The key is finding the right balance between motion and functionality.