Layer Effects

Apply simple animation effects to a single layer.

The currently available effects are: Blink, Shake, and Type On (for text layers). Each layer can only have a single effect applied. Specify the effect using the type property.

Table of contents

• Shake
  • strength
• Blink
  • durations
  • delay
  • reduceFlashingDurations
• Type On
  • duration
  • delay
  • scrollTrigger

Shake

Panels.Effect.SHAKE

Shake a layer randomly in both the x and y directions.

If you want to shake every layer in a panel, use the panel effect instead.

strength

default: 2

The shake effect calculates a random x and y offset each frame ranging from -strength to strength. The magnitude of the shake effect may be affected by the layer’s parallax setting.

Example:

{ image = "ship.png",
    effect = { type = Panels.Effect.SHAKE, strength = 3 }
},

This layer will shake randomly approximately 3 pixels in each frame.

Blink

Panels.Effect.BLINK

Blink a layer on and off (with no fading).

durations

required

A table that defines the duration (in milliseconds) for which a layer should be visible (on) and invisible (off).

delay

default: 0

Set a delay (in milliseconds) to wait before the blinking effect starts. The layer will remain invisible until the delay times out.

Example:

{ image = "beacon.png",
    effect = { type = Panels.Effect.BLINK, durations = {on = 500, off = 200} }
}

This layer remains visible for 500 milliseconds, then turns off for 200 milliseconds before repeating.

reduceFlashingDurations

default: nil

Define an alternate set of blink durations to be used when the user has Playdate’s “Reduce Flashing” accessibility setting enabled.

Type On

Panels.Effect.TYPE_ON

FOR TEXT LAYERS ONLY

Reveal a line of text character by character.

duration

default: 500

Set the total length of time (in milliseconds) to take to animate the full line of text.

delay

default: 0

Set a delay (in milliseconds) to wait before the typing effect starts. The layer will remain invisible until the delay times out.

This property is useful for coordinating multiple lines of animated text.

scrollTrigger

default: 0

Set a scroll value at which the type-on effect will be triggered. Scroll values go from 0 (just before the panel enters the screen) to 1 (just after the panel leaves the screen). A scroll trigger of 0.5 will trigger at the halfway point, which for a full-screen panel will be when the panel is fully centered on screen.

Example:

{ text = "Hello World!",
    effect = { type = Panels.Effect.TYPE_ON, duration = 500 }
},

This line of text types on character by character over 500 milliseconds.