Creating and Animating Gradients in Framer without Code

Creating animated gradients in Framer without coding is a straightforward process that can provide an eye-catching aesthetic to your website or application. This article will guide you through a step-by-step process for achieving this effect. The tutorial uses Framer, a prototyping tool that allows users to design and animate their projects.

Key Takeaways

1. Using Framer's Particle Component: This component is crucial for creating animated gradients.
2. Configuring the Particle Component: The properties of the particle component need to be tweaked to achieve the desired gradient effect.
3. Creating Different Effects: By playing around with various settings, you can create a range of unique gradient effects.

Steps to Create Animating Gradients in Framer

Get the Particles Component

Start by heading over to the website framer.supply. This website, by Ben, offers a range of special components that can be used in your Framer projects. For this tutorial, we will be using the particles component. This component provides several effects including a galaxy, lines, and snow effects. Copy this component and paste it into your Framer project using command V.

Configure the Particles Component

With the particles component pasted into your project, set its position to absolute and drag it across the page, ensuring it's pinned to all sides. Set the backdrop to transparent since a backdrop is not necessary for this effect.

Next, add three colors to the component. You can experiment with different colors for various gradient effects. The tutorial uses a default 09f blue, a darker 05f blue, and a purple a0f color. Leave the frames per second (fps) at 60, but remember that a higher fps could slow down your site.

Set the particle amount to 15 and adjust the size range between 200 and 700 pixels. This configuration will create 15 particles of varying sizes, enhancing the depth of the gradient effect.

Enable Movement Properties

Navigate to the 'move' section in the properties panel. Here, enable the 'trail' property which allows the particles to leave behind a trail of their color as they move. Also, use the 'spin' property and set the value to zero to make the particles spin around each other, creating a gravity-like effect.

Preview your project at this point. You should see particles spinning around each other and leaving behind color trails. If you notice an unwanted effect when hovering over the particles, disable the 'hover' property.

Customize the Particles

Currently, the particles are circles. However, to achieve the desired gradient effect, change the particle shape to a triangle. This shape creates a more appealing gradient effect for this tutorial.

Additionally, enable the 'rotate' property and set it to 'random'. Also, ensure it is set to 'animate'. This will make the triangles rotate, leaving behind a colorful trail that contributes to the overall gradient effect.

Add a Blur Effect

The next step involves adding a blur effect to enhance the gradient. Unfortunately, a blur cannot be added directly to the particles component. Therefore, you'll need to wrap the component in another frame. With the component selected, hit command + enter to add a frame. Name this parent frame 'gradient blur'.

With the 'gradient blur' frame selected, navigate to the properties panel and select 'styles' > 'filter' > 'blur'. Set a high blur value such as 80, but remember, high blur values can impact your site's performance.

Finalize Your Animated Gradient

Finally, add a blending mode to your gradient. The tutorial uses the 'hard light' blending mode, but feel free to experiment with different blending modes for unique effects. After these steps, preview your project. You should now see animated gradients in motion.

Remember that you can always play around with this configuration, using different colors or even changing the background color of your page for different effects. You can also experiment with different shapes for the particles, but for this tutorial, triangles have been found to work best for creating appealing gradients.

Creating a Different Animated Gradient Effect

For the second effect, the process is similar. In your layer panel, you should have a 'gradient blur' parent layer with the particles inside of it. The key difference here is in the values you tweak on your particles component. For this effect, we use different colors and adjust the size to a fixed pixel amount rather than a range. The amount of particles is also slightly reduced.

Then, the parent frame is set to a fixed width and height of 400 pixels, with a radius of 50, creating a perfect circle. The overflow is set to 'Hidden', which yields an entirely different gradient effect. As always, feel free to play around with the colors to achieve the effect you desire.

Conclusion

Creating animated gradients in Framer without any coding can greatly enhance the visual appeal of your projects. By using the particles component and adjusting various properties, you can create stunning gradients that add depth and motion to your designs. Whether you stick to the tutorial's recommended configurations or decide to explore your own, the process is straightforward and offers room for creativity.

Remember, you can access the completed project via the remix link provided in the video description. Use this as a starting point to experiment and integrate these techniques into your own Framer projects. Happy designing!