Everything You Need to Know About SVG Animation

Scalable Vector Graphics or SVG is an XML-based format that is used extensively for animation and two-dimensional graphics. If you’re active on social media, you would know how GIFs are loved by people and to what extent they have been used by websites and brands for promotional activities. Even though SVG animation is not as popular as GIF, we can expect it to take over GIF very soon due to its much better features. One of the best things about SVG animation is that it very clear even if you zoom it. Learning about SVG animation is not difficult since you have a lot of online tutorials. Even so, for instant help, you can always get help from SVGator, a website for SVG tools.

SVGator is a platform where you can generate SVG animations in just three steps: Import, animate, and export. Even a non-technical person can make their own SVG clips with the help of SVGator. You can simply set up keyframes or use the already-made presets to make your own SVG animations. If you want to play with the codes, you can always view and edit the automatically generated code according to your convenience. Even though SVGator was launched in October 2017 it has developed a lot within just a few months because of the new features that were added to it like Ease effects, Transform origin, and the option to Animate on MouseOver.  You can use SVGator even if you don’t have any idea about graphics. On the other hand, professional designers and developers use SVGator since it is the first-ever SVG tool that will allow them to download a single SVG file with clean code.

We live in a world where people are finding more and more ways to convert traditional ideas into digital ideas. SVG animations will be a path-breaking concept if people realize their potential. In simple terms, we can say that SVG is the future. Why do we really need to focus on SVG and its benefits is explained below.

Why SVG?

Here are a few reasons why SVG is admired by designers and why more and more people need to use it:

Sharp Images

One of the major reasons why SVG is so attractive is that it gives you really sharp images. A visually sharp image will look better when compared to a not-so-sharp image. This is because SVG is drawn from mathematically declared curves and lines. When you design something that way, you really don’t get affected by pixel limitations. Now we know why vector graphics are awesome.

Flexibility

We know that SVGs are sharp, but we also know a lot of other file formats that offer very sharp images and graphics. Then how do SVGs stand out? SVGs are different from the rest of the formats like raster images due to its level of flexibility. Unlike the rest of the file formats, SVGs do not lose their sharpness when you resize them. This makes SVG truly unique when it comes to different elements that you find on the web.

Size

The size of an SVG doesn’t depend on what size they are rendered at. The only thing that influences the size of an SVG is its complexity and this size will give you a particular level of sharpness no matter what since SVGs are always flexible. Imagine you have a raster image of 800 pixels. The size of the image will depend on the number of pixels since information is stored in each pixel. However, SVG is a set of instructions on how to draw something. The size of the SVG will depend upon the complexity of your instructions. If the instructions are simple enough, the size of the SVG will be small.

However, you need to make judgment calls before deciding if an SVG or a raster image will be appropriate for your requirements. You can decide this based on the complexity of the subject that you want to portray. For example, if all you want is to have a vector image of a basketball, the size of the SVG will be much smaller than that of a raster image of the same kind. In this case, you can go for the SVG since you get better sharpness and flexibility. However, if you want an image of a group of people with specific details, it’s better to choose the raster image format. This is because such an image will require a lot of instructions to meet its complexity which will increase the size of the SVG. This makes SVG a great format for things like logos, charts, simple illustrations, and icons.

Dynamic animated Graphics

You can use SVG to create the same type of graphic content as a GIF but with a considerably smaller size. For example, a dynamic graphic of a fish swimming may be around 400KB as a GIF but the same thing can be done as  4KB SVG. You get a lot of options when you’re trying to make small animated graphics in SVG. If you know a little bit about web development and design, you can use SVG to take its features to a whole another level. Once you try using SVG and explore its potential you’ll never use any other format to get your graphics done.

Sprite Sheets and Icon Sets

You can combine more than one icon in the same SVG. Isn’t that amazing? SVG makes quality icon-making more interesting. You can separately work on simple icons and they put the whole set together in a particular SVG. This will make your work much simpler and easier. You can divide different portions of your design work on them separately and bring them all together into a more sophisticated design later. One of the most important advantages of this approach is that you will be able to pay attention to detail and perfection in every corner of your graphics project.

Where are the places you can use SVG?

While SVG is great, you need to know where the SVG animation will be the best fit.

SVG as image

Using SVG is very simple and easy because the coding can be understood by anyone. Even then, if you don’t want to get into coding, you can take the help of an SVG tool provider like SVGator who will help you get SVG images with just a few clicks.

SVG as background image

SVGs can be used as background images just like PNGs, JPGs, and GIFS. The advantage of SVG as a background image is that it can be repeated, unlike a raster image. For example, if you want a series of images that have the same background but different written content it, SVG will be a great choice as the background image. You can repeat high-quality background in each and every image without any trouble. Along with this feature, you will get all the other advantages like sharp image quality and flexibility.

Inline SVG is amazing

Inline SVG means using SVG code in the middle of your HTML. This is one of the best ways you can use SVG.

Are there any other places where we can use SVG animation? Do let us know your views in the comment section below. Don’t forget to share it with your friends.