Using Package:animations to Add Material Motion Transitions

Introduction

Material motion is a cornerstone of modern mobile app design, guiding user attention and reinforcing spatial relationships. Flutter’s animations package offers a suite of ready-made transition widgets that implement Material motion patterns, saving you time and ensuring consistency. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to integrate the animations package into your Flutter project and apply three key transition types: SharedAxisTransition, FadeThroughTransition, and OpenContainer (container transform). Each section includes concise code snippets and best practices to help you enhance navigation and interactions with smooth, context-aware animations.

Setup and Installation

Before diving into transitions, add the package to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  animations

Run flutter pub get to fetch dependencies. Then import the package in your Dart file:

import 'package:animations/animations.dart';

Ensure your app uses a MaterialApp or Theme that supports Material 3 for optimal appearance. Wrapping transition widgets in Theme or Builder is a best practice to apply your color and motion specs.

SharedAxisTransition

The SharedAxisTransition animates a change in UI along a common axis: X (horizontal), Y (vertical), or Z (depth). It’s ideal for navigation between related content views.

1. Define a PageTransitionSwitcher around your page content.

2. Specify transitionBuilder using SharedAxisTransition with the desired axis and animation curves.

Example:

PageTransitionSwitcher(
  duration: Duration(milliseconds: 300),
  reverse: _isBackwards,
  transitionBuilder: (child, primary, secondary) =>
    SharedAxisTransition(
      child: child,
      animation: primary,
      secondaryAnimation: secondary,
      transitionType: SharedAxisTransitionType.horizontal,
    ),
  child: _currentPage,
)

Toggle _isBackwards and swap _currentPage to animate between screens. This approach keeps your navigation stack intact and provides clear visual context for directional shifts.

FadeThroughTransition

When two UI elements are less directly related, FadeThroughTransition combines opacity and scale to create a gentle cross-fade effect. It’s perfect for switching between distinct content categories without strong hierarchical ties.

Usage is similar to SharedAxis, but replace the transition widget:

PageTransitionSwitcher(
  duration: Duration(milliseconds: 250),
  transitionBuilder: (child, primary, secondary) =>
    FadeThroughTransition(
      animation: primary,
      secondaryAnimation: secondary,
      child: child,
    ),
  child: _selectedWidget,
)

Adjust duration and wrap child content in Material when necessary to preserve elevation and shadows. FadeThroughTransition excels in bottom navigation or tab switches where contextual relationship is low.

OpenContainerTransition (Container Transform)

The OpenContainer widget animates a container expanding into a new UI surface. This container transform transition visually links a list item, card, or button with its detailed view.

Example:

OpenContainer(
  transitionDuration: Duration(milliseconds: 500),
  openBuilder: (context, _) => DetailPage(item: item),
  closedBuilder: (context, open) => ListTile(
    title: Text(item.title),
    onTap: open,
  ),
)

Key parameters:

• openBuilder: Builds the destination screen.

• closedBuilder: Builds the triggering widget; call the open callback.

• transitionDuration and openColor/closedElevation for fine-tuning.

OpenContainer ensures smooth scaling, elevation, and color transitions that reinforce the relationship between list and detail views. Always wrap content in Material to maintain ripple effects and theming.

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Conclusion

Integrating the animations package in Flutter empowers you to implement Material motion patterns with minimal overhead. SharedAxisTransition streamlines directional navigation, FadeThroughTransition provides gentle cross-fades between unrelated views, and OpenContainerTransition delivers seamless container transforms. By following these code patterns and best practices, you can create polished, context-aware transitions that elevate your app’s user experience.