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gsap.to()

Returns : Tween​

The most common type of animation is a to() tween because it allows you to define the destination values (and most people think in terms of animating to certain values):

// rotate and move elements with a class of "box"
// ("x" is a shortcut for a translateX() transform) over the course of 1 second.
gsap.to(".box", { rotation: 27, x: 100, duration: 1 });

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GSAP figures out the current values automatically (you don't need to define starting values, though you can in a fromTo() tween). Since GSAP can animate any property of any object, you are NOT limited to CSS properties or DOM objects. Go crazy. You may be surprised by how many things can be animated with GSAP and it "just works".

To control the Tween instance later, assign it to a variable (GSAP is conveniently object-oriented):

let tween = gsap.to(".class", {rotation: 360, duration: 5, ease: "elastic"});

//now we can control it!
tween.pause();
tween.seek(2);
tween.progress(0.5);
tween.play();
...

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To simply fire off animations and let them run, there's no need to use variables. Tweens play immediately by default (though you can set a delay or paused value) and when they finish, they automatically dispose of themselves. Call gsap.to() as much as you want without worrying about cleanup.

Other types of tweens:

  • from() - you define the starting values to animate "from", GSAP uses the current values as the destinations (like a tween running backwards)
  • fromTo() - you define the starting and ending values.

Parameters​

  1. targets - the object(s) whose properties you want to animate. This can be selector text like ".class", "#id", etc. (GSAP uses document.querySelectorAll() internally) or it can be direct references to elements, generic objects, or even an array of objects.
  2. vars - an object containing all the properties/values you want to animate, along with any special properties like ease, duration, delay, or onComplete (listed below).

Special Properties​

Add any of these to your vars object to give your animation special powers:

    Property

    Description

  • callbackScope

    The scope to be used for all of the callbacks (onStart, onUpdate, onComplete, etc.).

  • data

    Assign arbitrary data to this property (a string, a reference to an object, whatever) and it gets attached to the tween instance itself so that you can reference it later like yourTween.data.

  • delay

    Amount of delay before the animation should begin (in seconds).

  • duration

    The duration of the animation (in seconds). Default: 0.5

  • ease

    Controls the rate of change during the animation, giving it a specific feel. For example, "elastic" or "strong.inOut". See the Ease Visualizer for a list of all of the options. ease can be a String (most common) or a function that accepts a progress value between 0 and 1 and returns a converted, similarly normalized value. Default: "power1.out"

  • id

    Allows you to (optionally) assign a unique identifier to your tween instance so that you can find it later with gsap.getById() and it will show up in GSDevTools with that id.

  • immediateRender

    Normally a tween waits to render for the first time until the very next tick (update cycle) unless you specify a delay. Set immediateRender: true to force it to render immediately upon instantiation. Default: false for to() tweens, true for from() and fromTo() tweens or anything with a scrollTrigger applied.

  • inherit

    Normally tweens inherit from their parent timeline's defaults object (if one is defined), but you can disable this on a per-tween basis by setting inherit: false.

  • lazy

    When a tween renders for the very first time and reads its starting values, GSAP will try to delay writing of values until the very end of the current "tick" which can improve performance because it avoids the read/write/read/write layout thrashing that browsers dislike. To disable lazy rendering for a particular tween, set lazy: false. In most cases, there's no need to set lazy. To learn more, watch this video. Default: true (except for zero-duration tweens)

  • onComplete

    A function to call when the animation has completed

  • onCompleteParams

    An Array of parameters to pass the onComplete function. For example, gsap.to(".class", {x:100, onComplete:myFunction, onCompleteParams:["param1", "param2"]});

  • onInterrupt

    A function to call when the animation is interrupted, meaning if/when the tween is killed before it completes. This could happen because its kill() method is called or due to overwriting.

  • onInterruptParams

    An Array of parameters to pass the onInterrupt function. For example, gsap.to(".class", {x:100, onInterrupt:myFunction, onInterruptParams:["param1", "param2"]});.

  • onRepeat

    A function to call each time the animation enters a new iteration cycle (repeats). Obviously this only occurs if you set a non-zero repeat.

  • onRepeatParams

    An Array of parameters to pass the onRepeat function.

  • onReverseComplete

    A function to call when the animation has reached its beginning again from the reverse direction (excluding repeats).

  • onReverseCompleteParams

    An Array of parameters to pass the onReverseComplete function.

  • onStart

    A function to call when the animation begins (when its time changes from 0 to some other value which can happen more than once if the tween is restarted multiple times).

  • onStartParams

    An Array of parameters to pass the onStart function.

  • onUpdate

    A function to call every time the animation updates (on each "tick" that moves its playhead).

  • onUpdateParams

    An Array of parameters to pass the onUpdate function.

  • overwrite

    If true, all tweens of the same targets will be killed immediately regardless of what properties they affect. If "auto", when the tween renders for the first time it hunt down any conflicts in active animations (animating the same properties of the same targets) and kill only those parts of the other tweens. Non-conflicting parts remain intact. If false, no overwriting strategies will be employed. Default: false

  • paused

    If true, the animation will pause itself immediately upon creation. Default: false

  • repeat

    How many times the animation should repeat. So repeat: 1 would play a total of two iterations. Use -1 to repeat infinitely. Default: 0

  • repeatDelay

    Amount of time to wait between repeats (in seconds). Default: 0

  • repeatRefresh

    Setting repeatRefresh: true causes a repeating tween to invalidate() and re-record its starting/ending values internally on each full iteration (not including yoyo's). This is useful when you use dynamic values (relative, random, or function-based). For example, x: "random(-100, 100)" would get a new random x value on each repeat. duration, delay, and stagger do NOT refresh.

  • reversed

    If true, the animation will start out with its playhead reversed, meaning it will be oriented to move toward its start. Since the playhead begins at a time of 0 anyway, a reversed tween will appear paused initially because its playhead cannot move backward past the start.

  • runBackwards

    If true, the animation will invert its starting and ending values (this is what a from() tween does internally), though the ease doesn't get flipped. In other words, you can make a to() tween into a from() by setting runBackwards: true.

  • stagger

    If multiple targets are defined, you can easily stagger the start times for each by setting a value like stagger: 0.1 (for 0.1 seconds between each start time). Or you can get much more advanced staggers by using a stagger object. For more information, see the stagger documentation.

  • startAt

    Defines starting values for any properties (even if they're not animating). For example, startAt: {x: -100, opacity: 0}

  • yoyo

    If true, every other repeat iteration will run in the opposite direction so that the tween appears to go back and forth. This has no affect on the reversed property though. So if repeat is 2 and yoyo is false, it will look like: start - 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 3 - end. But if yoyo is true, it will look like: start - 1 - 2 - 3 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 3 - end. Default: false

  • yoyoEase

    Allows you to alter the ease in the tween's yoyo phase. Set it to a specific ease like "power2.in" or set it to true to simply invert the tween's normal ease. Note: GSAP is smart enough to automatically set yoyo: true if you define any yoyoEase, so there's less code for you to write. Default: false

  • keyframes

    To animate the targets to various states, use keyframes - an array of vars objects that serve as to() tweens. For example, keyframes: [{x:100, duration:1}, {y:100, duration:0.5}]. All keyframes will be perfectly sequenced back-to-back, but you can define a delay value to add spacing between each step (or a negative delay would create an overlap).

Plugins​

A plugin adds extra capabilities to GSAP's core. Some plugins make it easier to work with rendering libraries like PIXI.js or EaselJS while other plugins add superpowers like morphing SVG shapes, adding drag and drop functionality, etc. This allows the GSAP core to remain relatively small and lets you add features only when you need them. See the full list of plugins here.

Function-based values​

Get incredibly dynamic animations by using a function for any value, and it will get called once for each target the first time the tween renders, and whatever is returned by that function will be used as the value. This can be very useful for applying conditional logic or randomizing things (though GSAP has baked-in randomizing capabilities too...scroll down for that).


gsap.to(".class", {
x: 100, //normal value
y: function(index, target, targets) { //function-based value
return index \* 50;
},
duration: 1
});

The function is passed three parameters:

  1. index - the index of the target in the array. For example, if there are 3 <div> elements with the class ".box", and you gsap.to(".box", ...), the function gets called 3 times (once for each target); the index would be 0 first, then 1, and finally 2.
  2. target - the target itself (the <div> element in this example)
  3. targets - the array of targets (same as tween.targets())

Random values​

Define random values as a string like "random(-100, 100)" for a range or like "random([red, blue, green])" for an array and GSAP will swap in a random value for each target accordingly! This makes advanced randomized effects simple. You can even have the random number rounded to the closest increment of any number! For example:

gsap.to(".class", {
  // chooses a random number between -100 and 100
  // for each target, rounding to the closest 5!
  x: "random(-100, 100, 5)",
});

Or use an array-like value and GSAP will randomly select one of those:

gsap.to(".class", {
  x: "random([0, 100, 200, 500])", // randomly selects one of the values (0, 100, 200, or 500)
});

There's also a [gsap.utils.random()](/docs/v3/GSAP/UtilityMethods/random()) function that you can use directly if you prefer.

Relative values​

Use a"+=" or "-=" prefix to indicate a relative value. For example, gsap.to(".class", {x:"-=20"}); will animate x 20 pixels less than whatever it is when the tween starts. {x:"+=20"} would add 20. To use a variable in a relative way, simply add the "+=" or "-=" prefix, like {x: "+=" + yourVariable}.

Staggers​

If multiple targets are defined, you can easily stagger (offset) the start times for each by setting a value like stagger: 0.1 (for 0.1 seconds between each start time).Or you can get much more advanced staggers by using a stagger object. For more information, see the stagger documentation.

Sequencing​

For basic sequencing, you could use a delay on each tween (like gsap.to(".class", {delay: 0.5, duration: 1, x: 100})), but we strongly recommended using a Timeline for all but the simplest sequencing tasks because it gives you much greater flexibility, especially when you're experimenting with timing. It allows you to append tweens one-after-the-other and then control the entire sequence as a whole. You can even have the tweens overlap as much as you want, nest timelines as deeply as you want, and much, much more.

Timelines have convenient to(), from(), and fromTo() methods as well so you can very easily chain them together and build complex sequences:

let tl = gsap.timeline(); //create the timeline
tl.to(".class1", { x: 100 }) //start sequencing
  .to(".class2", { y: 100, ease: "elastic" })
  .to(".class3", { rotation: 180 });

Keyframes​

If you find yourself animating the same target over and over again, you should definitely check out Keyframes which can make your code much more concise. They also let you port animations over from CSS animations easily.

Learn more about keyframes

Callbacks​

Callbacks are functions that are called after certain events happen in a tween or timeline like when they start, complete, repeat, reverse complete, or update. They can be very useful for debugging, keeping different parts of your project in sync, and many other things.

To learn more about GSAP's callbacks, check out this video from the "GSAP 3 Express" course by Snorkl.tv - one of the best ways to learn the basics of GSAP 3.

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