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The secret to building gorgeous sequences with precise timing is understanding the position parameter which is used in many methods throughout TimelineLite/Max. This one super-flexible parameter controls the placement of your tweens, labels, callbacks, pauses, and even nested timelines, so you'll be able to literally place anything anywhere in any sequence. Watch the video Using position with TimelineLite.to() This article will focus on the TimelineLite.to() method for adding tweens to a TimelineLite, but it works the same in other methods like from(), fromTo(), add(), etc. Notice that the position parameter comes after the vars parameter: .to( target, duration, vars, position ) Since it's so common to chain animations one-after-the-other, the default position is "+=0" which just means "at the end", so timeline.to(...).to(...) chains those animations back-to-back. It's fine to omit the position parameter in this case. But what if you want them to overlap, or start at the same time, or have a gap between them? No problem. Multiple behaviors You can define the position in any of the following ways at an absolute time (1) relative to the end of a timeline allowing for gaps ("+=1") or overlaps ("-=1") at a label ("someLabel") relative to a label ("someLabel+=1") Basic code usage tl.to(element, 1, {x:200}) //1 second after end of timeline (gap) .to(element, 1, {y:200}, "+=1") //0.5 seconds before end of timeline (overlap) .to(element, 1, {rotation:360}, "-=0.5") //at exactly 6 seconds from the beginning of the timeline .to(element, 1, {scale:4}, 6); It can also be used to add tweens at labels or relative to labels //add a label named scene1 at an exact time of 2-seconds into the timeline tl.add("scene1", 2) //add tween at scene1 label .to(element, 4, {x:200}, "scene1") //add tween 3 seconds after scene1 label .to(element, 1, {opacity:0}, "scene1+=3"); Sometimes technical explanations and code snippets don't do these things justice. Take a look at the interactive examples below. No position: Direct Sequence If no position parameter is provided, all tweens will run in direct succession. .content .demoBody code.prettyprint, .content .demoBody pre.prettyprint { margin:0; } .content .demoBody pre.prettyprint { width:8380px; } .content .demoBody code, .main-content .demoBody code { background-color:transparent; font-size:18px; line-height:22px; } .demoBody { background-color:#1d1d1d; font-family: 'Signika Negative', sans-serif; color:#989898; font-size:16px; width:838px; margin:auto; } .timelineDemo { margin:auto; background-color:#1d1d1d; width:800px; padding:20px 0; } .demoBody h1, .demoBody h2, .demoBody h3 { margin: 10px 0 10px 0; color:#f3f2ef; } .demoBody h1 { font-size:36px; } .demoBody h2 { font-size:18px; font-weight:300; } .demoBody h3 { font-size:24px; } .demoBody p{ line-height:22px; margin-bottom:16px; width:650px; } .timelineDemo .box { width:50px; height:50px; position:relative; border-radius:6px; margin-bottom:4px; } .timelineDemo .green{ background-color:#6fb936; } .timelineDemo .orange { background-color:#f38630; } .timelineDemo .blue { background-color:#338; } .timleineUI-row{ background-color:#2f2f2f; margin:2px 0; padding:4px 0; } .secondMarker { width:155px; border-left: solid 1px #aaa; display:inline-block; position:relative; line-height:16px; font-size:16px; padding-left:4px; color:#777; } .timelineUI-tween{ position:relative; width:160px; height:16px; border-radius:8px; background: #a0bc58; /* Old browsers */ background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #a0bc58 0%, #66832f 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#a0bc58), color-stop(100%,#66832f)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #a0bc58 0%,#66832f 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */ background: -o-linear-gradient(top, #a0bc58 0%,#66832f 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */ background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #a0bc58 0%,#66832f 100%); /* IE10+ */ background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #a0bc58 0%,#66832f 100%); /* W3C */ filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#a0bc58', endColorstr='#66832f',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */ } .timelineUI-dragger-track{ position:relative; width:810px; margin-top:20px; } .timelineUI-dragger{ position:absolute; width:10px; height:100px; top:-20px; } .timelineUI-dragger div{ position:relative; width: 0px; height: 0; border-style: solid; border-width: 20px 10px 0 10px; border-color: rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.4) transparent transparent transparent; left:-10px; } .timelineUI-dragger div::after { content:" "; position:absolute; width:1px; height:95px; top:-1px; left:-1px; border-left: solid 2px rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.4); } .timelineUI-dragger div::before { content:" "; position:absolute; width:20px; height:114px; top:-20px; left:-10px; } .timelineUI-time{ position:relative; font-size:30px; text-align:center; } .controls { margin:10px 2px; } .prettyprint { font-size:20px; line-height:24px; } .timelineUI-button { background: #414141; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #575757, #414141); background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #575757, #414141); background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #575757, #414141); background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #575757, #414141); background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #575757, #414141); text-shadow: 0px 1px 0px #414141; -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 1px 0px 414141; -moz-box-shadow: 0px 1px 0px 414141; box-shadow: 0px 1px 0px 414141; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; margin: 0 auto; -webkit-border-radius: 4; -moz-border-radius: 4; border-radius: 4px; font-family: "Signika Negative", sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: 600; display: table; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; outline:none; border:none; display:inline-block; padding: 8px 14px;} .timelineUI-button:hover { background: #57a818; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #57a818, #4d9916); background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #57a818, #4d9916); background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #57a818, #4d9916); background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #57a818, #4d9916); background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #57a818, #4d9916); text-shadow: 0px 1px 0px #32610e; -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 1px 0px fefefe; -moz-box-shadow: 0px 1px 0px fefefe; box-shadow: 0px 1px 0px fefefe; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; } .element-box { background: #ffffff; border-radius: 6px; border: 1px solid #cccccc; padding: 17px 26px 17px 26px; font-weight: 400; font-size: 18px; color: #555555; margin-bottom:20px; } .demoBody .prettyprint { min-width:300px; } His animation is a bit out of whack and the client has the following demands for you: Man should start animating 1 second before car animation ends. One second after man animation ends both car and lift should go up simultaneously. For a visual representation of what the finished product should like, here is a .mov and .gif. Alright it's time to put your animation chops to the test. Challenge instructions Visit the editable version of the animation starter file on CodePen. Click the "fork" button to make your own copy. When you're done, tweet the CodePen link to @greensock. We'll make you feel extra special. There are multiple solutions that require only adding the proper position parameters. Some are more flexible than others, but the important part right now is that the end result meets the clients demands. .demoBody { max-width: 94vw; width: 100%; height: auto; overflow: auto; }

Learn how to make a simple play / pause toggle button to control any GSAP animation (tweens or timelines). Same concepts apply to toggling the reversed() state of an animation too. Watch the video Explore the demo See the Pen Toggle Play Pause by GreenSock (@GreenSock) on CodePen. Core code tl.pause() // pauses the animation tl.paused() // gets paused state, returns true or false tl.paused(true) // sets paused state to true tl.paused(!tl.paused()) // sets paused state to inverse of current paused state. // reverse methods tl.reverse() // reverses the animation tl.reversed() // gets reversed state, returns true or false tl.reversed(true) // sets reversed state to true tl.reversed(!tl.reversed()) // sets reversed state to inverse of current reversed state.

See the Pen GreenSock Home Page Animation by GreenSock (@GreenSock) on CodePen. Here is the demo we use on our homepage. Although it incorporates a few advanced techniques, at its core it is just a bunch of timelines nested inside a master timeline. This technique of nesting timelines is actually quite simple and with a little practice you'll be doing the same.