open-design/skills/hyperframes/references/transitions.md

Scene Transitions

A transition tells the viewer how two scenes relate. A crossfade says "this continues." A push slide says "next point." A blur crossfade says "drift with me." Choose transitions that match what the content is doing emotionally, not just technically.

Animation Rules for Multi-Scene Compositions

These are non-negotiable for every multi-scene composition:

1. Every composition uses transitions. No exceptions. Scenes without transitions feel like jump cuts.
2. Every scene uses entrance animations. Elements animate IN via gsap.from() — opacity, position, scale, etc. No scene should pop fully-formed onto screen.
3. Exit animations are BANNED except on the final scene. Do NOT use gsap.to() to animate elements out before a transition fires. The transition IS the exit. Outgoing scene content must be fully visible when the transition starts — the transition handles the visual handoff.
4. Final scene exception: The last scene MAY fade elements out (e.g., fade to black at the end of the composition). This is the only scene where exit animations are allowed.

Energy → Primary Transition

Energy	CSS Primary	Shader Primary	Accent	Duration	Easing
Calm (wellness, brand story, luxury)	Blur crossfade, focus pull	Cross-warp morph, thermal distortion	Light leak, circle iris	0.5-0.8s	sine.inOut, power1
Medium (corporate, SaaS, explainer)	Push slide, staggered blocks	Whip pan, cinematic zoom	Squeeze, vertical push	0.3-0.5s	power2, power3
High (promos, sports, music, launch)	Zoom through, overexposure	Ridged burn, glitch, chromatic split	Staggered blocks, gravity drop	0.15-0.3s	power4, expo

Pick ONE primary (60-70% of scene changes) + 1-2 accents. Never use a different transition for every scene.

Mood → Transition Type

Think about what the transition communicates, not just what it looks like.

Mood	Transitions	Why it works
Warm / inviting	Light leak, blur crossfade, focus pull, film burn · Shader: thermal distortion, light leak, cross-warp morph	Soft edges, warm color washes. Nothing sharp or mechanical.
Cold / clinical	Squeeze, zoom out, blinds, shutter, grid dissolve · Shader: gravitational lens	Content transforms mechanically — compressed, shrunk, sliced, gridded.
Editorial / magazine	Push slide, vertical push, diagonal split, shutter · Shader: whip pan	Like turning a page or slicing a layout. Clean directional movement.
Tech / futuristic	Grid dissolve, staggered blocks, blinds, chromatic aberration · Shader: glitch, chromatic split	Grid dissolve is the core "data" transition. Shader glitch adds posterization + scan lines.
Tense / edgy	Glitch, VHS, chromatic aberration, ripple · Shader: ridged burn, glitch, domain warp	Instability, distortion, digital breakdown. Ridged burn adds sharp lightning-crack edges.
Playful / fun	Elastic push, 3D flip, circle iris, morph circle, clock wipe · Shader: ripple waves, swirl vortex	Overshoot, bounce, rotation, expansion. Swirl vortex adds organic spiral distortion.
Dramatic / cinematic	Zoom through, zoom out, gravity drop, overexposure, color dip to black · Shader: cinematic zoom, gravitational lens, domain warp	Scale, weight, light extremes. Shader transitions add per-pixel depth.
Premium / luxury	Focus pull, blur crossfade, color dip to black · Shader: cross-warp morph, thermal distortion	Restraint. Cross-warp morph flows both scenes into each other organically.
Retro / analog	Film burn, light leak, VHS, clock wipe · Shader: light leak	Organic imperfection. Warm color bleeds, scan line displacement.

Narrative Position

Position	Use	Why
Opening	Your most distinctive transition. Match the mood. 0.4-0.6s	Sets the visual language for the entire piece.
Between related points	Your primary transition. Consistent. 0.3s	Don't distract — the content is continuing.
Topic change	Something different from your primary. Staggered blocks, shutter, squeeze.	Signals "new section" — the viewer's brain resets.
Climax / hero reveal	Your boldest accent. Fastest or most dramatic.	This is the payoff — spend your best transition here.
Wind-down	Return to gentle. Blur crossfade, crossfade. 0.5-0.7s	Let the viewer exhale after the climax.
Outro	Slowest, simplest. Crossfade, color dip to black. 0.6-1.0s	Closure. Don't introduce new energy at the end.

Blur Intensity by Energy

Energy	Blur	Duration	Hold at peak
Calm	20-30px	0.8-1.2s	0.3-0.5s
Medium	8-15px	0.4-0.6s	0.1-0.2s
High	3-6px	0.2-0.3s	0s

Presets

Preset	Duration	Easing
snappy	0.2s	power4.inOut
smooth	0.4s	power2.inOut
gentle	0.6s	sine.inOut
dramatic	0.5s	power3.in → out
instant	0.15s	expo.inOut
luxe	0.7s	power1.inOut

Implementation

Read transitions/catalog.md for GSAP code and hard rules for every transition type.

Category	CSS	Shader (WebGL)
Push/slide	Push slide, vertical push, elastic push, squeeze	Whip pan
Scale/zoom	Zoom through, zoom out, gravity drop, 3D flip	Cinematic zoom, gravitational lens
Reveal/mask	Circle iris, diamond iris, diagonal split, clock wipe, shutter	SDF iris
Dissolve	Crossfade, blur crossfade, focus pull, color dip	Cross-warp morph, domain warp
Cover	Staggered blocks, horizontal blinds, vertical blinds	—
Light	Light leak, overexposure burn, film burn	Light leak (shader), thermal distortion
Distortion	Glitch, chromatic aberration, ripple, VHS tape	Glitch (shader), chromatic split, ridged burn, ripple waves, swirl vortex
Pattern	Grid dissolve, morph circle	—

Transitions That Don't Work in CSS

Avoid: star iris, tilt-shift, lens flare, hinge/door. See catalog.md for why.

CSS vs Shader

CSS transitions animate scene containers with opacity, transforms, clip-path, and filters. Shader transitions composite both scene textures per-pixel on a WebGL canvas — they can warp, dissolve, and morph in ways CSS cannot.

Both are first-class options. Shaders are provided by the @hyperframes/shader-transitions package — import from the package instead of writing raw GLSL. CSS transitions are simpler to set up. Choose based on the effect you want, not based on which is easier.

When a composition uses shader transitions, ALL transitions in that composition should be shader-based (the WebGL canvas replaces DOM-based scene switching). Don't mix CSS and shader transitions in the same composition.

Shader-Compatible CSS Rules

Shader transitions capture DOM scenes to WebGL textures via html2canvas. The canvas 2D rendering pipeline doesn't match CSS exactly. Follow these rules to avoid visible artifacts at transition boundaries:

1. No transparent keyword in gradients. Canvas interpolates transparent as rgba(0,0,0,0) (black at zero alpha), creating dark fringes. Always use the target color at zero alpha: rgba(200,117,51,0) not transparent.
2. No gradient backgrounds on elements thinner than 4px. Canvas can't match CSS gradient rendering on 1-2px elements. Use solid background-color on thin accent lines.
3. No CSS variables (var()) on elements visible during capture. html2canvas doesn't reliably resolve custom properties. Use literal color values in inline styles.
4. Mark uncapturable decorative elements with data-no-capture. The capture function skips these. They're present on the live DOM but absent from the shader texture. Use for elements that can't follow the rules above.
5. No gradient opacity below 0.15. Gradient elements below 10% opacity render differently in canvas vs CSS. Increase to 0.15+ or use a solid color at equivalent brightness.
6. Every .scene div must have explicit background-color, AND pass the same color as bgColor in the init() config. The package captures scene elements via html2canvas. Both the CSS background-color on .scene and the bgColor config must match. Without either, the texture renders as black.

These rules only apply to shader transition compositions. CSS-only compositions have no restrictions.

Visual Pattern Warning

Avoid transitions that create visible repeating geometric patterns — grids of tiles, hexagonal cells, uniform dot arrays, evenly-spaced blob circles. These look cheap and artificial regardless of the math behind them. Organic noise (FBM, domain warping) is good because it's irregular. Geometric repetition is bad because the eye instantly sees the grid.