Request Animation Frame Hook

A React hook for levaraging the Request Animation Frame API to create looping animations, complete with the ability to control playback.

useAnimationFrame.ts

import { useRef, useLayoutEffect } from "react";
// The hook accepts two paramters: a callback function that defines the
// animation and a boolean that dictates if the animation should autoplay
export default function useAnimationFrame(
  callback: () => void,
  shouldAnimate: boolean = true
) => {
  // create a stable reference for the animation frame so that we can cancle it later
  const frame = useRef<number>(0);
  // the function that help us to create a loop for animation
  const animate = () => {
    callback();
    frame.current = requestAnimationFrame(animate);
  };
  // create a side effect that will fire **before** the browser is painted
  useLayoutEffect(() => {
    // controls whether the animation should play automatically
    if (shouldAnimate) {
      frame.current = requestAnimationFrame(animate);
    }
    // cancle the animation frame request when the component is unmounted/re-rendered
    return () => {
      frame.current && cancelAnimationFrame(frame.current);
    };
  }, [shouldAnimate, callback]);
};

In Use

This hooks only requires a single prop: a callback function, which will be fired at approximately 60 frames per second to allow us to create buttery smooth animations. Most often, I use the callback function to increment a time variable, which I then use to animate elements in the DOM.

By default, the hook will initialize the request animation frame loop (and consequently, begin the animation) when the component is mounted. However, you can pass a second, optional prop to the hook to defer playback (perhaps until the user clicks a button, or the comonent is visible in the viewport).

I use this hook most often when working with HTML canvas for more complex animations. It's designed to be generic though, so you can easily use it to animate SVGs or CSS properties as well (as in the sample below).

ReactAnimationFrame.tsx

const Animation = () => {
  import { useState } from "react";
  import useAnimationFrame from "lib/useAnimationFrame";
 
  const [count, setCount] = useState<number>(0);
  const update = () => setCount(count + 0.05);
 
  useAnimationFrame(update, isAnimating);
 
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>{Math.floor(count)}</h1>
    </div>
  );
};