React Spring Physics

Physics-based animation for React applications combining React Spring's declarative spring animations with Popmotion's low-level physics utilities.

Overview

React Spring provides spring-physics animations that feel natural and interruptible. Unlike duration-based animations, springs calculate motion based on physical properties (mass, tension, friction), resulting in organic, realistic movement. Popmotion complements this with composable animation functions for keyframes, decay, and inertia.

When to use this skill:

• Natural, physics-based UI animations
• Gesture-driven interfaces (drag, swipe, scroll)
• Interruptible animations that respond to user input mid-motion
• Smooth transitions that maintain velocity across state changes
• Momentum scrolling and inertia effects

Core libraries:

• @react-spring/web - React hooks for spring animations
• @react-spring/three - Three.js integration
• popmotion - Low-level animation utilities (optional, for advanced use cases)

Core Concepts

Spring Physics

Springs animate values from current state to target state using physical simulation:

import { useSpring, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function SpringExample() {
  const springs = useSpring({
    from: { opacity: 0, y: -40 },
    to: { opacity: 1, y: 0 },
    config: {
      mass: 1,        // Weight of object
      tension: 170,   // Spring strength
      friction: 26    // Opposing force
    }
  })

  return <animated.div style={springs}>Hello</animated.div>
}

useSpring Hook Patterns

Two initialization patterns for different use cases:

// Object config (simpler, auto-updates on prop changes)
const springs = useSpring({
  from: { x: 0 },
  to: { x: 100 }
})

// Function config (more control, returns API for imperative updates)
const [springs, api] = useSpring(() => ({
  from: { x: 0 }
}), [])

// Trigger animation via API
const handleClick = () => {
  api.start({
    from: { x: 0 },
    to: { x: 100 }
  })
}

Spring Configuration Presets

React Spring provides built-in config presets:

import { config } from '@react-spring/web'

// Available presets
config.default  // { tension: 170, friction: 26 }
config.gentle   // { tension: 120, friction: 14 }
config.wobbly   // { tension: 180, friction: 12 }
config.stiff    // { tension: 210, friction: 20 }
config.slow     // { tension: 280, friction: 60 }
config.molasses // { tension: 280, friction: 120 }

// Usage
const springs = useSpring({
  from: { x: 0 },
  to: { x: 100 },
  config: config.wobbly
})

Common Patterns

1. Click-Triggered Spring Animation

import { useSpring, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function ClickAnimated() {
  const [springs, api] = useSpring(() => ({
    from: { scale: 1 }
  }), [])

  const handleClick = () => {
    api.start({
      from: { scale: 1 },
      to: { scale: 1.2 },
      config: { tension: 300, friction: 10 }
    })
  }

  return (
    <animated.button
      onClick={handleClick}
      style={{
        transform: springs.scale.to(s => `scale(${s})`)
      }}
    >
      Click Me
    </animated.button>
  )
}

2. Multi-Element Trail Animation

import { useTrail, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function Trail({ items }) {
  const trails = useTrail(items.length, {
    from: { opacity: 0, x: -20 },
    to: { opacity: 1, x: 0 },
    config: config.gentle
  })

  return (
    <div>
      {trails.map((style, i) => (
        <animated.div key={i} style={style}>
          {items[i]}
        </animated.div>
      ))}
    </div>
  )
}

3. List Transitions (Enter/Exit)

import { useTransition, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function List({ items }) {
  const transitions = useTransition(items, {
    from: { opacity: 0, height: 0 },
    enter: { opacity: 1, height: 80 },
    leave: { opacity: 0, height: 0 },
    config: config.stiff,
    keys: item => item.id
  })

  return transitions((style, item) => (
    <animated.div style={style}>
      {item.text}
    </animated.div>
  ))
}

4. Scroll-Based Spring Animation

import { useScroll, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function ScrollReveal() {
  const { scrollYProgress } = useScroll()

  return (
    <animated.div
      style={{
        opacity: scrollYProgress.to([0, 0.5], [0, 1]),
        scale: scrollYProgress.to([0, 0.5], [0.8, 1])
      }}
    >
      Scroll to reveal
    </animated.div>
  )
}

5. Viewport Intersection Animation

import { useInView, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function FadeInOnView() {
  const [ref, springs] = useInView(
    () => ({
      from: { opacity: 0, y: 100 },
      to: { opacity: 1, y: 0 }
    }),
    { rootMargin: '-40% 0%' }
  )

  return <animated.div ref={ref} style={springs}>Content</animated.div>
}

6. Chained Async Animations

import { useSpring, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function ChainedAnimation() {
  const springs = useSpring({
    from: { x: 0, background: '#ff6d6d' },
    to: [
      { x: 80, background: '#fff59a' },
      { x: 0, background: '#88DFAB' },
      { x: 80, background: '#569AFF' }
    ],
    config: { tension: 200, friction: 20 },
    loop: true
  })

  return <animated.div style={springs} />
}

7. Spring with Velocity Preservation

import { useSpring, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function VelocityPreservation() {
  const [springs, api] = useSpring(() => ({
    x: 0,
    config: { tension: 300, friction: 30 }
  }), [])

  const handleDragEnd = () => {
    api.start({
      x: 0,
      velocity: springs.x.getVelocity(), // Preserve momentum
      config: { tension: 200, friction: 20 }
    })
  }

  return <animated.div style={springs} onMouseUp={handleDragEnd} />
}

Integration Patterns

With React Three Fiber (3D)

import { useSpring, animated } from '@react-spring/three'
import { Canvas } from '@react-three/fiber'

const AnimatedBox = animated(MeshDistortMaterial)

function ThreeScene() {
  const [clicked, setClicked] = useState(false)

  const springs = useSpring({
    scale: clicked ? 1.5 : 1,
    color: clicked ? '#569AFF' : '#ff6d6d',
    config: { tension: 200, friction: 20 }
  })

  return (
    <Canvas>
      <mesh onClick={() => setClicked(!clicked)} scale={springs.scale}>
        <sphereGeometry args={[1, 64, 32]} />
        <AnimatedBox color={springs.color} />
      </mesh>
    </Canvas>
  )
}

With Popmotion (Low-Level Physics)

import { spring, inertia } from 'popmotion'
import { useState } from 'react'

function PopmotionIntegration() {
  const [x, setX] = useState(0)

  const handleDragEnd = (velocity) => {
    inertia({
      from: x,
      velocity: velocity,
      power: 0.3,
      timeConstant: 400,
      modifyTarget: v => Math.round(v / 100) * 100 // Snap to grid
    }).start(setX)
  }

  return <div style={{ transform: `translateX(${x}px)` }} />
}

With Forms and Validation

import { useSpring, animated } from '@react-spring/web'

function ValidatedInput() {
  const [error, setError] = useState(false)

  const shakeAnimation = useSpring({
    x: error ? [0, -10, 10, -10, 10, 0] : 0,
    config: { tension: 300, friction: 10 },
    onRest: () => setError(false)
  })

  return <animated.input style={shakeAnimation} />
}

Performance Optimization

On-Demand Rendering

// Only re-render when animation is active
const [springs, api] = useSpring(() => ({
  from: { x: 0 },
  config: { precision: 0.01 } // Higher value = less updates
}), [])

Batch Multiple Springs

// Use useSprings for multiple similar animations
const springs = useSprings(
  items.length,
  items.map(item => ({
    from: { opacity: 0 },
    to: { opacity: 1 }
  }))
)

Skip Animation (Testing/Accessibility)

import { Globals } from '@react-spring/web'

// Skip all animations (prefers-reduced-motion)
useEffect(() => {
  Globals.assign({ skipAnimation: true })
  return () => Globals.assign({ skipAnimation: false })
}, [])

Common Pitfalls

1. Forgetting Dependencies Array

// ❌ Wrong: No dependencies, creates new spring every render
const springs = useSpring(() => ({ x: 0 }))

// ✅ Correct: Empty array prevents recreation
const [springs, api] = useSpring(() => ({ x: 0 }), [])

2. Mutating Spring Values

// ❌ Wrong: Direct mutation
springs.x.set(100)

// ✅ Correct: Use API to animate
api.start({ x: 100 })

3. Ignoring Config Precision

// ❌ Default precision too fine (0.0001), causing unnecessary renders
const springs = useSpring({ x: 0 })

// ✅ Set appropriate precision for your use case
const springs = useSpring({
  x: 0,
  config: { precision: 0.01 } // Stop updating when within 0.01 of target
})

4. Not Handling Velocity

// ❌ Abrupt stop when interrupting animation
api.start({ x: 0 })

// ✅ Preserve momentum
api.start({
  x: 0,
  velocity: springs.x.getVelocity()
})

5. Mixing Config Patterns

// ❌ Wrong: Using both object and function config
const springs = useSpring({
  from: { x: 0 }
})
api.start({ x: 100 }) // api is undefined

// ✅ Correct: Use function config for imperative control
const [springs, api] = useSpring(() => ({
  from: { x: 0 }
}), [])

6. Animating Non-Numerical Values

// ❌ Wrong: Spring can't interpolate complex strings directly
const springs = useSpring({ transform: 'translateX(100px) rotate(45deg)' })

// ✅ Correct: Animate individual values
const springs = useSpring({ x: 100, rotation: 45 })
// Then combine: transform: `translateX(${x}px) rotate(${rotation}deg)`

Resources

Scripts

• spring_generator.py - Generate React Spring boilerplate code
• physics_calculator.py - Calculate optimal spring physics parameters

References

• react_spring_api.md - Complete React Spring hooks and API reference
• popmotion_api.md - Popmotion functions and reactive streams
• physics_guide.md - Spring physics deep dive with tuning guide

Assets

• starter_spring/ - React + Vite template with React Spring examples
• examples/ - Real-world patterns (gestures, scroll, 3D integration)

Related Skills

• motion-framer - Alternative declarative animation approach with variants
• gsap-scrolltrigger - Timeline-based animations for complex sequences
• react-three-fiber - 3D scene management (use @react-spring/three for animations)
• animated-component-libraries - Pre-built animated components using Motion

Physics vs Timeline: Use React Spring for natural, physics-based motion that responds to user input. Use GSAP for precise, timeline-based choreography and complex multi-step sequences.