ANIMATE Keyword

ANIMATE NEXT integer-variable
ANIMATE RESET integer-variable
ANIMATE ON integer-variable
ANIMATE OFF integer-variable

Advances or controls playback of an animated sprite (such as a GIF loaded with SPRITELOAD). The first parameter must be an integer variable holding the sprite handle returned by SPRITELOAD.

• ANIMATE NEXT Moves the sprite forward to its next frame. If the sprite has reached the final frame, behaviour depends on its loop setting (see below).
• ANIMATE RESET Rewinds the sprite back to its first frame.
• ANIMATE ON Enables looping. After the final frame, playback continues from the first frame.
• ANIMATE OFF Disables looping. After the final frame, playback stops on that frame.

Remarks

The first argument must be a variable containing a valid sprite handle, not a literal value or expression.

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Example

PRINT "Loading... ";
SPRITELOAD bad_apple, "/images/bad-apple.gif"
CLS
AUTOFLIP FALSE
 
GCOL &888888
RECTANGLE 0, 0, GRAPHICS_WIDTH - 1, GRAPHICS_HEIGHT - 1
 
ANIMATE ON bad_apple
 
REPEAT
    PLOT bad_apple, GRAPHICS_CENTRE_X - 160, GRAPHICS_CENTRE_Y - 100
    FLIP
    SLEEP 66
    ANIMATE NEXT bad_apple
UNTIL INKEY$ <> ""
 
AUTOFLIP TRUE
CLS
END

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Notes

• If the sprite is not animated (single-frame image), ANIMATE statements are silent no-ops.
• Looping (ANIMATE ON) is enabled by default when a sprite is loaded.
• Frame delays stored in GIF metadata are currently ignored; use SLEEP or your own timing logic for consistent playback speed.
• To free sprite resources when no longer needed, use SPRITEFREE.

See also: SPRITELOAD · SPRITEFREE · PLOT · AUTOFLIP · FLIP