06 / ANIMATION

Alive,
never restless.

Motion makes material, state and relationship perceptible. It does not turn the illustrated world into a cartoon or compete with human Attention.

semantic motion contract

The world breathes

Flame, leaves, water, distant light, banners and living presences sustain quiet motion even when no one is acting.

Meaning sets amplitude

Ambient loops remain small. Focus gathers Attention. Activation may briefly expand, but it resolves into the material rather than becoming spectacle.

Motion belongs to matter

Stone settles, fabric yields, brass catches light, foliage moves in fields and luminous entities pulse. Nothing moves like a generic UI token.

The Scene participates

A Component response can affect reflected light, nearby particles, vegetation or sound, while remaining bounded by the Scene’s Attention budget.

Interruption is authored

Every clip declares whether a new event blends, queues, completes or cancels it. Runtime behavior never depends on accidental timing.

Stillness is complete

Reduced-motion mode replaces spatial travel and looping movement with stable state, light, material and semantic announcements—not a diminished experience.

RUNTIME LIFECYCLE

Every motion has
a reason to end.

ambientlooping · 4–20 slow-amplitude atmosphere, never required to understand state

proximity120–240 msthe world acknowledges approach without jumping forward

focus140–220 mslight gathers at the semantic focus anchor

activation240–900 mscause, consequence and destination remain legible

transformation600–1800 msmaterial continuity explains what changed

resolution320–900 msenergy returns to a stable authored state

portal passage700–2200 msorientation, destination preview and focus continuity are preserved

ANIMATION RECORD

Motion is data,
not decoration.

{
  "id": "atmospheric-breath",
  "trigger": "ambient",
  "durationMs": 12000,
  "loop": true,
  "amplitude": 0.01,
  "channels": ["opacity", "material"],
  "interruptionPolicy": "blend",
  "reducedMotion": "Hold the stable authored atmosphere."
}

Attention budget

At most one focal motion sequence should command an Area at a time. Ambient channels throttle by distance and Attention; offscreen loops pause. Consequential state changes remain perceivable through material, light, text and the semantic accessibility tree.