How to make Figma animations

If you're already using Figma for product design or web design, you may need to animate your designs for demos or announcements.

Figma's built-in animation features are primarily geared towards creating interactive prototypes. These allow you to link different frames and apply basic transitions and animations.

In this post, we'll guide you through animating your Figma designs with Linearity Move using our Figma plugin. We'll also show you how to create Figma animations from within the platform using Prototype Mode.

If you haven't already, download Linearity Move below:

Option 1: Linearity's Figma plugin

Figma is a powerful tool for designers renowned for its collaborative capabilities and intuitive interface.

To overcome Figma’s animation limitations, consider using animation plugins. Linearity Move is designed to integrate seamlessly with Figma, making it easy for you to create advanced animations with Figma assets.

Install the Linearity Move plugin

Go to Figma’s Community page and search for the Linearity Move & Curve - Animation and Illustration for Figma plugin. Click the Open In button to start using it in your Figma files.

Another way to get going with the Linearity plugin is to open the Figma file you want to animate, go to the Resources tab at the top, and search for "Linearity Move & Curve - Animation and Illustration for Figma."

Click or tap on Run to execute the plugin.

Import or copy your Figma design to Linearity

We're going to copy and animate our Figma designs on iPad.

In Figma, select one or several elements or Frames and long-press to open the options menu. Tap on Plugins > Linearity Move & Curve - Animation and Illustration for Figma.

A modal will pop up giving you the option to Export to Move or Export to Curve. Choose Export to Move and tap on either the Open in Move or Copy button.

We're copying our Frames over to Move.

Once your design elements have been copied, go to Linearity Move and create a new Project or open an existing one.

Long-press on a Scene in the Project Timeline to see more options, then tap Paste. This will neatly paste your entire Figma Frame with all its elements in place.

Repeat with any other Frames or elements you wish to add from Figma to Move to create your animation.

Animate your Figma designs

Linearity Move provides a rich set of animation tools. You can use Animation Presets to quickly whip up stunning motion graphics or create Keyframe animations and fine-tune them with precision.

Double-tap on any Scene in your Project Timeline View to open the Scene Timeline and begin animating.

Scene 1: reveal and fly in

A simple way to reveal background elements is to cover them with a shape and animate the shape.

Switch to Design Mode and draw a shape using the Shape Tool. If you need a more complex shape, select the Node Tool and add more nodes.

Change the shape's Fill Color to the same color as the background.

Once your shape is ready, switch back to Animate Mode. Move the Playhead to about 1 second on the Timeline and use the Node Tool to move the nodes of your shape to reveal the element underneath.

Linearity Move automatically adds a Natural easing to the animation. You can also tweak this by going to the Animation tab in the Inspector on the right.

Move the Playhead back to the start.

Next, you can give the character some life by moving her out of view at the beginning of the animation. Rotate her slightly to create a natural fly-in effect.

You can also organize your Layers into different Groups (e.g., Hair, Head, Upper Body, Arms, etc.) to make it easier to animate different elements.

Move the Playhead to about 2 seconds and then move the character into place. Remember to rotate the character slightly in the opposite direction to get the fly-in motion effect.

Select the character's Upper Body Layer Group and rotate it back and forth at 1-second intervals. This will create a rocking effect.

You can preview your animation at any time by tapping on the Play button above the Timeline.

Scene 2: spin and bounce

Let's move on to Scene 2. Go to back to your Project Timeline View by tapping on the < Project link above the Layers Panel on the left.

Double-tap on Scene 2 to start animating.

Select the image element in the background and move the Playhead to 2 seconds. Go to the Library Tab in the Inspector and select the Spin In effect from the Presets tab.

You can also make the image element fly in by moving the Playhead back to the start and using the Selection Tool to move the element out of view.

Select the character and the two circles she's lying on and apply the Jump Preset. This will make these elements bounce into place.

You can also move these elements out of sight at the beginning of the Scene to give the jump effect more impact.

Now, the super fun part. Animate your character's legs by selecting each leg's Group of elements and moving them using the rotation handle.

Copy-paste Keyframes to repeat the actions and create a swinging effect.

Lastly, we're going to make the circles bob subtly. Select the character and the two circles and move them slightly up and down at different intervals on the Timeline.

Scene 3: mask and disappear

Go back to your Project Timeline View and double-tap on Scene 3.

In this scene, our character falls into a portal—we like to think of it as the portal of creative flow. To create this effect, we'll repurpose the existing image mask in the Figma illustration.

First, you can move the character out of sight at the beginning of the animation. Position her at the top center, above the portal.

Next, use the Node Tool to edit the mask so we can see our character up until she falls into the portal (she'll disappear behind the mask at the bottom of the circle).

Move the Playhead to the point where the character should completely disappear, and move your character to the bottom of the canvas.

Because the character is falling, you can change the easing to Ease Out in the Animation Tab.

Now, we'll wrap up the animation by closing the portal. Move the Playhead slightly ahead (after the fall is complete) and resize the circle to very small.

Add an Opacity Keyframe and set it to 0% to make the circle completely disappear at the end.

Export your Figma design as a video

Use Linearity Move’s export features to save your animations as GIFs or video files.

Go back to the Project Timeline View. Preview your entire animation again, tweaking the Transitions as desired.

Once you're happy with your animation, go to the File name menu item and select Export.

Edit the Export options and tap the Export button to finish.

Here's our complete Figma animation video made with Linearity Move:

Option 2: Prototype Mode in Figma

Another way to animate Figma designs is using Figma's built-in Prototype Mode. It enables you to add basic interactive animations for UI/UX prototypes.

1. Switch to Prototype Mode: click on the Prototype tab in the right sidebar. Here, you'll see all the options to create an animated prototype based on clicks, hovers, and scrolls. You can also choose a preview device, such as MacBook Air.
2. Link frames: select the element you want to animate and drag the blue circle to the destination frame, or choose the Destination in the Prototype tab.
3. Apply animations: in the Prototype settings, customize the Interaction and Scroll Behavior and choose the type of action (On Click, On Drag, While Hovering, etc.). Next, you can choose what happens when the action is performed and choose the type of animation (Instant, Dissolve, Smart Animate, etc.).
4. Preview your prototype: click on the Present button in the top right corner to try out your animated UI prototype.
5. Share your prototype: While you can't export your prototype as a video, you can share it or embed it. To get the embed code, click on the Share Prototype button at the top right of your screen, select Get Embed Code, and click Copy.

Check out our Figma Prototype below (click on the character to animate):

While Figma's Prototyping options are great for demonstrating user interface interactions, they don't suffice for creating videos with complex animations.

This is why the Linearity plugin for Figma makes so much sense for graphic designers wanting to animate their Figma designs.

Do more with Figma and Linearity

Animating Figma designs has never been easier with the help of our powerful plugin. There are more ways to use Figma and Linearity together:

• Easily import your Figma design files from within Linearity Curve or Move using our Figma integration.
• Export your Figma designs as SVG or PDF and open them in Linearity's software suite to retain and edit vector layers.
• Open Figma files in Linearity Curve to keep designing with our Figma plugin. Seamlessly animate your Linearity Curve designs in Move.
• Copy-paste animated elements between Move files to save time.
• Use Linearity's Asset Library to manage branded elements and quickly add them to all your Curve and Move projects.

Unlock more potential in your design workflow. Linearity has all the tools you need to create and animate complex designs and marketing assets.

Get started for free below, or check out our special pricing for professionals and teams.

Frequently asked questions