Easing Functions Reference

Visual guide to hyprlax animation easing functions.

Overview

Easing functions control the acceleration and deceleration of animations, creating natural-looking motion.

Function Types

The engine implements "ease-out" variants for non-linear curves. Supported values:

linear

Constant speed throughout the animation

Speed: ────────────────────
Usage: Mechanical, robotic movements

quad

Quadratic ease-out (gentle deceleration)

Speed: ╱──────────
Usage: Subtle motions

cubic (default)

Cubic ease-out deceleration

Speed: ╱─────────╲
Usage: Smooth, predictable motion

• Moderate acceleration curve
• Best for: Standard animations

quart

Quartic curve acceleration

Speed: ╱═════════╲
Usage: Heavier feel than cubic

• Stronger acceleration than cubic
• Best for: Heavier elements

quint

Quintic curve acceleration

Speed: ╱═════════╲
Usage: Very smooth, heavy motion

• Very strong acceleration curve
• Best for: Large elements, dramatic shifts

sine

Sinusoidal curve

Speed: ∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿
Usage: Natural, wave-like motion

• Sine wave acceleration
• Best for: Natural movements, oscillations

circ

Circular curve

Speed: ◜═════════◝
Usage: Circular motion feel

• Based on circular arc
• Best for: Rotational hints, orbits

expo

Exponential ease-out (snappy start)

Speed: ──╱
Usage: Modern, responsive motion

elastic

Elastic overshoot and settle

Speed: ╱──◠◡◠──╲
Usage: Playful, bouncy motion

• Overshoots then settles
• Best for: Playful UI, notifications

back

Slight backup before moving

Speed: ◀╱────────╲
Usage: Anticipation effect

• Pulls back before advancing
• Best for: Emphasis, anticipation

bounce

Bouncing settle effect

Speed: ╱──╯╰╯╰─
Usage: Impact simulation

• Bounces at the end
• Best for: Landings, impacts

snap

Custom snappy ease-out

Speed: ─╱──
Usage: Extra responsive feel

Usage Examples

Command Line

# Default cubic
hyprlax --easing cubic image.jpg

# Smooth natural motion
hyprlax --easing sine --duration 1.5 image.jpg

# Playful bounce
hyprlax --easing bounce --duration 2.0 image.jpg

# Quick and snappy
hyprlax --easing expo --duration 0.5 image.jpg

TOML Configuration

[global]
easing = "cubic"         # Global default

[global.input.cursor]
easing = "expo"           # Cursor-specific

IPC Runtime

# Change easing at runtime
hyprlax ctl set easing elastic

Choosing the Right Easing

For Workspace Switching

• Recommended: expo, cubic, sine
• Duration: 0.5 - 1.5 seconds
• Natural, not distracting

For Cursor Parallax

• Recommended: expo, cubic, linear
• Duration: 2.0 - 4.0 seconds
• Smooth following, no bounce

For Dramatic Effects

• Recommended: elastic, bounce, back
• Duration: 1.5 - 3.0 seconds
• Attention-grabbing

For Subtle Background

• Recommended: sine, cubic
• Duration: 2.0 - 5.0 seconds
• Gentle, barely noticeable

Performance Notes

• Simple easings (linear, cubic) have minimal CPU impact
• Complex easings (elastic, bounce) require more calculations
• Longer durations spread calculations over more frames

Testing Easings

Compare different easings:

# Test each easing for 2 seconds
for easing in linear cubic expo elastic bounce; do
    echo "Testing: $easing"
    hyprlax ctl set easing $easing
    hyprlax ctl set duration 2.0
    sleep 3
done

Mathematical Basis

Function	Formula Type
linear	t
quad	t²
cubic	t³
quart	t⁴
quint	t⁵
sine	sin(t × π/2)
circ	√(1 - t²)
expo	2^(10×(t-1))
elastic	Damped sine wave
back	Cubic with overshoot
bounce	Simulated physics

Custom Duration Guidelines

Easing	Short (0.2-0.5s)	Medium (0.5-1.5s)	Long (1.5-3.0s)
linear	✅ Good	✅ Good	⚠️ May feel slow
cubic	✅ Good	✅ Good	✅ Good
expo	✅ Snappy	✅ Smooth	⚠️ May drag
elastic	❌ Too fast	✅ Playful	✅ Noticeable
bounce	❌ Too fast	✅ Fun	⚠️ May annoy