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Work with Lottie animations

  1. Adobe XD User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. What's new in Adobe XD
    2. Common questions
    3. Design, prototype, and share with Adobe XD
    4. Color Management
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    6. Layout
      1. Responsive resize and constraints
      2. Set fixed padding for components and groups
      3. Create dynamic designs with stacks
    7. Videos and Lottie animations
      1. Work with videos
      2. Create prototypes using videos
      3. Work with Lottie animations
  4. Prototype
    1. Create interactive prototypes
    2. Animate prototypes
    3. Object properties supported for auto-animate
    4. Create prototypes with keyboard and gamepad
    5. Create prototypes using voice commands and playback
    6. Create timed transitions
    7. Add overlays
    8. Design voice prototypes
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    3. Launch and crash
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      2.  XD quits when you sign out of Creative Cloud
      3. Issue with subscription status on Windows
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      5. Crash dump generation on Windows
      6. Crash log collection and sharing
    4. Cloud documents and Creative Cloud Libraries
      1. Issues with XD cloud documents
      2. Issues with linked components
      3. Issues with libraries and links
    5. Prototype, publish, and review
      1. Unable to record prototype interactions on macOS Catalina
      2. Issues with publish workflows
      3. Published  links do not appear in browsers
      4. Prototypes do not render correctly in browsers
      5. Commenting panel suddenly showing up on shared links
      6. Unable to publish libraries
    6. Import, export, and working with other apps
      1. Import and export in XD
      2. Photoshop files in XD
      3. Illustrator files in XD
      4. Export to After Effects from XD
      5. Sketch files in XD
      6. Third-party apps not visible in Export

Learn how to import and use Lottie to design rich animations in Adobe XD.

Lottie is a light animation format that can be exported from Adobe After Effects as JSON files. Lottie files are smaller in size compared to formats like animated GIFs and PNGs. Developers can reuse Lottie files in their code.

Import Lottie and set a playback option
Import Lottie and set a playback option

XD allows you to import Lottie files and control Lottie playback. After setting Lottie playback and wiring your prototype, you can preview it before sharing.

Suggested reading

Import Lottie files

To import your Lottie file into XD, drag it to an artboard. Alternatively, choose File > Import.

Once imported, the first frame of the Lottie is displayed on canvas. If the first frame of the Lottie is blank, you see a blank frame on canvas. In such cases, use the Layers panel to locate the Lottie. 

When you select the Lottie in Design mode, you see a play icon   in its upper-left corner.

Set a playback option

Set a playback option for your Lottie
Set a playback option for your Lottie

After you import your Lottie file into XD, control when it will play. Follow these steps to set a playback option:

  1. In Design mode, select the Lottie asset on canvas.
  2. In the Animations section of the Property Inspector, choose a preset:
  3. If you want your Lottie to play on loop, click the Loop Playback button   .

Playback options and associated interactions

When you set a playback option for your Lottie in Design mode, associated interactions are automatically set in Prototype mode.

Play automatically

When you choose Play automatically, Time trigger is auto-set with a delay of 0 seconds.

Play automatically- Design mode

Play automatically- Prototype mode

Play on tap

When you choose Play on tap, Tap trigger is auto-set with the default action as Toggle Play/Pause.

Play on tap- Design mode

Play on tap- Prototype mode

No playback

When you choose No playback, no interactions are set in Prototype mode.

Customize Lottie playback

Choose Edit playback to customize playback
Choose Edit playback to customize playback

To customize Lottie playback, in the Animations section of the Property Inspector, select Edit playback.

When you select Edit playback, you automatically switch to Prototype mode.

In Prototype mode, opt for any of these customizations:

Choose one of these triggers: Time (set Delay to more than 0 s), Keys & Gamepad, or Voice.

Customize playback by choosing Time trigger with Delay set to more than 0 seconds
Choose Time trigger with Delay set to more than 0 s

Change the Lottie playback action of Tap trigger from Toggle Play/Pause to Play or Pause.

Customize playback by choosing Tap trigger with Play or Pause as the action
Choose Tap trigger with Play or Pause as the action

Use Lottie playback with other interactions

Lottie with an End of Playback trigger that transitions to an artboard
Lottie with an End of Playback trigger that transitions to an artboard

Once you set a playback option for your Lottie, explore wiring it with other interactions:

  • Set an End of Playback interaction for Lottie to trigger an action after it plays.
  • Play multiple Lottie animations automatically at the same time (maximum of 20).
  • Play Lottie animations with a video at the same time.

To learn more about prototyping in XD, see Create interactive prototypes.

Examples of prototyping

Now that you learned how to set a playback option for your Lottie and wire it with other interactions, let's try some examples.

Download sample files

Practice prototyping with Lottie animations using the sample files:

Example 1: Animate loading screen

Learn how to animate a loading screen using Lottie.

Ex 1-artboard 1

  1. In Design mode, import plant-loading.json and place it on the artboard. Set it to Play automatically.
  2. In Prototype mode, wire the Lottie to Ex 1-artboard 2, and set it to an End of Playback trigger with Action Type as Transition.

When you complete wiring the interactions, preview the prototype and check the interactions.

Example 2: Animate a menu selection

Learn how to animate menu items when they are selected.

Ex 2-artboard 1

  1. In Design mode, import plant 1 (Spearmint) and plant 2 (Sansevieria) files, and place them in the respective containers. Set them to No playback.
  2. In Prototype mode:
  • Wire plant 1 and its container to Ex 2-artboard 2.
  • Wire plant 2 and its container to Ex 2-artboard 3.

Set them to a Tap trigger with Action Type as Transition.

Ex 2-artboard 2

In Design mode, create a copy of plant 1 and place it on the artboard. Set it to Play automatically.

Ex 2-artboard 3

In Design mode, create a copy of plant 2 and place it on the artboard. Set it to Play automatically.

When you complete wiring the interactions, preview the prototype and check the interactions.

More examples

Explore more examples involving videos, Lottie animations, and component states.

Preview your prototype and share

Preview prototype in-app, on a mobile device, or on a browser
Preview prototype in-app, on a mobile device, or on a browser

When your design is ready to be shared with stakeholders, set appropriate access permissions and publish the prototype or design specs link, and share it.

Learn more

Watch this 2-minute video to learn some pro tips on working with Lottie in XD.

Current limitations

  • You can import only Lottie files less than 15 MB into XD. There are no limits on the number of Lottie files that can be in a single XD document.
  • Lottie will not play automatically if a video is set to play automatically.
  • Lottie will stop if other prototyping triggers are initiated.
  • If a Lottie animation uses a desktop font, the font will not show up in web playback.
  • You can't override Lottie in a Repeat Grid.
  • You can't import Lottie animations referencing an external resource such as an image.
  • You can't import a JSON file that is not a Lottie JSON.

Related resources

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