Learn VELATO with Real Code Examples

Velato reads Lottie JSON files (exported from After Effects via Bodymovin) into a Rust data structure.

It converts Lottie animation data into a Vello scene that can be rendered by the Vello graphics engine.

Velato supports cross‑platform rendering (desktop via winit, and Web via wasm + WebGPU, where supported).

It enables developers to embed rich vector animations in Rust-based GUI or rendering applications.

Allows animation playback frame by frame using Rust’s rendering loop - useful for games, interactive apps or UI animations.

Lottie JSON parsing (`Composition::from_str`)

Renderer that converts Lottie composition into Vello scene

Frame-based rendering: ability to render any frame at arbitrary time index

Support for basic shapes, fills, strokes as included in Vello rendering capabilities

Works with Rust 1.85+ and integrates with WebAssembly target for web builds. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

Composition - parsed Lottie animation data structure

Renderer - converts Composition to Vello scene per frame

Frame time - you supply a frame index or timestamp to render

Transform and alpha - apply transformations or opacity when rendering into scene

Scene graph - Vello scene containing shapes, fills, strokes for rendering

Cargo.toml - with velato dependency

src/ - Rust source code

assets/ - exported Lottie JSON files (and optionally other assets)

render_loop.rs - rendering logic for desktop or web

static/ or wasm glue - for web builds (if targeting wasm/web)

Export animation from Adobe After Effects using Bodymovin -> JSON file

Add the JSON file to your Rust project (assets or compile‑time embed)

Parse it using `velato::Composition::from_str(...)`

Initialize Vello renderer in your app’s render loop

Each frame: call `renderer.render(...)` with current time/frame -> draw to screen

Beginner: display a simple vector animation from Lottie in a Rust window

Intermediate: combine Lottie animation with custom Rust-drawn UI elements

Advanced: interactive animation with user input, integrating Lottie with event handling

Expert: build a full GUI or game UI using Lottie animations and Vello rendering

Architect: production-quality cross-platform app (desktop + web) using Velato for animations

Velato vs lottie‑web: Rust-native vs JS‑based - Velato for Rust apps, lottie‑web for web frontends

Velato vs custom vector animation in Rust: allows reuse of designer-made Lottie animations instead of handcrafted vector code

Velato vs using raster video/GIF: scalable, vector-quality, lower file size for many animations

Velato vs heavy game engines: lighter, simpler vector animations without full game engine overhead

Velato vs writing custom SVG/CSS animations: brings AE-level animation richness to Rust with GPU rendering

2024 - Velato initial release (v0.1.0)

2024–2025 - Incremental updates improving Lottie compatibility (v0.3 -> v0.6) :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12}

2025 - Compatibility matched against Vello v0.5

2025 - Ongoing community contributions and bug fixes

Future - further Lottie feature support and performance refinements

Lottie JSON - exported animation data from After Effects

Vello - Rust GPU-accelerated 2D graphics engine

Velato - crate to parse Lottie JSON and render via Vello

Composition - data structure holding animation data

Renderer - component that renders composition to a scene per frame