PathAnimator - Moving Along An SVG Path

So we all know how to move things around in straight lines with JS or CSS, but doing slightly more complex movements, along curves or angles, calls for a different approach. This is where SVG paths comes in handy.

Lets imagine an "S" path shape where an element needs to move from top to bottom along the "S" shape. What we do is very simple and all you need is some program such as Adobe Illustrator that can output SVG files. So you basically need to fire up the program, place an image of the shape in the document and start drawing the path along it, then save the document as SVG, copy the path to the code and that's it. Ho, and the code is super light and efficient, just about 60 lines of code (~1.5 KB) (without comments).

Browsers compatibility: IE9+ and basically all other modern browsers that supports SVG

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Step 1 - Google a nice maze image:

Step 2 - Draw a path on top of the maze:

Save the file as SVG 

Step 3 - Copy the path from the SVG file:

Step 4 - Move an element along the path:

Note that you might need to properly adjust the path's location on Illustrator to align with the maze, and also might need to slightly adjust the animated element, because remember it's offset is at the top left corner and not the center of it.

var path = "M6.426,79.957c0,11.458,1.996,19,14.175,19s14.513,3.233,14.513,13.992c0,6.656-0.397,14.008-13.284,14.008c-9.987,0-15.716,7.74-15.716,13.369c0,21.011,0,61.556,0,82.832 c0,5.765,4.383,13.8,15.54,13.8c8.249,0,18.337,0,26.498,0c7.93,0,14.962,6.735,14.962,13.752c0,21.643,0,63.35,0,84.411 c0,6.236,6.625,12.837,13.29,12.837c26.493,0,85.584,0,111.78,0c8.115,0,12.93-6.952,12.93-13.364c0-21.212,0-62.342,0-83.445 c0-8.199,3.521-13.191,13.918-13.191c10.265,0,14.082,6.601,14.082,13.103c0,26.36,0,85.56,0,112.314 c0,5.3-3.583,13.583-12.941,13.583c-21.146,0-62.868,0-84.055,0c-5.23,0-13.004,4.118-13.004,12.652 c0,8.372,3.064,16.348,13.18,16.348c8.367,0,19.188,0,27.726,0c8.527,0,14.095,4.659,14.095,11.292 c0,7.924,5.049,13.708,14.07,13.708c31.402,0,106.853,0,137.575,0c9.209,0,13.355,8.605,13.355,13.932c0,26.855,0,85.454,0,111.787 c0,7.003,5.738,13.281,15.16,13.281c27.004,0,83.071,0,109.484,0c8.844,0,14.355,6.448,14.355,14.589 c0,10.933-5.415,16.411-13.775,16.411c-8.578,0-14.225,5.688-14.225,10.997c-1,21.253,16.501,34.67,39.834,32.67 s59.72-19.334,63.333-77.334s-38.419-58.724-2.876-143.362c35.543-84.637-31.851-132.554-23.66-194.708 c9.375-71.142,49.203-73.929,66.536-149.263c0-54.333-59.469-55.664-95.734-48.665s-48.265-18.999-91.599-20s-30,31-99.667,31 s-44.05-26.665-103.191-31c-59.142-4.335-38.976,40.167-121.642,41.832c-23.568,0-54.487-17.882-63.333-10.333 C12.211,47.827,7.582,70.632,6.53,77.041C6.376,77.978,6.426,79.895,6.426,79.957z";
	pathAnimator = new PathAnimator( path ),	// initiate a new pathAnimator object
	objToAnimate = getElementById('walker'),	// The object that will move along the path
	speed = 6,	 		// seconds that will take going through the whole path
	reverse = false,	// go back of forward along the path
	startOffset = 0		// between 0% to 100%
	
pathAnimator.start( speed, step, reverse, startOffset, finish);

function step( point, angle ){
	// do something every "frame" with: point.x, point.y & angle
	objToAnimate.style.cssText = "top:" + point.y + "px;" +
								"left:" + point.x + "px;" +
								"transform:rotate("+ angle +"deg);" +
								"-webkit-transform:rotate("+ angle +"deg);";
}

function finish(){
	// do something when animation is done
}