AuraTween

A lightweight, simple, and high performance tweening library for Unity.

Reason

I wanted a modern, simple, small, performant, expandable, and mostly unopinionated library to perform tweening actions in Unity.

Performance Comparison

I picked some popular tweening libraries to compare performance with while developing.

These benchmarks were run on my computer (Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Windows 11 Pro Build 22621), so results may vary.

This active tween test spawns N number of tweens at once that last for 0.5 seconds using the OutQuad easing. Each tween moves its own empty GameObject from Vector3.zero to Vector3.one. This measures the average frame timings across that 0.5 second period.

NOTE: If the library had an option for pre-allocating the number of tweens, it was used before the times were measured.

	1,000 Tweens	2,000 Tweens	5,000 Tweens	10,000 Tweens	100,000 Tweens
AuraTween	1.05ms	1.25ms	1.78ms	2.65ms	28.58ms
DOTween	1.07ms	1.29ms	1.95ms	2.97ms	36.66ms
LeanTween	1.10ms	1.31ms	1.95ms	3.08ms	35.33ms
nl.elracoone.tweens	1.17ms	1.51ms	2.40ms	3.85ms	43.88ms
AnimeTask	1.44ms	2.01ms	3.65ms	6.33ms	110.82ms

Differences Between Other Libraries

The main difference between this library and almost every other tweening library is its simplicity. There are only a few extension methods and built type handlers included. This allows you to build off the library and tune the functionality according to your needs.

Installation

Currently requires Unity 2021.3+, older Unity version support can be implemented on request.

OpenUPM

Install with OpenUPM (recommended)

openupm add dev.auros.auratween

Git URL

https://github.com/Auros/AuraTween.git?path=/AuraTween/Assets/AuraTween

Usage

In your component, add a serialized field for TweenManager and assign it in the editor.

You can call .Run(...) on it. Six extension methods are available for the types float, Vector2, Vector3, Quaternion, Pose, and Color. There is also another extension method that allows a generic type.

public class MyBehaviour : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField]
    private Renderer _renderer;
    
    [SerializeField]
    private float _duration = 2f;
    
    [SerializeField]
    private TweenManager _tweenManager;
    
    [SerializeField]
    private AnimationCurve _animationCurve;

    private void Start()
    {
        var myTransform = transform;
        var myMaterial = _renderer.material;

        // float
        _tweenManager.Run(-5f, 5f, _duration, value => Debug.Log($"float: ${value}"), Easer.OutCubic, this);
        
        // Vector3
        var tween = _tweenManager.Run(Vector3.zero, new Vector3(0f, 5f, 0f), _duration, value => myTransform.localPosition = value, Easer.InOutExpo, this);
    
        // Set cancellation event
        tween.SetOnCancel(() => Debug.Log("Tween Canceled!"));
        
        // Set completion event
        tween.SetOnComplete(() => Debug.Log("Tween Completed!"));
    
        // Pause a tween
        tween.Pause();
    
        // Cancel a tween
        tween.Cancel();
        
        // Custom types and or interpolators
        _tweenManager.Run(Color.red, Color.cyan, _duration, value => myMaterial.color = value, Easer.OutElastic, HSV, this);
        
        // Custom easing procedures
        _tweenManager.Run(Quaternion.identity, Quaternion.Euler(new Vector3(0f, 90f, 0f)), _duration, value => myTransform.localRotation = value, CustomEaseWithAnimationCurve, this);
    }
    
    private static Color HSV(ref Color start, ref Color end, ref float time)
    {
        Color.RGBToHSV(start, out var startH, out var startS, out var startV);
        Color.RGBToHSV(end, out var endH, out var endS, out var endV);
        var h = Mathf.Lerp(startH, endH, time);
        var s = Mathf.Lerp(startS, endS, time);
        var v = Mathf.Lerp(startV, endV, time);
        return Color.HSVToRGB(h, s, v);
    }
    
    private float CustomEaseWithAnimationCurve(ref float time)
    {
        return _animationCurve.Evaluate(time);
    }
}

The .Run(...) extension methods ONLY accept the EaseProcedure delegate for easing options, so any method that has a ref float for its parameter and returns a float. A similar rule follows for the custom type/value calculation system (called interpolators). This is what keeps the library simple and makes it very expandable.

The Easer class contains procedure methods for all of the common easing functions (OutQuad, InOutSine, InCirc, OutBounce, etc.). To make it easier to serialize the different types of easings, there is an Ease enum with an extension method .ToProcedure().

public class MyBehaviour : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField]
    private Ease _ease;
    
    [SerializeField]
    private TweenManager _tweenManager;
    
    private void Start()
    {
        _tweenManager.Run(-5f, 5f, 1f, value => Debug.Log($"float: ${value}"), _ease.ToProcedure(), this);
    }
}

UniTask Support

If UniTask is detected, you can await the tweens.

public class MyBehaviour : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField]
    private TweenManager _tweenManager;
    
    private async UniTaskVoid Start()
    {
        await _tweenManager.Run(-5f, 5f, 1f, value => Debug.Log($"float: ${value}"), Easer.InCubic, this);
        
        var myTween = _tweenManager.Run(-5f, 5f, 1f, value => Debug.Log($"float: ${value}"), Easer.InCubic, this);
        await myTween;
    }
}

Note

You're expected to build your own extension methods and tooling to fit your own project's needs. If you're looking for an all-in-one, component-based, quick prototype maker tweening library and or you're not well versed with C#, this library may not be for you.

Credits

Caeden117 and PlusOneRabbit for helping with optimizing Vector3 calculations.