Slingshot

Slingshot pulls an object back on an invisible elastic and lets it go. It stretches against the pull, the band quivers at full draw, then it snaps forward through its resting spot and flies off still stretched until it is gone in the distance. Launched upward, the draw becomes a crouch into the ground instead.

How it works

A fine quiver at full draw sells the strain just before release. After release the stretch peaks for an instant and then relaxes as it flies. The return is not a rewind: it flies back in fast from where it went, still stretched, and is caught by a spring, overshooting past its spot the other way and ringing in until it is exactly at rest, squashing a little with each swing.

Settings

• Direction: right, left, up or away from the camera, judged from the screen when it starts.
• Draw: how far it is pulled back, as a share of its size.
• Stretch: how much it elongates under tension and in flight.
• Distance: how far it flies before it is gone.
• Duration: the length of the launch, and of the return.

Use it for

Game menus, "next" and "send" interactions, playful product swaps and scenes where an object should leave with energy. Use it on click or hover, inside an action, or as the object's entrance and exit. Add an Afterimage trail to show the path, or compare the faster Warp.