How to Animate A Chart In Chart.js?

Published on Sep 19, 2025

6 min read

How to create a horizontal bar chart with animations in Chart.js?
How to animate a scatter plot in Chart.js?
What is the default animation duration in Chart.js?
How to animate a bar chart in Chart.js?
What is the 'animate' option in Chart.js?
How to disable animations in Chart.js?

How to Animate A Chart In Chart.js? image

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To animate a chart in Chart.js, you can use the animation option within the configuration object when creating the chart. You can set various properties such as duration, easing, and callbacks to customize the animation effect. By default, Chart.js provides animations for both initial loading and updating of charts. You can also use the update() method to dynamically update the data and options of the chart, triggering the animation effect. Additionally, you can utilize the onAnimationComplete callback to perform any actions after the animation is complete.Animating a chart can enhance the user experience and make the data visualization more engaging and interactive.

How to create a horizontal bar chart with animations in Chart.js?

To create a horizontal bar chart with animations in Chart.js, you can follow these steps:

Include Chart.js library in your HTML file:

Create a canvas element in your HTML file where the chart will be rendered:

Define the data for your horizontal bar chart:

var data = { labels: ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'], datasets: [{ label: 'Horizontal Bar Chart', data: [10, 20, 30, 40, 50], backgroundColor: 'rgba(54, 162, 235, 0.5)', borderColor: 'rgba(54, 162, 235, 0.8)', borderWidth: 1 }] };

Create a new Chart.js chart instance and configure it to be a horizontal bar chart with animations:

var ctx = document.getElementById('myChart').getContext('2d'); var myChart = new Chart(ctx, { type: 'horizontalBar', data: data, options: { responsive: true, maintainAspectRatio: false, animation: { duration: 2000 } } });

Customize the chart further by adding options such as tooltips, legend, scales, etc.
You can update the data in the chart dynamically by calling the setData method on the chart instance:

myChart.data.datasets[0].data = [20, 30, 40, 50, 60]; myChart.update();

With these steps, you will have a horizontal bar chart with animations created using Chart.js. You can further customize the chart by exploring the Chart.js documentation and experimenting with different options and configurations.

How to animate a scatter plot in Chart.js?

Animating a scatter plot in Chart.js can be done by using the animation property in the options object of the chart configuration. Here is how you can animate a scatter plot in Chart.js:

First, create a scatter plot using Chart.js. Here is an example code for creating a scatter plot:

var ctx = document.getElementById('myChart').getContext('2d'); var myChart = new Chart(ctx, { type: 'scatter', data: { datasets: [{ label: 'Scatter Plot', data: [ {x: 10, y: 20}, {x: 15, y: 25}, {x: 20, y: 30} ] }] }, options: { responsive: true, scales: { x: { type: 'linear', position: 'bottom' }, y: { type: 'linear', position: 'left' } } } });

Now, to add animation to the scatter plot, you can set the animation property in the options object along with the desired animation settings. Here is an example code for adding animation to the scatter plot:

In the above code, the scatter plot will be animated with a duration of 2000 milliseconds and an easing function of 'easeInOutQuad'. You can customize the animation settings based on your requirements.

That's it! Your scatter plot in Chart.js is now animated.

What is the default animation duration in Chart.js?

The default animation duration in Chart.js is 1 second.

How to animate a bar chart in Chart.js?

To animate a bar chart in Chart.js, you can use the built-in animation options provided by the library. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to animate a bar chart:

First, create a canvas element in your HTML file where you want the bar chart to be displayed:

Include Chart.js library in your HTML file. You can download Chart.js and include it in your project, or use a CDN link like this:

Create a JavaScript file or script tag in your HTML file where you will write the code for creating the bar chart:

// Get the canvas element var ctx = document.getElementById('myChart').getContext('2d');

// Create a new bar chart instance var myChart = new Chart(ctx, { type: 'bar', data: { labels: ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May'], datasets: [{ label: 'Sales', data: [50, 60, 70, 80, 90], backgroundColor: 'rgba(255, 99, 132, 0.2)', borderColor: 'rgba(255, 99, 132, 1)', borderWidth: 1 }] }, options: { animation: { duration: 2000, // Animation duration in milliseconds } } });

In the options object, you can set the animation.duration property to specify the duration of the animation in milliseconds.

Run your code and you will see the bar chart animated with the specified duration.

You can also customize the animation effect by using other animation options provided by Chart.js. Check out the Chart.js documentation for more information on animation options and customization: https://www.chartjs.org/docs/latest/general/animations/

What is the 'animate' option in Chart.js?

The 'animate' option in Chart.js is used to specify whether or not the chart should be animated when it is loaded or updated. By default, the value is set to true, which means that the chart will be animated. Setting the value to false will disable animations. Animations can provide a more visually appealing way to display data and can help draw the viewers' attention to changes or trends in the data.

How to disable animations in Chart.js?

To disable animations in Chart.js, you can set the animation property to false in the options object when creating the chart. Here's an example:

var ctx = document.getElementById('myChart').getContext('2d'); var myChart = new Chart(ctx, { type: 'bar', data: { labels: ['Red', 'Blue', 'Yellow', 'Green', 'Purple', 'Orange'], datasets: [{ label: '# of Votes', data: [12, 19, 3, 5, 2, 3], backgroundColor: [ 'red', 'blue', 'yellow', 'green', 'purple', 'orange' ], borderWidth: 1 }] }, options: { animation: { duration: 0 // disable animations } } });

By setting the duration of the animation to 0, you effectively disable animations in the chart.