How do you move a CALayer instantly (without animation)

Question

I'm trying to drag a CALayer in an iOS app.

As soon as I change its position property it tries to animate to the new position and flickers all over the place:

 layer.position = CGPointMake(x, y)

How can I move CALayers instantly? I can't seem to get my head around the Core Animation API.

**regarding this extremely old QA, the critical issue today is this:** https://stackoverflow.com/a/56980329/294884 — Fattie, Jan 22 '20 at 16:30

score 174 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 30 '17 at 18:53

174

You want to wrap your call in the following:

[CATransaction begin]; 
[CATransaction setValue: (id) kCFBooleanTrue forKey: kCATransactionDisableActions];
layer.position = CGPointMake(x, y);
[CATransaction commit];

edited Jan 30 '17 at 18:53

David Duponchel

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answered Oct 22 '08 at 17:22

Ben Gottlieb

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1

That's exactly it. I didn't even think of the CATransaction. Thanks a lot! – Mel Oct 22 '08 at 18:17
5

Yup, 6 and a half years later. Still helpful. :D – Fogmeister Jul 14 '14 at 13:51
1

iOS7 supports new shorthand: `[UIView performWithoutAnimation:<#^(void)actionsWithoutAnimation#>];` – k06a Dec 24 '14 at 12:59
7 and a half years later, Still helpful. – Hector Matos Apr 21 '15 at 22:43
2

7 years, 7 months, and 17 days later: still helpful. Thanks! – kanobius Jun 08 '16 at 17:29
1

thumb up 9 years later – 0xNSHuman Mar 09 '17 at 15:20
Yes!! thumbs up 9 years later! – vilanovi Oct 13 '17 at 08:57
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guys @vilanovi etc, 12 years later it's wrong :) these days, you do this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/56980329/294884 – Fattie Jan 22 '20 at 16:30

CryingHippo · Answer 2 · 2017-04-21T15:26:37.133

38

Swift 3 Extension :

extension CALayer {
    class func performWithoutAnimation(_ actionsWithoutAnimation: () -> Void){
        CATransaction.begin()
        CATransaction.setValue(true, forKey: kCATransactionDisableActions)
        actionsWithoutAnimation()
        CATransaction.commit()
    }
}

Usage :

CALayer.performWithoutAnimation(){
    someLayer.position = newPosition
}

edited Apr 21 '17 at 15:26

answered Nov 27 '15 at 16:59

CryingHippo

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It's useful to add the `@noescape` attribute to the block to allow (and make it clear) that `self` is not needed in the block – Andrew Aug 03 '16 at 13:14

Yogurt · Answer 3 · 2015-01-06T20:50:53.890

23

You can also use the convenience function

[CATransaction setDisableActions:YES]

as well.

Note: Be sure to read the comments by Yogev Shelly to understand any gotchas that could occur.

edited Jan 06 '15 at 20:50

answered Sep 13 '11 at 23:20

Yogurt

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Important, this effects all CALayer so you want to reenable actions after you're done, i.e [CATransaction setDisableActions:YES] – Yogev Shelly Jan 25 '12 at 14:19
Damn I should have said that. Good save. The command disables animations until it is set to NO or until the core graphics animation engine has completed a run cycle. Not sure if that's the right word for it :/ But Thank you for clearing that up for everybody. – Yogurt Feb 14 '12 at 03:28

score 15 · Answer 4 · answered May 05 '13 at 04:04

15

As others have suggested, you can use CATransaction.
The problem comes arises because CALayer has a default implicit animation duration of 0.25 seconds.

Thus, an easier (in my opinion) alternative to setDisableActions is to use setAnimationDuration with a value of 0.0.

[CATransaction begin];
[CATransaction setAnimationDuration:0.0];
layer.position = CGPointMake(x, y);
[CATransaction commit];

answered May 05 '13 at 04:04

So Over It

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Easy to remember, easy to understand when you're re-reading the code, and easier to type. Thanks! – Mr. T May 11 '13 at 07:24

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 22 '18 at 11:34

Combining previous answers here for Swift 4, to clearly make the animation duration explicit...

extension CALayer
{
    class func perform(withDuration duration: Double, actions: () -> Void) {
        CATransaction.begin()
        CATransaction.setAnimationDuration(duration)
        actions()
        CATransaction.commit()
    }
}

Usage...

CALayer.perform(withDuration: 0.0) {
            aLayer.frame = aFrame
        }

How do you move a CALayer instantly (without animation)

5 Answers5

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