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Clearing canvas "layers" separately?

I've been battling with <canvas> for a while. I want to create an animation/game with lots of different units on different layers.
Due to <canvas> limitation to just one context my approach is as follows:
have one <canvas> on the page,
create multiple "layers" using document.createElement("canvas"),
animate/rerender "layers" separately.
But this approach does not seem to work properly due to one quirk - in order to stack "layers" on my main canvas I'm doing realCanvas.drawImage(layerCanvas, 0, 0);. Otherwise the layers are not being rendered.
The issue here is ultimately it does not change a thing as everything is in being drawn on my main <canvas> and when I do clearRect on one of my layers it does nothing as the pixels are also drawn on the main canvas in addition to given layer. If I run clearRect on main canvas then the layers are useless as every layer is on main canvas so I'm back to starting point as I'm clearing the whole canvas and layers are not separated at all.
Is there a way to fix it easily? I feel like I'm missing something obvious.
Here's an example, how do I clear blue ball trail without touching background rectangles here? There should be only one blue ball under your cursor. Note it's a very simplified example, I'll have multiple blue balls and multiple other layers. I just want to know how the heck do I clear only one layer in canvas. Note I don't want to use multiple <canvas> elements and don't want to use any libs/engines as I'm trying to learn canvas by this. I know many apps use just one canvas html element, many layers and somehow animate them separately.
Source: https://jsfiddle.net/rpmf4tsb/
Try adding canvas2ctx.clearRect(0,0, canvas.width, canvas.height); under ctx.clearRect(0,0, canvas.width, canvas.height); and it works as supposed but all the layers are being cleared, not only the one with the ball...

If you look at things from a performance point-of-view, things are better if you use a single visible <canvas> element for your visual output.
Nothing is stopping you from doing things on seperate canvases you stack on top of each other though. Maybe there's just a basic misunderstanding here.
You say:
and when I do clearRect on one of my layers it does nothing as the
pixels are also drawn on the main canvas in addition to given layer
Well that's not true. If you draw the contents of a freshly cleared canvas onto another canvas it won't overwrite the target canvas with 'nothing'.
Take a look at this example:
let canvas = document.getElementById("canvas")
let ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
ctx.fillStyle = "green";
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.lineWidth = 10;
ctx.arc(canvas.width / 2, canvas.height / 2, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
ctx.stroke();
let tempCanvas = document.createElement("canvas");
let tempContext = tempCanvas.getContext("2d");
tempContext.clearRect(0, 0, tempCanvas.width, tempCanvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvas, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
Our main canvas contains a green background with a black circle and we're utilizing the drawImage() method to draw a dynamically created, freshly cleared canvas onto, which results in a green background with a black circle as the new canvas element did not contain any data to draw. It did not erase the main canvas.
If we change the example a bit, so the second canvas contains a rectangle things will work as expected:
let canvas = document.getElementById("canvas")
let ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
ctx.fillStyle = "green";
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.lineWidth = 10;
ctx.arc(canvas.width / 2, canvas.height / 2, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
ctx.stroke();
let tempCanvas = document.createElement("canvas");
let tempContext = tempCanvas.getContext("2d");
tempContext.clearRect(0, 0, tempCanvas.width, tempCanvas.height);
tempContext.strokeRect(tempCanvas.width / 2 - 60, tempCanvas.height / 2 - 60, 120, 120);
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvas, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
Now if we assume the green background with the circle (tempCanvasA) and the rectangle (tempCanvasB) are two separate canvases we ultimately want to draw to a main canvas it will bring up an important point: the order of drawing.
So this will work:
let canvas = document.getElementById("canvas")
let ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
let tempCanvasA = document.createElement("canvas");
let tempContextA = tempCanvasA.getContext("2d");
tempContextA.fillStyle = "green";
tempContextA.fillRect(0, 0, tempCanvasA.width, tempCanvasA.height);
tempContextA.beginPath();
tempContextA.lineWidth = 10;
tempContextA.arc(tempCanvasA.width / 2, tempCanvasA.height / 2, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
tempContextA.stroke();
let tempCanvasB = document.createElement("canvas");
let tempContextB = tempCanvasB.getContext("2d");
tempContextB.strokeRect(tempCanvasB.width / 2 - 60, tempCanvasB.height / 2 - 60, 120, 120);
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvasA, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvasB, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
while this fails:
let canvas = document.getElementById("canvas")
let ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
let tempCanvasA = document.createElement("canvas");
let tempContextA = tempCanvasA.getContext("2d");
tempContextA.fillStyle = "green";
tempContextA.fillRect(0, 0, tempCanvasA.width, tempCanvasA.height);
tempContextA.beginPath();
tempContextA.lineWidth = 10;
tempContextA.arc(tempCanvasA.width / 2, tempCanvasA.height / 2, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
tempContextA.stroke();
let tempCanvasB = document.createElement("canvas");
let tempContextB = tempCanvasB.getContext("2d");
tempContextB.strokeRect(tempCanvasB.width / 2 - 60, tempCanvasB.height / 2 - 60, 120, 120);
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvasB, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvasA, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
The rectangle is missing! Why does it fail? Because we changed the order we draw the canvases onto the main canvas. In the latter example:
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvasB, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(tempCanvasA, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
We first draw tempCanvasB which contains a transparent background & the rectangle and afterwards tempCanvasA with the solid green background - which covers the entire canvas - and the circle. As there are no transparent pixels it will overwrite the rectangle which we've drawn first.
To get to your example with the ball. The problem is that you're drawing the ball to the wrong canvas. Inside your draw function you're doing this:
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ball.draw();
ball.x = e.clientX;
ball.y = e.clientY;
ctx.drawImage(canvas2, 0, 0);
So first you clear ctx, afterwards call ball's draw method which draws onto canvas2ctx and finally drawImage onto ctx with the contents of canvas2ctx.
Instead draw the ball onto the main ctx after using drawImage()
e.g.
// helper functions
function randomInt(min, max) {
return Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1) + min)
}
// canvas
let firstRender = true;
var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
canvas.width = window.innerWidth - 50;
canvas.height = window.innerHeight - 50;
let ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
// virtual canvas for rectangles layer
let canvas2 = document.createElement("canvas");
canvas2.width = window.innerWidth - 50;
canvas2.height = window.innerHeight - 5;
let canvas2ctx = canvas2.getContext("2d");
let ball = {
x: 100,
y: 100,
vx: 5,
vy: 2,
radius: 25,
color: 'blue',
draw: function() {
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(this.x, this.y, this.radius, 0, Math.PI * 2, true);
ctx.closePath();
ctx.fillStyle = this.color;
ctx.fill();
}
};
function draw(e) {
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(canvas2, 0, 0);
ball.draw();
ball.x = e.clientX;
ball.y = e.clientY;
if (firstRender) {
drawRandomRectangles()
firstRender = false;
}
}
function drawRandomRectangles() {
for (i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
canvas2ctx.beginPath();
canvas2ctx.rect(randomInt(0, window.innerWidth - 50), randomInt(0, window.innerWidth - 50), randomInt(5, 20), randomInt(5, 20));
canvas2ctx.stroke();
}
}
canvas.addEventListener('mousemove', function(e) {
draw(e);
});
ball.draw();
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

Thinking about your approach of multiple canvas stacking above each other sounds like an interesting approach to get things done. I would not recommend doing this in that way and therefore handle multiple layers through JavaScript and then still render every time everything new. Especially if you will use animations, then I believe that multiple not synchronized canvases will give you another sort of headache.
Then you would do the following:
Clear your canvas with clearRect.
Draw in an iteration each layer above each other
I hope this theoretical explanation helps.
Now to your code: At the end of the day your ctx and canvas2ctx are in the very same context, because they are from the same canvas. That makes anyway not much sense.

How to use clearRect to not draw an moving object on canvas

I have a blue circle which is rotating around the red circle and moves on canvas continuously in one direction as long as the button is pressed.
Now I want to draw with the red circle while it is moving when the button is pressed (trace of its path).
Problems:
I have tried to make changes to clearRect() but I didn't succeed. the blue circle starts to draw on the canvas while moving which I don't need.
If its not possible to do with clearRect() function, Is it possible to do this by stacking canvas layers. Please help with example
const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas1');
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
canvas.width = window.innerWidth;
canvas.height = window.innerHeight;
let positionX = 100;
let positionY = 100;
let X = 50;
let Y = 50;
let angle = 0;
let mouseButtonDown = false;
document.addEventListener('mousedown', () => mouseButtonDown = true);
document.addEventListener('mouseup', () => mouseButtonDown = false);
function circle(){
ctx.fillStyle = 'red';
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(X, Y, 20, 0, Math.PI*2);
ctx.closePath();
ctx.fill();
}
function direction(){
ctx.fillStyle = 'blue';
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(positionX + X, positionY + Y, 10, 0, Math.PI*2);
ctx.closePath();
positionX = 35 * Math.sin(angle);
positionY = 35 * Math.cos(angle);
ctx.fill();
}
function animate(){
if (mouseButtonDown) {
X += positionX / 10;
Y += positionY / 10;
} else {
angle += 0.1;
}
ctx.clearRect(X-positionX,Y-positionY, 20, 20);
circle();
direction();
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
}
animate();
#canvas1{
position: absolute;
top:0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
<body>
<canvas id="canvas1"></canvas>
<script src="script.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Don`t stack canvas on the page
Each canvas you add to the page increases the amount of work the GPU and page compositor needs to do to render the page.
Use a second canvas that is not on the page and do the compositing by rendering the canvas to the onpage canvas using ctx.drawImage(secondCanvas, 0, 0).
This reduces the workload for the compositor, and in many cases avoid the need to do an addition image render (composite) for the second canvas I.E. onpage can require 3 drawImages (one for each canvas and once for the result) rather than 2 (once in your code and once as the result) if you use only one onpage canvas.
Using second canvas
Create a second canvas to store the drawn red lines.
You can create a copy of a canvas using
function copyCanvas(canvas, copyContent = false) {
const can = Object.assign(document.createElement("canvas"), {
width: canvas.width, height: canvas.height
});
can.ctx = can.getContext("2d");
copyContent && can.ctx.drawImage(canvas, 0, 0);
return can;
}
When you create render functions like circle, and direction pass as an argument the 2D context eg circle(ctx) so that it is easy to direct the rendering to any canvas.
function circle(ctx){
ctx.fillStyle = 'red';
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(X, Y, redSize, 0, Math.PI*2);
ctx.fill();
}
// the background canvas
const bgCan = copyCanvas(canvas);
circle(bgCan.ctx); // will draw to the background canvas
Updating animation
When animating is is easiest to clear the whole canvas rather than mess about clearing only rendered pixels. Clearing rendered pixels gets complicated very quickly and will end up being many times slower than clearing the whole canvas.
After you clear the canvas draw the background canvas to the main canvas
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, ctx.canvas.width, ctx.canvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(bgCan, 0, 0);
When the mouse button is down draw the circle to the background canvas and while it is up draw to the main canvas.
Example
Adds a function to copy a canvas. copyCanvas
Clears the main canvas, and draws the background canvas onto the main canvas.
Render functions circle and direction have argument ctx to direct rendering to any context.
When mouse is down circle is drawn to background canvas bgCan else to the main canvas.
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
const ctx = canvas1.getContext('2d');
canvas1.width = innerWidth;
canvas1.height = innerHeight;
const bgCan = copyCanvas(canvas1);
const redSize = 10, blueSize = 5; // circle sizes on pixels
const drawSpeed = 2; // when button down draw speed in pixels per frame
var X = 50, Y = 50;
var angle = 0;
var mouseButtonDown = false;
document.addEventListener('mousedown', () => mouseButtonDown = true);
document.addEventListener('mouseup', () => mouseButtonDown = false);
function copyCanvas(canvas) {
const can = Object.assign(document.createElement("canvas"), {
width: canvas.width, height: canvas.height
});
can.ctx = can.getContext("2d");
return can;
}
function circle(ctx){
ctx.fillStyle = 'red';
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(X, Y, redSize, 0, Math.PI*2);
ctx.fill();
}
function direction(ctx){
const d = blueSize + redSize + 5;
ctx.fillStyle = 'blue';
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(d * Math.sin(angle) + X, d * Math.cos(angle) + Y, blueSize, 0, Math.PI*2);
ctx.fill();
}
function animate(){
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, ctx.canvas.width, ctx.canvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(bgCan, 0, 0);
if (mouseButtonDown) {
circle(bgCan.ctx);
X += Math.sin(angle) * drawSpeed;
Y += Math.cos(angle) * drawSpeed;
} else {
angle += 0.1;
circle(ctx);
}
direction(ctx);
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
}
#canvas1{
position: absolute;
top:0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
<canvas id="canvas1"></canvas>
BTW ctx.closePath() is like ctx.lineTo it is not the opposite to ctx.beginPath. A full arc or if you are just filling a shape you don't need to use ctx.closePath
BTW window is the default this, you don't need to include it, you dont use it to get at window.documentso why use it forwindow.innerWidth(same asinnerWidth` )

You could alter your code to keep track of the path of the red circle, with an array property, like this:
const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas1');
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
canvas.width = window.innerWidth;
canvas.height = window.innerHeight;
let mouseButtonDown = false;
document.addEventListener('mousedown', () => mouseButtonDown = true);
document.addEventListener('mouseup', () => mouseButtonDown = false);
function drawCircle({x, y, radius, color}) {
ctx.fillStyle = color;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(x, y, radius, 0, Math.PI*2);
ctx.fill();
}
const red = { x: 50, y: 50, radius: 20, color: "red", path: [] };
const blue = { x: 100, y: 100, radius: 10, color: "blue", angle: 0 };
function animate(){
if (mouseButtonDown) {
red.path.push({x: red.x, y: red.y}); // store the old value
red.x += (blue.x - red.x) / 10;
red.y += (blue.y - red.y) / 10;
} else {
blue.angle += 0.1;
}
blue.x = red.x + 35 * Math.sin(blue.angle);
blue.y = red.y + 35 * Math.cos(blue.angle);
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height); // clear the whole canvas
for (const {x, y} of red.path) { // draw circle at all the previous positions
drawCircle({...red, x, y});
}
drawCircle(red);
drawCircle(blue);
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
}
animate();
Using 2 canvases also works and may perform better especially when the path of the red circle has gotten long, because the background canvas doesn't need to be cleared and redrawn. Add a 2nd canvas in your html page with the same positioning, and give them ids 'background' and 'foreground'. You can then adjust the code to draw the blue circle to the foreground and red circles to the background (or vice versa).
// Create 2 canvases, set them to full size and get the contexts
const backgroundCanvas = document.getElementById('background');
const foregroundCanvas = document.getElementById('foreground');
const background = backgroundCanvas.getContext("2d");
const foreground = foregroundCanvas.getContext("2d");
backgroundCanvas.width = innerWidth;
backgroundCanvas.height = innerHeight;
foregroundCanvas.width = innerWidth;
foregroundCanvas.height = innerHeight;
let mouseButtonDown = false;
document.addEventListener('mousedown', () => mouseButtonDown = true);
document.addEventListener('mouseup', () => mouseButtonDown = false);
// Create objects to represent the current properties of the red and blue circle
const red = { x: 50, y: 50, radius: 20, color: "red" };
const blue = { x: 100, y: 100, radius: 10, color: "blue", angle: 0};
function drawCircle(ctx, {x, y, radius, color}) {
//--- Draw a circle to the specified canvas context, ctx = foreground or background
ctx.fillStyle = color;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(x, y, radius, 0, Math.PI*2);
ctx.closePath();
ctx.fill();
}
function animate(){
if (mouseButtonDown) {
red.x += (blue.x - red.x) / 10;
red.y += (blue.y - red.y) / 10;
} else {
blue.angle += 0.1;
}
blue.x = red.x + 35 * Math.sin(blue.angle);
blue.y = red.y + 35 * Math.cos(blue.angle);
drawCircle(background, red); // Draw the red circle in the background (without clearing the existing circles)
foreground.clearRect(0, 0, foregroundCanvas.width, foregroundCanvas.height); // Clear the foreground
drawCircle(foreground, blue); // Draw the blue circle on the foreground
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
}
animate();
Either way, it's convenient to abstract out the circle drawing code into a function or method, and to store the properties of the two circles in objects.
As #Blindman67's answer notes, there may be a performance cost of stacking 2 canvases, and if that is an issue you may want to try drawing the background offscreen then copying it to the on-screen canvas.

If you're not opposed to just building a particle class you can do it using them. In the snippet below I have a Circle class and a Particles class to creat what you are trying to achieve. I currently have the particles max at 500 but you can change it or delete that line all together if you ne er want them gone.
const canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
canvas.width = window.innerWidth;
canvas.height = window.innerHeight;
let mouseButtonDown = false;
//the array holding particles
let particles = [];
//the counter is only needed it you want to slow down how fast particles are being pushed and dispolayed
let counter = 0;
document.addEventListener("mousedown", () => (mouseButtonDown = true));
document.addEventListener("mouseup", () => (mouseButtonDown = false));
//ES6 constructor class
class Circle {
//sets the basic structor of the object
constructor(r, c) {
this.x = 100;
this.y = 100;
this.x2 = 50;
this.y2 = 50;
this.r = r; //will be assigned the argument passed in through the constructor by each instance created later
this.color = c; //same as above. This allows each instance to have different parameters.
this.angle = 0;
}
//this function creates the red circle
drawRed() {
ctx.fillStyle = this.color;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(this.x, this.y, this.r, 0, Math.PI * 2);
ctx.fill();
ctx.closePath();
}
//this function creates the blue circle
drawBlue() {
ctx.fillStyle = this.color;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(this.x + this.x2, this.y + this.y2, this.r, 0, Math.PI * 2);
ctx.fill();
ctx.closePath();
}
//this function is where we'll place parameter that change our object
update() {
//makes the blue circle rotate
this.x2 = 35 * Math.sin(this.angle);
this.y2 = 35 * Math.cos(this.angle);
//mouse action is same as your code
if (mouseButtonDown) {
this.x += this.x2 / 20;
this.y += this.y2 / 20;
} else {
this.angle += 0.1;
}
}
}
//When using this type of constructor class you have to create an instance of it by calling new Object. You can create as money as you want.
let blueCircle = new Circle(10, "blue"); //passing in the radius and color in to the constructor
let redCircle = new Circle(20, "red");
//another class for the particles
class Particles {
constructor() {
this.x = redCircle.x;
this.y = redCircle.y;
this.r = redCircle.r;
this.color = redCircle.color;
}
draw() {
ctx.fillStyle = this.color;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(this.x, this.y, this.r, 0, Math.PI * 2);
ctx.fill();
ctx.closePath();
}
}
//just wrapping all of the particle stuff into one function
function handleParticles() {
//while the mouse is held it will push particles
if (mouseButtonDown) {
particles.push(new Particles());
}
//this loops through the array and calls the draw() function for each particle
for (let i = 0; i < particles.length; i++) {
particles[i].draw();
}
//this keeps the array from getting too big.
if (particles.length > 500) {
particles.shift();
}
}
//wrap all functions into this one animate one and call requeatAnimationFrame
function animate() {
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
handleParticles();
//These must be called for each instance created of the object
blueCircle.drawBlue();
blueCircle.update();
redCircle.drawRed();
redCircle.update();
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
}
animate();
#canvas1{
position: absolute;
top:0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
I'd also like to add you can change the rate that the particles are drawn by adding a counter variable and then limiting the draw like counter % 10 == 0
EXAMPLE
add global variable let counter = 0;
then in the handleParticles function add this
function handleParticles() {
counter++
if (mouseButtonDown && counter % 10 == 0) {
particles.push(new Particles());
}
for (let i = 0; i < particles.length; i++) {
particles[i].draw();
}
if (particles.length > 500) {
particles.shift();
}
}

How to change opacity for circles on canvas

So what I'm trying to do here is make multiple circles on my canvas and individually change the opacity of each of them. Here's what I tried so far, I know that I'm definitely putting the interval in the wrong place but I'm very confused as to how these canvases work exactly:
function makeCircle(x,y)
{
canvas.beginPath();
canvas.arc(x, y, 20, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
color = generateRandomColor();
canvas.fillStyle = color;
canvas.fill();
canvas.lineWidth = 0;
canvas.strokeStyle = color;
setInterval(function()
{
if(canvas.globalAlpha>=.05)
{
canvas.globalAlpha-=.05;
console.log("here");
}
else
{
canvas.globalAlpha = 0;
console.log(canvas.globalAlpha);
clearInterval();
}
}, 2000)
canvas.stroke();
}
Doing this does not change the opacity of the circles at all as far as I can tell.

Not sure what you are trying to do with that nested setInterval, or why use it at all...
Here is what I would do:
function makeCircle(x, y, color, alpha) {
canvas.beginPath();
canvas.globalAlpha = alpha
canvas.arc(x, y, 20, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
canvas.fillStyle = color;
canvas.fill();
}
var canvas_doc = document.getElementById("canvas");
var canvas = canvas_doc.getContext("2d");
makeCircle(20, 20, "red", 0.5)
makeCircle(30, 30, "blue", 0.5)
makeCircle(50, 50, "green", 0.9)
makeCircle(120, 20, "red", 1)
makeCircle(180, 30, "blue", 1)
makeCircle(150, 50, "green", 1)
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
Simple, right?
I just added a few more parameters to the function to pass the color and alpha.
Like that we can draw multiple color circles with ease.
You want to create some sort of animation using the globalAlpha...
We can use setInterval for that, here is an example:
function makeCircle(x, y, color, alpha) {
canvas.beginPath();
canvas.globalAlpha = alpha
canvas.arc(x, y, 20, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
canvas.fillStyle = color;
canvas.fill();
}
var globalAlpha = 0.1
function draw() {
globalAlpha += 0.02
if (globalAlpha > 2)
globalAlpha = 0.1
canvas.clearRect(0,0 , 999, 999)
makeCircle(20, 20, "red", globalAlpha)
makeCircle(30, 30, "blue", globalAlpha)
makeCircle(50, 50, "green", globalAlpha)
makeCircle(120, 20, "red", 1)
makeCircle(130, 30, "blue", 1)
makeCircle(150, 50, "green", 1)
}
var canvas_doc = document.getElementById("canvas");
var canvas = canvas_doc.getContext("2d");
setInterval(draw, 50)
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

There are a couple of things:
your canvas variable is not the canvas, it's the context. Rename it to avoid confusion (ctx is generally used).
clearInterval takes a parameter: a reference to the interval to clear. Put it in a variable, and use it.
you're not drawing anything inside your interval. You need to do ctx.fill() inside of it.
even with that change, you would only be drawing over the previously drawn circles (and not see any change). Once you drew something, the canvas is just a set of pixels. So if you want to retrieve part of what was behind the circle (by transparency), you need to clear your canvas and start over on every interval (redraw what was previously there before you added the circle). In the demo below, I save the image before drawing the first circle, and restore it on every iteration, but if other things are going on at the same time in your use case, you may actually want to redraw every element individually.
var canvas = document.querySelector('canvas'),
ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
function makeCircle(x, y) {
// Save the background
var bg = ctx.getImageData(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(x, y, 20, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
color = '#f00'; // For the demo
ctx.fillStyle = color;
ctx.fill();
var timer = setInterval(function() {
// Clear the canvas
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
// Redraw the background
ctx.putImageData(bg, 0, 0);
if (ctx.globalAlpha >= .05) {
ctx.globalAlpha -= .05;
ctx.fill();
} else {
ctx.globalAlpha = 0;
clearInterval(timer);
}
}, 50);
}
ctx.fillRect(50, 50, 30, 100); // For the demo
makeCircle(50, 50);
<canvas></canvas>

How to undraw the a rectangle when recalling a function [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How to clear the canvas for redrawing
(25 answers)
Closed 3 years ago.
I want to make a rectangle that moves from the right to the left.
I could draw a new rectangle in the left of the previous one but i couldn't erase the previous one.
Here is my code:
let cvs = document.getElementById("canvas");
let ctx = cvs.getContext('2d');
let firstpos = 400;
let blocks = [];
blocks[0] = {
x: 400,
y: Math.floor(Math.random() * 360)
}
function draw() {
for (var i = 0; i < blocks.length; i++) {
ctx.beginPath()
ctx.fillStyle = "white";
ctx.fillRect(blocks[i].x, 0, 70, blocks[i].y);
ctx.fill();
blocks[i].x -= 0;
}
requestAnimationFrame(draw);
}
draw()
#canvas {
background-color: #000;
}
<canvas id="canvas" width="1000" height="500"></canvas>

Working snippet
Take advantage of CanvasRenderingContext2D.clearRect()
let cvs = document.getElementById("canvas");
let ctx = cvs.getContext('2d');
let firstpos = 400;
let blocks = [];
blocks[0] = {
x: 0,
y: Math.floor(Math.random() * 360)
}
function draw() {
blocks[0].x++;
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height); // canvas clear up
for (var i = 0; i < blocks.length; i++) {
ctx.beginPath()
ctx.fillStyle = "white";
ctx.fillRect(blocks[i].x, 0, 70, blocks[i].y);
ctx.fill();
blocks[i].x -= 0;
}
requestAnimationFrame(draw);
}
setInterval(draw, 500)
#canvas {
background-color: #000;
}
<canvas id="canvas" width="1000" height="500"></canvas>

It's not possible to "undraw" something in canvas. However, you can clear the canvas on each frame with clearRect and re-draw everything in a new position.
Additionally, the current code uses blocks[i].x -= 0; which won't change the animation state even with a clear and redraw.
Parameters to fillRect appear incorrect or mislabeled. ctx.fillRect(blocks[i].x, 0, 70, blocks[i].y); should be ctx.fillRect(blocks[i].x, blocks[i].y, width, height);. There's also no need for creating a path or calling fill for this method.
It's typical to encapsulate all data for a block inside the object. We need a color, speed and x/y/height/width.
Note that y: Math.floor(Math.random() * 360) can result in a height of zero.
Here's a simple example of moving a block on the canvas:
const cvs = document.getElementById("canvas");
cvs.width = innerWidth;
cvs.height = innerHeight;
const ctx = cvs.getContext("2d");
const blocks = [{
x: innerWidth - 50,
y: 20,
velocityX: -1,
width: 50,
height: 50,
color: "white"
}];
(function draw() {
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, cvs.width, cvs.height);
for (const block of blocks) {
ctx.fillStyle = block.color;
ctx.fillRect(block.x, block.y, block.width, block.height);
block.x += block.velocityX;
}
requestAnimationFrame(draw);
})();
#canvas {
background-color: #000;
}
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

Javascript Canvas clear/ redraw

I've tried googling the answer to this but i'm just going around in circles....
If I clear the rect (using clearRect) then the image doesn't redraw after.
However, if I don't clear the images just stack.
What I want it to clear the current image and then draw with new one.
What am I missing?
Does it have something to do with the image Load ?
Sorry if this is a question repeat, I couldn't find the exact answer to this- and I tried what others suggested but results were poor.
http://jsfiddle.net/bxeuhh4h/
function clear() {
var canvasTemp = document.getElementById(imgSection);
var ctxTemp = canvasTemp.getContext("2d");
ctxTemp.clearRect(0, 0, 500, 500);
}
function fillColorOrPattern(imgSection,currentcolor){
if ((oldcolor !== currentcolor) || (oldxImgToBeFilled !== xImgToBeFilled)){
clear();
}
imgFill.onload = function () {
imgToBeFilled.onload = function () {
if ((oldcolor !== currentcolor) || (oldxImgToBeFilled !== xImgToBeFilled)){
fill(imgSection,currentcolor)
}
};
imgToBeFilled.src = xImgToBeFilled;
}
imgFill.src = xImgFill;
}
function fill(imgSection,currentcolor){
canvas = document.getElementById(imgSection);
ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
ctx.globalCompositeOperation = "source-atop";
console.log(isItColorOrPattern);
if (isItColorOrPattern == "color"){
ctx.rect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
console.log("currentcolor: " + currentcolor);
ctx.fillStyle = getColor(currentcolor);
console.log(getColor(currentcolor));
ctx.fill();
}else{
var pattern = ctx.createPattern(imgFill, 'repeat');
console.log("canvas.width: " + canvas.width);
console.log("xImgFill: " + xImgFill);
console.log(canvas.getContext);
ctx.rect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.fillStyle = pattern;
ctx.fill();
}
ctx.globalAlpha = .10;
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
oldcolor = currentcolor;
oldxImgToBeFilled = xImgToBeFilled;
}
$(window).load(function(){
imgToBeFilled = new Image();
imgFill = new Image();
fillColorOrPattern(imgSection,currentcolor);
}

You need to add a beginPath() in there. rect() will accumulate rectangles to the path, clearRect() won't clear those. Also reset comp. mode and alpha as they are sticky.
You could avoid beginPath() if you use fillRect() instead of rect() + fill() (added example below) as fillRect() does not add to the path.
function fill(imgSection,currentcolor){
// these should really be initialized outside the loop
canvas = document.getElementById(imgSection);
ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
// clear canvas
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
// clear path
ctx.beginPath();
// use default comp. mode
ctx.globalCompositeOperation = "source-over";
// reset alpha
ctx.globalAlpha = 1;
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
ctx.globalCompositeOperation = "source-atop";
if (isItColorOrPattern === "color"){
// rect() accumulates on path
ctx.rect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.fillStyle = getColor(currentcolor);
ctx.fill();
// instead of rect() + fill() you could have used:
// fillRect() does not accumulate on path
// fillRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
}
else {
var pattern = ctx.createPattern(imgFill, 'repeat');
ctx.rect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.fillStyle = pattern;
ctx.fill();
}
ctx.globalAlpha = .1;
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
ctx.drawImage(imgToBeFilled, 0, 0);
oldcolor = currentcolor;
oldxImgToBeFilled = xImgToBeFilled;
}

Canvas workflow goes like this:
Draw some things on the canvas.
Calculate changes to the position of those things.
Clear the canvas.
Redraw all the things in their new positions.
Canvas does not "remember" where it drew your things so you cannot directly order your things to move.
But you can save the definition of your things in javascript object:
var myCircle={
centerX:50,
centerY:50,
radius:25,
fill:'blue'
}
Then you can "move" your things using the javascript objects:
myCircle.centerX += 5;
And then redraw the things at their new positions. Putting the redraw code in a function makes redrawing easier:
function redraw(){
// clear the canvas
ctx.clearRect(0,0,canvas.width,canvas.height);
// redraw one or more things based on their javascript objects
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc( myCircle.centerX, myCircle.centerY, myCircle.radius, 0, Math.PI*2 );
ctx.closePath();
ctx.fillStyle=myCircle.fill;
ctx.fill();
}
Putting it all together:
var canvas=document.getElementById("canvas");
var ctx=canvas.getContext("2d");
var myCircle={
centerX:50,
centerY:50,
radius:25,
fill:'blue'
}
redraw();
document.getElementById('move').addEventListener('click',function(){
myCircle.centerX+=5;
redraw();
});
function redraw(){
ctx.clearRect(0,0,canvas.width,canvas.height);
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc( myCircle.centerX, myCircle.centerY, myCircle.radius, 0, Math.PI*2 );
ctx.closePath();
ctx.fillStyle=myCircle.fill;
ctx.fill();
}
body{ background-color: ivory; }
#canvas{border:1px solid red; margin:0 auto; }
<button id=move>Move</button>
<br>
<canvas id="canvas" width=300 height=300></canvas>