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How to tween a line color in easeljs canvas

I have a series of dots with connected lines that I am animating in an easel.js canvas. The dots move around, and the lines stay connected to them as they move. As the dots move, I'm animating their color, so I want the lines to animate color as well.
I tried calling a color tween on the line, but it requires that I cache the line first.
For a circle, that's easy - I get the radius and, since its registration is in the center, its x and y coordinates and width and height are easy to calculate (for a circle with r=100 at 50,50, its cache would be cache(0,0,100,100). But for a line, I'm not sure how to reference the right coordinates for the cache statement, especially since the line start position, end position, and length are always changing.
Anyone have a way to do this?
I'm using greensock's timelinemax / tweenlite with the easeljs plugin to handle all the animations, if that's helpful.

If TweenLite handles color tweens, then you should just be able to update the "style" of your line any time:
var shape = new createjs.Shape();
var colorCommand = shape.graphics.beginStroke("#000000").command;
shape.graphics.moveTo(0,0).lineTo(100,100); // Draw the line
// Any time
colorCommand.style = "#ff0000";
// So in a tween:
TweenLite.to(colorCommand, 20, {style:"#00ffff"});
If you are using EaselJS, you can also use TweenJS, which has a ColorPlugin. Using similar code:
createjs.Tween.get(colorCommand).to({style:"#00fffff"}, 20000);
Here is a fiddle I made tweening the color of a line with TweenJS https://jsfiddle.net/lannymcnie/5zxpb944/
Cheers.

CreateJS - scaling the canvas does not scale the mouse coordinates

I am working on a big project where exercises in Canvas are created through JSON-data and CreateJS. The purpose of having it in HTML 5 is to not have to use a separate app for your phone, you can always use the website.
Everything works fine, however in mobile the Canvas is rescaled to full screen. This is done through checking the screen size, and if it's small enough to be mobile the canvas is scaled through this code:
// browser viewport size
var w = window.innerWidth;
var h = window.innerHeight;
// stage dimensions
var ow = canvasWidth;
var oh = canvasHeight;
// keep aspect ratio
var scale = Math.min(w / ow, h / oh);
stage.scaleX = scale;
stage.scaleY = scale;
// adjust canvas size
stage.canvas.width = ow * scale;
stage.canvas.height = oh * scale;
This works great for most of the exercises, like quizzes and such, where all you have to do is click on a button. However we also have some drag and drop-exercises, and an exercise where you can color a drawing. These of course rely on the mouse coordinates to work properly. The problem is, when the canvas is scaled the mouse coordinates are not. So when you drag an item or try to draw, there is an offset happening. So your drawing appears way left of your click, and when picking up a draggable object it doesn't quite follow your click correctly.
Had I made the code from the beginning I'm fairly sure how I would have recalculated the coordinates, but since they are calculated by CreateJS I don't really know how I should go about this.
This was reported as a problem by someone about a year ago here, where this solution was suggested:
I was able to work around this by adding a top-level container and attaching my Bitmaps to that and scaling it.
The whole exercise is inside a container which I have tried to scale but to no avail. I have also tried sending the scale as a parameter to the parts of the exercise created (for example the menu, background images and such) and not scale it all together, and it seems to work okay since then I can exclude the drawing layer. But since it is a large project and many different exercises and parts to be scaled it would take quite some time to implement, and I'm not sure it's a viable solution.
Is there a good and easy way to rescale the mouse coordinates along with the canvas size in CreateJS? I have found pure Javascript examples here on SO, but nothing for CreateJS in particular.

Continued searching and finally stumbled upon this, which I hadn't seen before:
EaselJS - dragging children of scaled parent. It was exactly what I was looking for. I needed to change the coordinates I drew with this:
var coords = e.target.globalToLocal(e.stageX, e.stageY);
Then I could use the coords.x and coords.y instead of directly using e.stageX and e.stageY like before.

svg.js strange interaction of scale and move/center

I'm not very familiar working with svgs in js but here is something that is definitely strange.
I'm having an arrow and then a path that is supposed to fill that arrow to a certain extend. looks like this:
Now my aim is to be able to scale the white part but it should still stay inside that arrow.
Now the weird thing is that I cannot figure out how move the white part back into the right place. I've tried different attempts.
here is my current code (it works for scaleFactor 1 but not for any other):
var draw = SVG('arrow').size(500, 500);
var arrowPath=draw.polyline('10,243.495 202.918,15.482 397.199,245.107').fill('none').stroke({ width: 20 });
var arrow=draw.group();
arrow.add(arrowPath.clone());
var scaleFactor=0.5;
var fillArrow=draw.path('M357.669,198.387c-41.747,35.357-95.759,56.678-154.751,56.678c-58.991,0-113.003-21.32-154.75-56.676l154.75-182.907 L357.669,198.387z');
fillArrow.fill('#ffffee');
var moveX=(arrowPath.width()/2-fillArrow.width()/2)/scaleFactor+9.5;
console.log(moveX);
fillArrow.center(arrowPath.cx(), arrowPath.cy()).scale(scaleFactor);
//another attempt was
fillArrow.move(moveX,0);

When you are scaling, rotating and translating in SVG you are doing coordinate transforms. That is, you are actually not changing the object you are drawing but the coordinate system that you are drawing the object in. Think of it as pixel has a certain size on your screen, and if your do svgObject.scale(0.5) the pixel becomes half the size.
So if you draw a square by path('M10,10 L20,10 L20,20 L10,20 z') and then apply scale(0.5) it will look like you have drawn a path that looks like path('M5,5 L10,5 L10,10 L5,10 Z')
This might sound strange at first but, but alot of geometrical calculations becomes much simpler when you can do this.
You want to scale around the tip of the arrow (make sure that does not move). Then you should place that point in the origo (0,0) and draw the object around that point. Do that in a group. Because then you can translate the group coordinate system to the correct position.
var draw = SVG('arrow').size(600, 600);
// create a group
var arrow = draw.group();
// Draw the arrow path in the group
// I have placed the "tip" of the arrow in (0,0)
var arrowPath = arrow.polyline('-250,250 0,0 250,250').fill('none').stroke({
width: 20
});
// Draw the fill arrow in the group. Again, the point
// I which to scale around is placed at (0,0)
var fillArrow = arrow.path('M0,0L150,150,-150,150z').fill('#ffffee');
// Move the group to the position we like to display it in the SVG
arrow.move(260, 20);
var scaleFactor = 0.5
fillArrow.scale(scaleFactor);
And here is a working example where you can test and change the scale factor.
http://jsfiddle.net/ZmGQk/1/
And here is a good explanation on how the translate, rotate and scale works.
http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/SVG_Essentials/Transforming_the_Coordinate_System

Parallax effect with zoom and rotating

I am currently experimenting with parallax effect that i am planning to implement to my HTML5-canvas game engine.
The effect itself is fairly easy to achieve, but when you add zooming and rotating, things get a little more complicated, at least for me. My goal is to achieve something like this:Youtube video.
As you can see, you can zoom in and out "to the center", and also rotate around it and get the parallax effect.
In my engine i want to have multiple canvases that are going to be my parallax layers, and i am going to translate them.
I came up with something like this:
var parallax = {
target: {
x: Mouse.x,
y: Mouse.y
},
offset: {
x: -ctx.width / 2,
y: -ctx.height / 2
},
factor: {
x: 1,
y: 1
}
}
var angle = 0;
var zoomX = 1;
var zoomY = 1;
var loop = function(){
ctx.canvas.width = ctx.canvas.width; //Clear the canvas.
ctx.translate(parallax.target.x * parallax.factor.x, parallax.target.y * parallax.factor.y);
ctx.rotate(angle);
ctx.scale(zoomX, zoomY);
ctx.translate((-parallax.target.x - parallax.offset.x) * parallax.factor.x, (-parallax.target.y - parallax.offset.y) * parallax.factor.y);
Draw(); //Function that draws all the objects on the screen.
}
This is a very small and simplified part of my script, but i hope that's enough to get what i am doing. The object "parallax" contains the target position, the offset(the distance from the target), and the factor that is determining how fast the canvas is moving away relatively to the target. ctx is the canvas that is moving in the opposite direction of the target.(In this example i am using only one layer.) I am using the mouse as the "target", but i could also use the player, or some other object with x and y property. The target is also the point around which i rotate and scale the canvas.
This method works completely fine as long as the factor is equal to 1. If it is something else, the whole thing suddenly stops working correctly, and when i try to zoom, it zooms to the top-left corner, not the target. I also noticed that if i zoom out too much, the canvas is not moving in the opposite way of the target, but in the same direction.
So my question is: What is the correct way of implementing parallax with zooming and rotating?
P.S. It is important to me that i am using canvases as the layers.

To prepare for the next animation frame, you must undo any previous transforms in the reverse order they were executed:
context.translate(x,y);
context.scale(sx,sy);
context.rotate(r);
// draw stuff
context.rotate(-r);
context.scale(-sx,-sy);
context.translate(-x,-y);
Alternatively, you can use context.save / context.restore to undo the previous transforms.
Adjust your parallax values for the current frame,
Save the un-transformed context state using context.save(),
Do your transforms (translate, scale, rotate, etc),
Draw you objects as if they were in non-transformed space with [0,0] at your translate point,
Restore your context to it's untransformed state using context.restore()/
Either way will correctly give you a default-oriented canvas to use for your next animation frame.
The exact parallax effects you apply are up to your own design, but using these methods will make the canvas return to a normal default state for you to design with.

Canvas label and scroll issues

I have been working on two different approaches to create a graphical canvas with html5 code, allowing graphical representation and horizontal scrolling of the graph. the canvas represents a timeline of sorts. as we scroll horizontally, the idea is to represent several years in the format of a timeline... example: say the historical development of computers... I m plotting points on the graph in reference to xy co-ordinates. this is currently se manually. later on I plan to make it based on sql queries. then as i scroll more, points plotted in future years/past years are displayed accordingly...giving it a continuous timeline feeling.
I have been trying to attempt this with 2 approaches in html5 canvas..some have suggested using SVG, silverlight, GDI +....
approach 1:-
http://jsfiddle.net/7KaKf/1/
method - a grid is created, points are plotted on the grid with a variable list, click mouse on the canvas - triggering is activated, drag canvas to scroll horizontally, click again on the canvas and scrolling is disabled.
advantage to this approach - horizontal scrolling works like a charm!!!
however, the issue in this approach is that i am not sure how to bind y axis lables on this grid such that every scrollable frame has a consistent label for both x axis and y axis.
note: you can view my next approach to see what i mean by labels.
approach 2:-
http://jsfiddle.net/WNpKE/10/
The issue with the 2nd approach, is mostly like in the function that capture the mouse scrolling/dragging event and tries to repaint the canvas elements:-
window.onmousemove = function (e) {
var evt = e || event;
if (dragging) {
var delta = evt.offsetX - lastX;
translated += delta;
//console.log(translated);
ctx.restore();
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, 930, 900);
ctx.save();
ctx.translate(translated, 0);
lastX = evt.offsetX;
timeline();
}
}
Another issue could be, even though timeline() is being recalled as the canvas scrolls, the grid is painted statically, between x = 65 and x = 930/ hence no other grid is being drawn.
Although labeling is possible with this approach (which was proving to be difficult with the first approach), the grid is not consistent and once i scroll out of the first frame, the grid dissappears.... although the plotted points in the future are still visible when we scroll.
In my first approach I use a grid that keeps repeating itself as we scroll on the canvas...however labeling becomes difficult with that...and in the 2nd approach, i label, however creating that style of repeating grid becomes difficult. I have come to quite the roadblock. somehow I need to combine both methods to create the solution. Can anyone help ?
If someone could also give me links to cool canvas related theory material. I would appreciate it. :)
updated 2nd approach and the solution :-
http://jsfiddle.net/WNpKE/12/
With this approach the y axis labels remain constant. the background grid is replicating. Although this is sort of the solution that I was looking for (it is not perfect), any modifications are most welcome.

I think you should stick with D3 library: http://d3js.org/. It's the absolute reference in terms of data visualizations, even it's not based on canvas, but there are a tons of examples and by inspecting the code you can learn a lot.
Another one would be paperjs, but this one is suited mostly for user interaction.

Although my solution is not perfect yet, but the solution can be found on:-
http://jsfiddle.net/WNpKE/12/
Solution:- creating the x-y grid separately as a function.
grid = (function (dX, dY) {
var can = document.createElement("canvas"),
ctx = can.getContext('2d');
can.width = dX;
can.height = dY;
// fill canvas color
ctx.fillStyle = 'black';
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, dX, dY);
// x axis
ctx.strokeStyle = 'orange';
ctx.moveTo(.5, 0.5);
ctx.lineTo(dX + .5, 0.5);
ctx.stroke();
// y axis
ctx.moveTo(.5, .5);
ctx.lineTo(.5, dY + .5);
ctx.stroke();
return ctx.createPattern(can, 'repeat');
})(72, 50);