# Making Properties Dynamic¶

## Individual Properties¶

Many attributes of a Shady.World or Shady.Stimulus instance are what we call “managed properties”. A key feature of these properties is the ability to be made dynamic. This can be done simply by assigning a function object to the property instead of a static value or array. The function should take one argument, t (for time, in seconds), and return whatever value (or array of values) you want that property to have at time t. On every frame callback, Shady will run any dynamic property functions you have assigned using the current World time and update the value of the corresponding properties.

Note that there are multiple ways to create callable objects in Python. The standard way is to define a function using def:

import Shady
world = Shady.World( 700, top=100, frame=True )

stim = world.Patch()

def simple_spin( t ):
return t * 45

stim.rotation = simple_spin # note no parentheses - we are assigning the
# function object itself, not its output


Another way is to specify an anonymous function in-line using lambda:

stim.rotation = lambda t: t * 45


Both methods are valid. Just remember that lambda functions are restricted to containing just the single expression you want to return from the function.

Note that t is measured in seconds, and by default it is the number of seconds elapsed since the World first started rendering stimuli. So if it has been a long time since the World started, your Stimulus will likely be off the screen in the above example. One option is to give the Stimulus its own independent “time zero”. This can be reset to the current time using the call:

stim.ResetClock()


There are no unusual restrictions on your dynamic functions, provided that they take exactly one argument and return a value or sequence that is appropriate for the property with which they are associated. (It is also legal for them to return None, in which case the property value is not changed.) Any Python variables or objects that are accessible in the same namespace can be used and modified:

speed = 45
stim.rotation = lambda t: speed * t
# ...
speed *= 2   # doubles the rotation speed


Dynamic functions are free to ignore the time variable. You can make the properties of your stimulus dependent on whatever variables you want:

import Shady
world = Shady.World( 700, top=100, frame=True )
stim1 = world.Patch(
pp = 1,
x = lambda t: ( t % 1.0 ) * 300,
)

stim2 = world.Patch(
pp = 1,
color = [ 1, 0, 0 ],
y = lambda _: stim1.x,   # ignores the time input
)


Note that we still have to define our dynamic function with exactly one argument so that Shady can pass in the stimulus’s clock, but name it _ as a convention to indicate that this argument is not used.

Note also that the function references stim1.x which is itself dynamic. Whenever you access a managed property, its current static value (or array of values) will be returned, even if the property is dynamic. If you want to retrieve the actual function object being used to calculate its dynamics, use the Shady.Stimulus.GetDynamic method:

print( stim1.x )
# --> 294.8838

print( stim1.GetDynamic( 'x' ) )
# --> <function __main__.<lambda>(t)>


More generally, you can set a Shady property to any callable object that takes exactly one argument. This includes any instance of a class with a __call__ method defined, provided the call takes one argument. The optional Shady.Dynamics submodule offers several useful classes designed to be used as dynamic properties in Shady, such as the Integral for integrating arbitrary functions over time or the Transition for smoothly transitioning between a start and end value.

NOTE: Be wary when using the same public variable to define multiple dynamics functions in a row. Because of how functions interact with their namespace in Python, the current (i.e. last set) value of that variable will be used when the dynamics are evaluated on each Shady frame callback. This includes simple looping variables! If you want to ‘freeze’ the value of a public variable when defining a dynamic function, you will need to separate it from that variable’s namespace, e.g. by using a nested function or by passing the variable to a lambda as a keyword argument:

### WRONG ###
world = Shady.World( 700, top=100, frame=True )
stimuli = []
amplitudes = [100, 200, 300]
for amplitude in amplitudes:
stim = world.Stimulus()
stim.x = lambda t: amplitude * math.sin( 2 * math.pi * t )
stimuli.append( stimulus )
# all three stimuli will use amplitude == 300 when their dynamics are evaluated!

### ALSO WRONG ###
world = Shady.World( 700, top=100, frame=True )
stimuli = []
amplitudes = [100, 200, 300]
for i in range( 3 ):
stim = world.Stimulus()
stim.x = lambda t: amplitudes[i] * math.sin( 2 * math.pi * t )
stimuli.append( stimulus )
# all three stimuli will use i == 2, i.e. amplitudes[2]!

### RIGHT (nested function) ###

def create_oscillation_dynamic( amplitude )
# the argument amplitude is retrieved from a frozen
# version of the namespace of this function
return lambda t: amplitude * math.sin( 2 * math.pi * t )

world = Shady.World( 700, top=100, frame=True )
stimuli = []
amplitudes = [100, 200, 300]
for amplitude in amplitudes:
stim = world.Stimulus()
stim.x = create_oscillation_dynamic( amplitude )
stimuli.append( stim )

### ALSO RIGHT (lambda keyword) ###

world = Shady.World( 700, top=100, frame=True )
stimuli = []
amplitudes = [100, 200, 300]
for amplitude in amplitudes:
stim = world.Stimulus()
# the variable amplitude is similarly frozen as an argument
stim.x = lambda t, a=amplitude: a * math.sin( 2 * math.pi * t )
stimuli.append( stim )


Also note that properties of your World instance can be made dynamic using all of the methods described above. For example, to create a world whose background color oscillates between black and white:

import math
world = Shady.World( clearColor=lambda t: 0.5 + 0.5 * math.sin( 2 * math.pi * t ) )


The world’s dynamics will be updated before any of the stimuli it contains, and its stimuli are updated according to their draw order (i.e. z). Stimuli with the same z-value will be drawn in the order they were created.

## The Animate Method¶

As the behavior of your stimulus grows more complex and its properties become more interdependent, you may begin to find that relying on individual property dynamics becomes unwieldy. In this case, you will likely want to use the stimulus’s Animate() method, which is evaluated before any property dynamics on each Shady frame callback.

The only practical difference between the Animate() method and any dynamic properties is that Animate() takes a self argument, which makes it easier to refer to the stimulus in your logic (e.g. for checking and modifying its state). The function does not need to return any value, which means that you will most likely want to create it using the standard def. Once created, pass the function object to the SetAnimationCallback() method to properly bind it to the stimulus:

import Shady, math, time
world = Shady.World( 700, top=100, frame=True )
ball = world.Patch( color=[1, 0, 0 ], pp=1 )

ball.is_bouncing = False
ball.bounce_t0 = None

def bounce( self, t ):
if self.is_bouncing:
if self.bounce_t0 is None:
self.bounce_t0 = t
# Note use of _t in the lambda to distinguish it from the bounce() argument t.
self.y = lambda _t: 100 * abs( math.sin( 2 * math.pi * (_t - self.bounce_t0 ) ) )
else:
if self.bounce_t0 is not None:
self.bounce_t0 = None
self.y = 0

ball.SetAnimationCallback( bounce )   # again, note that function object is assigned
ball.is_bouncing = True   # set it back to False to stop the bounce


This example is a little more complex than any of the examples in the previous section, but that’s exactly why the Animate() method is useful. The bounce() function assigns a bouncing dynamic to the stimulus’s y-coordinate whenever is_bouncing is set to True, making sure that the stimulus only starts bouncing at that moment. It abruptly resets the y-coordinate to zero whenever is_bouncing is set to False. (The optional Shady.Dynamics submodule contains a StateMachine class that makes it easier to switch your stimuli between different modes of behavior like this.)

If your animation callback has two arguments (i.e. a self as well as just a t) then you must use the SetAnimationCallback() helper to properly bind your function as the Animate() method of the instance, so that Python knows that the Stimulus instance should be passed in as the self argument. The following will not work:

### WRONG ###
# ...
stim.Animate = bounce


If your callback has only one argument, it is interpreted as time t—in this case, you can use SetAnimationCallback() or just directly assign stim.Animate = func.

As with dynamics, instances of the World class can have an Animate() method set in the exact same way as instances of the Stimulus class.

Note that that Stimulus and World instances provide have an attribute AnimationCallback which can be used as a decorator, as a syntactic alternative to calling SetAnimationCallback():

@stim.AnimationCallback
def bounce( self, t ):
# ...


## Order of Dynamic Evaluations¶

Shady evaluates property dynamics and Animate() methods in the following order on each frame:

1. World.Animate()

2. World dynamic properties

3. Each Stimulus (sorted first by z and second by time of creation):

1. Stimulus.Animate()
2. Stimulus dynamic properties

For each World or Stimulus instance, the dynamics are evaluated in a fixed order relative to each other. The order may seem arbitrary. It is not recommended to make dynamic properties that use the values of other dynamic properties, thereby relying on an assumption that certain dynamics are evaluated before others in a given frame. If you need to do this, a clearer approach would be to use the Animate() method to set the properties procedurally in the order you need them calculated.