Animate values when child variant definitions change

packages/framer-motion/src/motion/__tests__/variant.test.tsx

@@ -1295,4 +1295,32 @@ describe("animate prop as variant", () => {
 
         return expect(promise).resolves.toBe("visible")
     })
+
+    test("changing values within an inherited variant triggers an animation", async () => {
+        const Component = ({ x }: { x: number }) => {
+            return (
+                <motion.div initial={false} animate="variant">
+                    <motion.div
+                        data-testid="element"
+                        variants={{ variant: { x } }}
+                        transition={{ type: false }}
+                    />
+                </motion.div>
+            )
+        }
+
+        const { rerender, getByTestId } = render(<Component x={0} />)
+
+        await nextFrame()
+
+        const element = getByTestId("element")
+
+        expect(element).toHaveStyle("transform: none")
+
+        rerender(<Component x={100} />)
+
+        await nextFrame()
+
+        expect(element).toHaveStyle("transform: translateX(100px)")
+    })
 })

packages/framer-motion/src/render/VisualElement.ts

@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ import { isMotionValue } from "../value/utils/is-motion-value"
 import { transformProps } from "./html/utils/transform"
 import {
     ResolvedValues,
-    VariantStateContext,
     VisualElementEventCallbacks,
     VisualElementOptions,
 } from "./types"
@@ -27,14 +26,12 @@ import {
     isControllingVariants as checkIsControllingVariants,
     isVariantNode as checkIsVariantNode,
 } from "./utils/is-controlling-variants"
-import { isVariantLabel } from "./utils/is-variant-label"
 import { updateMotionValuesFromProps } from "./utils/motion-values"
 import { resolveVariantFromProps } from "./utils/resolve-variants"
 import { warnOnce } from "../utils/warn-once"
 import { featureDefinitions } from "../motion/features/definitions"
 import { Feature } from "../motion/features/Feature"
 import type { PresenceContextProps } from "../context/PresenceContext"
-import { variantProps } from "./utils/variant-props"
 import { visualElementStore } from "./store"
 import { KeyframeResolver } from "./utils/KeyframesResolver"
 import { isNumericalString } from "../utils/is-numerical-string"
@@ -54,8 +51,6 @@ const propEventHandlers = [
     "LayoutAnimationComplete",
 ] as const
 
-const numVariantProps = variantProps.length
-
 /**
  * A VisualElement is an imperative abstraction around UI elements such as
  * HTMLElement, SVGElement, Three.Object3D etc.
@@ -655,34 +650,6 @@ export abstract class VisualElement<
             : undefined
     }
 
-    getVariantContext(startAtParent = false): undefined | VariantStateContext {
-        if (startAtParent) {
-            return this.parent ? this.parent.getVariantContext() : undefined
-        }
-
-        if (!this.isControllingVariants) {
-            const context = this.parent
-                ? this.parent.getVariantContext() || {}
-                : {}
-            if (this.props.initial !== undefined) {
-                context.initial = this.props.initial as any
-            }
-            return context
-        }
-
-        const context = {}
-        for (let i = 0; i < numVariantProps; i++) {
-            const name = variantProps[i] as keyof typeof context
-            const prop = this.props[name]
-
-            if (isVariantLabel(prop) || prop === false) {
-                context[name] = prop
-            }
-        }
-
-        return context
-    }
-
     /**
      * Add a child visual element to our set of children.
      */

packages/framer-motion/src/render/types.ts

@@ -16,16 +16,6 @@ export interface MotionPoint {
     y: MotionValue<number>
 }
 
-export type VariantStateContext = {
-    initial?: string | string[]
-    animate?: string | string[]
-    exit?: string | string[]
-    whileHover?: string | string[]
-    whileDrag?: string | string[]
-    whileFocus?: string | string[]
-    whileTap?: string | string[]
-}
-
 export type ScrapeMotionValuesFromProps = (
     props: MotionProps,
     prevProps: MotionProps,

packages/framer-motion/src/render/utils/animation-state.ts

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import { VisualElementAnimationOptions } from "../../animation/interfaces/types"
 import { AnimationDefinition } from "../../animation/types"
 import { animateVisualElement } from "../../animation/interfaces/visual-element"
 import { ResolvedValues } from "../types"
+import { getVariantContext } from "./get-variant-context"
 
 export interface AnimationState {
     animateChanges: (type?: AnimationType) => Promise<any>
@@ -96,8 +97,8 @@ export function createAnimationState(
      *    what to animate those to.
      */
     function animateChanges(changedActiveType?: AnimationType) {
-        const props = visualElement.getProps()
-        const context = visualElement.getVariantContext(true) || {}
+        const { props } = visualElement
+        const context = getVariantContext(visualElement.parent) || {}
 
         /**
          * A list of animations that we'll build into as we iterate through the animation
@@ -314,9 +315,12 @@ export function createAnimationState(
             }
 
             /**
-             * If this is an inherited prop we want to hard-block animations
+             * If this is an inherited prop we want to skip this animation
+             * unless the inherited variants haven't changed on this render.
              */
-            if (shouldAnimateType && (!isInherited || handledRemovedValues)) {
+            const willAnimateViaParent = isInherited && variantDidChange
+            const needsAnimating = !willAnimateViaParent || handledRemovedValues
+            if (shouldAnimateType && needsAnimating) {
                 animations.push(
                     ...definitionList.map((animation) => ({
                         animation: animation as AnimationDefinition,

packages/framer-motion/src/render/utils/get-variant-context.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+import { VisualElement } from "../VisualElement"
+import { isVariantLabel } from "./is-variant-label"
+import { variantProps } from "./variant-props"
+
+const numVariantProps = variantProps.length
+
+type VariantStateContext = {
+    initial?: string | string[]
+    animate?: string | string[]
+    exit?: string | string[]
+    whileHover?: string | string[]
+    whileDrag?: string | string[]
+    whileFocus?: string | string[]
+    whileTap?: string | string[]
+}
+
+export function getVariantContext(
+    visualElement?: VisualElement
+): undefined | VariantStateContext {
+    if (!visualElement) return undefined
+
+    if (!visualElement.isControllingVariants) {
+        const context = visualElement.parent
+            ? getVariantContext(visualElement.parent) || {}
+            : {}
+        if (visualElement.props.initial !== undefined) {
+            context.initial = visualElement.props.initial as any
+        }
+        return context
+    }
+
+    const context = {}
+    for (let i = 0; i < numVariantProps; i++) {
+        const name = variantProps[i] as keyof typeof context
+        const prop = visualElement.props[name]
+
+        if (isVariantLabel(prop) || prop === false) {
+            context[name] = prop
+        }
+    }
+
+    return context
+}