Animated visualizations
Previous versions of Tableau allowed rudimentary animation using the Pages shelf with playback controls. Tableau 2020.1 introduced true Mark Animation, which means marks smoothly transition when you apply filters, sorting, or page changes. Consider leveraging animation to extend your analytical potential in a couple of ways:
- Turn it on while exploring and analyzing your data. This allows you to gain analytical insights you might otherwise miss, such as seeing how far and in which direction marks in a scatterplot move as a filter changes.
- Use it strategically to enhance the data story. Animation can be used to capture interest, draw attention to important elements, or build suspense toward a conclusion.
We'll consider both approaches to animation in the following examples.
Enhancing analysis with animation
Consider the following bar chart, which shows the correlation of Sales and Profit for each Department:
