Workspace sliding animation in i3

Question

How could I have a workspace sliding animation in i3 on ArchLinux ?

I don't want to use a full DE, I'm right now using compton as a compositor but it only offers fade in/out when switching workspaces, I can't make it perform a sliding animation such as the one in KDE or Gnome.

I don't mind installing another compositor but I'd like to be able to do it with compton and i3 if it's possible. (I don't mind neither having to use a more low level api and code the animation myself, but I don't know where to start)

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The second step would be to have a workspace switching like on MacOs (Or now also on Windows 10) where you drag your fingers on the trackpad and it switches between workspaces smoothly : if you stop draging the workspace will just pop back in place. (I'm talking about this) That would be really cool to setup on a Linux system. I'm using Libinput (and libinput gestures) but I don't know if there is such a feature.

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How could I get the closest to the MacOs/Windows10 workspace switching experience with i3 on ArchLinux ?

Answer 1

This is what i have done long time ago but it probably shouldn't be done like this, it is incredibly hacky and inefficient ! :P
It basically makes a screenshot of the current screen and slide it to the side one pixel at a time. (speed depend on computers i guess.)

I have a bash script goto_to_workspace.sh that is triggered every time i change workspace with this code inside : (script take argument number as workspace number like for example : goto_to_workspace.sh 4)

WORKSPACE=$1
WKSP=`xprop -root -notype  _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP | sed 's#.* =##'`
CURRENT_WORKSPACE=`expr 1 + $WKSP`
if [ $CURRENT_WORKSPACE -ne $WORKSPACE ]; then
    scrot -q 50 PRTSRC.jpeg
    feh PRTSRC.jpeg&
    FEH_WINDOW=$!
    #WAIT (give i3 time to switch workspace in the background)
    sleep .2
fi
slide_FEH_LEFT(){
    LONG_LINE="move left 1px"
    for i in {1..11}; do
        LONG_LINE=$LONG_LINE","$LONG_LINE
    done
    i3-msg "[class=feh] $LONG_LINE"
}
slide_FEH_RIGHT(){
    LONG_LINE="move right 1px"
    for i in {1..11}; do
        LONG_LINE=$LONG_LINE","$LONG_LINE
    done
    i3-msg "[class=feh] $LONG_LINE"
}
if [ $CURRENT_WORKSPACE -gt $WORKSPACE ]; then
    slide_FEH_RIGHT
else
    slide_FEH_LEFT
fi
#SIMPLE KILL AFTER 500ms
{ sleep .5 && kill $FEH_WINDOW; } &

EDIT : looking into the problem deeper. It is smarter to use wmctrl instead.

So the function going down can be for example : (for my 1920x1080 screen)

slide_FEH_DOWN_wmctrl(){
    FEH_ID=`wmctrl -l|grep "PRTSRC.jpeg$"|awk '{print $1}'`
    for (( c=0; c!=1100; c=c+10 )) do
        wmctrl -i -r $FEH_ID -e 1,0,$c,1920,1080
    done
}

I also tried to do something quickly with xlib (c or python) but it's less smooth than wmctrl. So if someone can do that better let us know.

EDIT2 : Of course you need feh to be sticky with for example in your i3 config :

for_window [class="feh"] floating enable, sticky enable, border pixel 0, move absolute position 0 px 0 px

Answer 2

This may well be possible, although I have not found a way to achieve it.

I've used i3wm for five years. It aims to be fast, without unnecessary fluff. Citing i3wm.org: "Don’t be bloated, don’t be fancy"

Your request seems to be out of the scope of this window manager; if you truly desire smooth animations such as those seen on KDE or Gnome, then you may be better served by these.