> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://rive.app/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Animation Playback

> ⚠️ DEPRECATED: Use State Machines instead of direct animation playback at runtime

<Warning>
  **DEPRECATION NOTICE:** This entire page documents the legacy Animation
  Playback system. **For new projects:** Use <Link href="state-machines">State Machines</Link> instead. **For existing projects:** Plan
  to migrate from direct animation control to State Machines as soon as
  possible. **This content is provided for legacy support only.**
</Warning>

Rive lets you specify what animations and state machines to mix and play and control the play/pause state of each animation.

The term *animations* may collectively refer to both animations and state machines. In this section, we explore how to deal with specific animation playback, rather than state machines.

<Note>
  If you are trying to coordinate multiple animations' playback at runtime,
  consider using a state machine instead to do this for you!
</Note>

## Choosing starting animations

Starting animations can also be chosen when Rive is instantiated. The first animation on the artboard may play if one is not provided, or a state machine is not set.

With the Android runtime, specify **one** animation with the `riveAnimation` property.

```xml theme={null}
<app.rive.runtime.kotlin.RiveAnimationView
    app:riveAutoPlay="true"
    app:riveArtboard="Square"
    app:riveAnimation="rollaround"
    app:riveResource="@raw/artboard_animations" />
```

Or

```kotlin theme={null}
animationView.setRiveResource(
    R.raw.artboard_animations,
    artboardName = "Square",
    animationName = "rollaround",
    autoplay = true
)
```

## Controlling playback

Playback of each animation and state machine can be separately controlled. You can play and pause playback using the `play` , `pause` and `stop` methods, either passing in the names of the animations you want to affect or passing in nothing which will affect all instanced animations.

#### Invoking Playback Controls

After setting the Rive Resource with your animation view, you can invoke animation playback control methods.

Along with programmatically playing an animation, you can also choose the loop mode and direction of the animation as additional parameters as needed. You can additionally pause or stop an animation as well.

```kotlin theme={null}
// Play one animation
animationView.play("rollaround")

// Set loop mode and direction
animationView.play("rollaround", Loop.ONE_SHOT, Direction.Backwards)

animationView.pause()
animationView.pause("bouncing")

animationView.stop()
animationView.stop("bouncing")
```

#### Animation Event Listeners

The Rive Android runtime also allows listener registration. Check out the events section in the
[rive player](https://github.com/rive-app/rive-android/blob/master/app/src/main/java/app/rive/runtime/example/AndroidPlayerActivity.kt) for an example of how this works.

```kotlin theme={null}
val listener = object : Listener {
    override fun notifyPlay(animation: PlayableInstance) {
        var text: String? = null
        if (animation is LinearAnimationInstance) {
            text = animation.name
        }
    }

    override fun notifyPause(animation: PlayableInstance) {
        var text: String? = null
        if (animation is LinearAnimationInstance) {
            text = animation.name
        }
    }

    override fun notifyStop(animation: PlayableInstance) {
        var text: String? = null
        if (animation is LinearAnimationInstance) {
            text = animation.name
        }
    }

    override fun notifyLoop(animation: PlayableInstance) {
        var text: String? = null
        if (animation is LinearAnimationInstance) {
            text = animation.name
        }
    }
}
animationView.registerListener(listener)
```

Check out this Activity example:
[LoopModeActivity.kt](https://github.com/rive-app/rive-android/blob/master/app/src/main/java/app/rive/runtime/example/LoopModeActivity.kt)