The Book of Inkscape

20.8 Background

The only thing not to like about our animation is its total lack of color. You can fix this by adding a different colored background to each frame, for a real stroboscopic dancefloor effect. Choosing these random colors can be automated, too: Create a rectangle with an unset color and use the Create Tiled Clones dialog (16.6 Tiling Clones) to multiply it with some hue variation.

Paint the “dance!” banner with a contrasting acid color, also varying from frame to frame. Finally, to make the dancing man stand out from the background, add an elliptic gradient “spotlight” behind him; randomly move, scale, and rotate the spotlight on each frame for an additional energizing effect. The very final version is at http://www.kirsanov.com/inkscape-animation/final.gif ...