Initial state set after initial render

[bjartebore]

Setting the the initial state through onLoaded for an animation seems to happen after the initial frame is rendered, making animations that should start at a specific state glitch in the first frame.

Is there a way to load the initial frame with an initial state? this seem to be a problem both with the old and new native versions of rive

[HayesGordon]

State can be set either on the state machine input or through a View Model Instance. A user can create both before interacting with any Rive view - in both the old and new API.

If you can provide a sample project that reproduces your issue, we can investigate.

[bjartebore]

I made an example at https://github.com/bjartebore/rive-issue in the example folder, the page renders with a short delay to ensure that the page is in view before rendering. I have also attached a short screen recording of the issue.

Simulator.Screen.Recording.-.iPhone.13.mini.-.2025-08-06.at.15.03.19.mp4

The animation is based on a 1D blend mode based on the hour input

[HayesGordon]

Sorry for the late reply @bjartebore, I missed your response.

I can reproduce your issue. If you want to sidestep it for your file while we get this resolved you can do:

    controller.stateMachine.advanceAndApply(0);
    controller.stateMachine.advanceAndApply(0);
    controller.stateMachine.advanceAndApply(0);
    controller.stateMachine.advanceAndApply(0);

In the onLoad. It looks like the graphic needs a few advances before it will be in the correct initial state. I'll follow up internally to determine the correct long-term fix.

[HayesGordon]

Before syncing internally, I did do a bit more investigation and I see that you're using a blend mode. Note that at runtime we have a concept of "settling" a graphic. Which means that if the state machine reaches a state where there are no more active timelines to play then the state machine will stop and the graphic will also stop updating at the Flutter level.

This is beneficial as then Flutter won't be constantly making updates.

However, when ending on a blend state the state machine can never settle. So it will just always continue advancing.

The issue here is that it seems to require a few advances at runtime before it gets to a correct "initial" state.

For better editor and runtime control, I would recommend you investigate data binding. You could potentially use data binding instead of blend modes to achieve a similar effect.