Controlling the Speed of Turtle Animations in Python

Turtle animations in Python can appear to move too quickly, making it difficult to discern the details of their movement. To address this issue, it's important to adjust the animation speed effectively.

In the provided code, the use of while True and screen.update() creates a continuous loop that persists indefinitely. This loop can lead to an excessively fast animation speed.

To control the animation speed, the preferred approach is to leverage turtle timer events. These events enable you to specify the timing of animation updates, allowing for more precise control over the speed.

Consider the following code snippet, which employs a turtle timer event:

from turtle import Screen, Turtle

def rectangle(t):
    # Turtle movement for creating a rectangle

def windmill(t):
    # Turtle movement for rotating the windmill

screen = Screen()
screen.tracer(0)

turtle = Turtle()
turtle.setheading(90)

def rotate():
    turtle.clear()
    windmill(turtle)
    screen.update()
    turtle.left(1)

    screen.ontimer(rotate, 40)  # Adjust speed via the second argument

rotate()

screen.mainloop()

In this modified code, the rotate() function is scheduled to run every 40 milliseconds using the ontimer() method. This setting controls the speed of the animation. By adjusting the value passed to ontimer(), you can fine-tune the animation velocity as desired.