ok with grunt

build/bundle3.js

@@ -15924,7 +15924,9 @@ var VisNode = VisBase.extend({
   remove: function() {
     this.removeKeys(['circle'], ['text']);
     // needs a manual removal of text for whatever reason
-    this.get('text').remove();
+    if (this.get('text')) {
+      this.get('text').remove();
+    }
 
     this.gitVisuals.removeVisNode(this);
   },

index.html

@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@
        For a much easier time perusing the source, see the individual files at:
           https://github.com/pcottle/learnGitBranching
   -->
-  <script src="build/bundle2.js"></script>
+  <script src="build/bundle.js"></script>
 
   <!-- The advantage of github pages: super-easy, simple, slick static hostic.
        The downside? No raw logs to parse for analytics, so I have to include

src/js/visuals/visBase.js

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+var _ = require('underscore');
+var Backbone = require('backbone');
+
+var VisBase = Backbone.Model.extend({
+  removeKeys: function(keys) {
+    _.each(keys, function(key) {
+      if (this.get(key)) {
+        this.get(key).remove();
+      }
+    }, this);
+  },
+
+  animateAttrKeys: function(keys, attrObj, speed, easing) {
+    // either we animate a specific subset of keys or all
+    // possible things we could animate
+    keys = _.extend(
+      {},
+      {
+        include: ['circle', 'arrow', 'rect', 'path', 'text'],
+        exclude: []
+      },
+      keys || {}
+    );
+
+    var attr = this.getAttributes();
+
+    // safely insert this attribute into all the keys we want
+    _.each(keys.include, function(key) {
+      attr[key] = _.extend(
+        {},
+        attr[key],
+        attrObj
+      );
+    });
+
+    _.each(keys.exclude, function(key) {
+      delete attr[key];
+    });
+
+    this.animateToAttr(attr, speed, easing);
+  }
+});
+
+exports.VisBase = VisBase;
+

src/js/visuals/visBranch.js

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ var _ = require('underscore');
 var Backbone = require('backbone');
 var GRAPHICS = require('../util/constants').GRAPHICS;
 
-var VisBase = require('../visuals/tree').VisBase;
+var VisBase = require('../visuals/visBase').VisBase;
 
 var randomHueString = function() {
   var hue = Math.random();

src/js/visuals/visEdge.js

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ var _ = require('underscore');
 var Backbone = require('backbone');
 var GRAPHICS = require('../util/constants').GRAPHICS;
 
-var VisBase = require('../visuals/tree').VisBase;
+var VisBase = require('../visuals/visBase').VisBase;
 
 var VisEdge = VisBase.extend({
   defaults: {

src/js/visuals/visNode.js

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ var _ = require('underscore');
 var Backbone = require('backbone');
 var GRAPHICS = require('../util/constants').GRAPHICS;
 
-var VisBase = require('../visuals/tree').VisBase;
+var VisBase = require('../visuals/visBase').VisBase;
 
 var VisNode = VisBase.extend({
   defaults: {