def str_to_animate_params(s):
    """
    Parses animation parameters
    :param s: A string of the form "<param> <start> <stop> <n_steps>"
    :return: A tuple containing each field, (param: str, start: float, stop: float, n_steps: int)
    """
    param, start, stop, n_steps = s.split(" ")
    return param, float(start), float(stop), int(n_steps)