Most out of the box provided solutions are nice, but do not really support customization-options. So in about 80% of all situations, you will have to go your own custom way, if you want more then the provided features and functions by wix.
You have still the possibility to use a CUSTOM-ELEMENT to create your own working GALLERY or do it within an HTML-COMPONENT.
And like already mentioned, doing it out of a combination between repeater and wix-animations (but never tried it, just an idea).
You wants to build a nice and individual looking and working site, in most cases you will have to do your own creations in wix using code.
The more invested time = the better the site.