javafx simple PathTransition animation

Question

i'm using JavaFX to build a cardgame and i struggle to add simple animations.

I have a HBox with multiple ImageViews in them. Every Image has a right margin of -80 to get the images to overlap each other.

Now i want to animate the card when it's added. I want to place it somewhere on the screen (opponent player hand) and move it to the position it would've been without animation.

I tried this:

// Animation
Path path = new Path();
MoveTo moveTo = new MoveTo(200, 200);
moveTo.setAbsolute(true);
path.getElements().add(moveTo);
LineTo lineTo = new LineTo(0, 0);
path.getElements().add(lineTo);
PathTransition pathTransition = new PathTransition();
pathTransition.setDuration(Duration.millis(4000));
pathTransition.setPath(path);
pathTransition.setNode(imageView);
pathTransition.setCycleCount(1);
pathTransition.play();

But it doesn't work like i want it to. I have no clue how to handle the coordiantes and can't find a solution for my problem.

I hope someone can help me with m y problem

Answer 1

The correct Path geometry hinges critically on the layout of the root Parent. In the example below, the Path goes from the top-left to the bottom-right, adjusted to keep the moving Rectangle in view. It adds the rectangle to a Pane, "since it does not perform layout beyond resizing resizable children to their preferred sizes." If you use a more advanced layout, e.g. StackPane, adjust the alignment accordingly:

StackPane root = new StackPane();
root.setAlignment(Pos.TOP_LEFT)

import javafx.animation.PathTransition;
import javafx.animation.Timeline;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.layout.Pane;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.scene.shape.LineTo;
import javafx.scene.shape.MoveTo;
import javafx.scene.shape.Path;
import javafx.scene.shape.Rectangle;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Duration;

/** @see http://stackoverflow.com/a/31443755/230513 */
public class AnimationTest extends Application {

    private static final int SIZE = 256;
    private static final int RECT = SIZE / 4;
    private static final int R2 = RECT / 2;

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {
        stage.setTitle("Animation Test");
        Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(0, 0, RECT, RECT);
        rect.setArcHeight(16);
        rect.setArcWidth(16);
        rect.setFill(Color.GOLD);
        Pane root = new Pane();
        root.getChildren().add(rect);
        Scene scene = new Scene(root, SIZE, SIZE);
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();

        Path path = new Path();
        path.getElements().add(new MoveTo(R2, R2));
        path.getElements().add(new LineTo(SIZE - R2, SIZE - R2));
        PathTransition pathTransition = new PathTransition();
        pathTransition.setDuration(Duration.millis(1000));
        pathTransition.setPath(path);
        pathTransition.setNode(rect);
        pathTransition.setCycleCount(Timeline.INDEFINITE);
        pathTransition.setAutoReverse(true);
        pathTransition.play();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }

}