Java Programming, Lecture Notes # 314
March 19, 2000
Understanding other classes also required
I also explained that without understanding the behavior of other classes and interfaces such as Shape, AffineTransform, GraphicsConfiguration, PathIterator, and Stroke, it is not possible to fully understand the inner workings of the Graphics2D class.
What has been covered previously?
Earlier lessons have explained a number of Java 2D concepts, including Shape, AffineTransform, and PathIterator.
Before, I can explain the Stroke class, I need to explain how to fill a Shape in general. An earlier lesson showed you how to fill a Shape with a solid color.
How to fill, in general
I explained in an earlier lesson that if you want to fill a Shape object before you draw it, you can accomplish this with the following two steps:
This lesson will show you how to fill a Shape with a color gradient, both cyclic and acyclic.
The Color class can be used to fill a Shape object with a solid color. That was the topic of an earlier lesson.
The GradientPaint class
The GradientPaint class can be used to fill a Shape with a color gradient. The gradient progresses from one specified color at one point in user space to a different specified color at a different point in user space.
An acyclic gradient
The two points describe a hypothetical line segment in user space. The two colors can be stabilized beyond the end points of the hypothetical line segment. This is known as an acyclic gradient.
A cyclic gradient
The gradient can also be caused to repeat in a cyclic fashion beyond the end points of the hypothetical line segment. This is known as a cyclic gradient.
The use of the GradientPaint class is the primary topic of this lesson.
The TexturePaint class
The TexturePaint class can be used to fill a Shape with a tiled version of a BufferedImage object. This will also be the topic of a subsequent lesson.
In this case, the Paint object is an instance of the GradientPaint class, which implements the interface named Paint.
A screen shot of the output
A significantly reduced screen shot of the output of this program is shown below. Note that this screen shot was reduced to about seventy-percent of its original size in pixels. Thus some of the quality was lost in the process.
The GUI is a Frame object
The program draws a four-inch by four-inch Frame on the screen. It translates the origin to the center of the Frame. Then it draws a pair of X and Y-axes centered on the new origin.
So far, this is very similar to the sample programs that I have explained in previous lessons.
A circle in each quadrant
The program then draws one two-inch diameter circle in each quadrant. For purpose of reference, it fills the circle in the upper left quadrant with solid red, exactly as in an earlier program.
The circles in the other three quadrants are filled with color gradients that progress from red to orange in different ways.
Acyclic gradient on the horizontal
The color gradient in the upper right-hand circle progresses from red on the left end of a hypothetical line to orange on the right end of a hypothetical line in an acyclic manner.
In other words, everything to the left of the beginning of a hypothetical line is the same color red. Everything to the right of the end of the hypothetical line is the same color orange. Only that portion in between the beginning and the end points of the hypothetical line vary in color.
Cyclic gradient on the horizontal
The color gradient in the lower left-hand circle progresses from red to orange and back several times in a cyclic manner. The variations in color progress along and beyond a hypothetical line that is parallel to the horizontal axis.
Cyclic gradient at 45 degrees to the horizontal
The color gradient in the lower right-hand circle also progresses from red to orange and back several times in a cyclic manner. However, in this case, the variations in color progress along and beyond a hypothetical line that is angled at 45 degrees to the horizontal.
The normal disclaimer on inches
The program was tested using JDK 1.2.2 under WinNT Workstation 4.0
| This discussion of dimensions in inches on the screen depends on the method named getScreenResolution() returning the correct value. However, the getScreenResolution() method always seems to return 120 on my computer regardless of the actual screen resolution settings. |
Will discuss in fragments
As is often the case, I will discuss this program in fragments.
The controlling class and the constructor for the GUI class are essentially the same as you have seen in several previous lessons, so, I won’t bore you by repeating that discussion here. You can view that material in the complete listing of the program near the end of the lesson.
All of the interesting action takes place in the overridden paint() method, so I will begin the discussion there.
Overridden paint() method
The beginning portions of the overridden paint() method should be familiar to you by now as well. So, I am going to let the comments in Figure 1 speak for themselves.
The code in Figure 1 includes the code required to place the circle in the upper left quadrant and fill it with the solid color red. This is the same code that I showed you in an earlier lesson on solid-color fill.
The interesting part
That brings us to the interesting part, which is to place a circle in the upper-right quadrant and fill it with a horizontal, acyclic gradient from red to orange.
I begin by instantiating an object of the Ellipse2D.Double class bounded by a square in the upper-right quadrant. This is a circle.
This is not new. You have seen code like this in previous lessons, so I won’t discuss it further. See Figure 2.
The GradientPaint class
At this point, we need to take a look at some detailed information about
the GradientPaint class. This is what Sun has to say on the
topic.
| “The
GradientPaint class provides a way to fill a Shape
with a linear color gradient pattern.
If Point P1 with Color C1 and Point P2 with Color C2 are specified in user space, the Color on the P1, P2 connecting line is proportionally changed from C1 to C2. Any point P not on the extended P1, P2 connecting line has the color of the point P' that is the perpendicular projection of P on the extended P1, P2 connecting line. Points on the extended line outside of the P1, P2 segment can be colored
in one of two ways.
|
For the record, the gradient implemented by the next code fragment is acyclic.
GradientPaint constructor
Now, we need to take a look at the constructor for the GradientPaint class.
Four overloaded versions
Actually, there are four overloaded versions of the constructor. Two of them accept the coordinates of the ends of the hypothetical line mentioned above (P1 and P2) as objects of the class Point2D (I discussed the Point2D class in one of the early lessons in this series on Java 2D).
The other two constructors accept the coordinates of the ends of the hypothetical line as parameters of type float. (If you need the accuracy of double, you need to use one of the constructors that accept objects of the class Point2D.)
The constructor in the next code fragment specifies the end points of the hypothetical line as type float.
Cyclic versus acyclic
Having separated the constructors into two categories based on how the coordinate information is specified, the next separation has to do with acyclic versus cyclic behavior.
Two of the constructors (one of each coordinate data type) default to acyclic behavior.
The other two constructors have a boolean parameter that allows you to specify cyclic or acyclic.
One specific constructor
Here is information about the version of the constructor that accepts
float
parameters and allows you to specify acyclic or cyclic.
| public
GradientPaint(
float x1, float y1, Color color1, float x2, float y2, Color color2, boolean cyclic) Constructs either a cyclic or acyclic GradientPaint object depending on the boolean parameter. Parameters:
|
This is the version of the constructor that is used in the next code fragment.
Where’s the code?
The next fragment (Figure 3) invokes the setPaint() method passing a reference to an object that implements the Paint interface as a parameter. As you are already aware, the parameter to setPaint() must implement the Paint interface.
A GradientPaint object
The thing that is new about this fragment is that the object that is passed to the setPaint() method is an object of the GradientPaint class. (Did I mention that GradientPaint also implements Paint?)
This GradientPaint object will be used to fill a circle that is two inches in diameter. The bounding rectangle for the circle is a square that fits exactly in the upper-right quadrant of the Frame.
End points of the hypothetical line
The hypothetical line segment that determines the beginning and the end of the color gradient begins at a point that is one-half inch inside the left edge of the circle (0.5f*ds). The hypothetical line segment stops at a point that is one-half inch inside the right edge of the circle (1.5f*ds).
The hypothetical line segment is horizontal
The coordinate information describes the ends of a hypothetical line that is parallel to the horizontal axis (the Y-coordinates of the two end points of the hypothetical line are the same at -1.0f*ds).
float rather than double
In case this syntax is new to you, the “f” causes the literal value to be interpreted as float rather than double.
Color gradient is horizontal
Since the hypothetical line is parallel to the horizontal axis, the color gradient will also be parallel to the horizontal axis.
Color gradient is acyclic
The boolean parameter is false, so the gradient does not repeat beyond the ends of the hypothetical line.
Gradient is from red to orange
The beginning color is red, so everything to the left of the starting point is red.
The ending color is orange, so everything to the right of the ending point is orange.
In between, the color varies from red to orange.
Fill the circle and render it
As in an earlier lesson, Figure 4 invokes the fill() method to fill the circle with the color gradient, and then invokes the draw() method to render the circle on the screen. There is nothing new here.
Run the program
Run the program and take a look at the circle in the upper-right quadrant.
Someone once said that a picture is worth a thousand explanations of code fragments, or something to that effect.
Looks kind of like the sun
On my machine, the circle looks a little like a photograph of the sun (no reference intended to the company named that invented Java).
Horizontal cyclic color gradient
Figure 5 causes a cyclic color gradient to be applied to a circle in the lower-left quadrant.
The coordinate values that are used cause the circle to be in the lower-left quadrant, and cause the gradient to be parallel to the horizontal axis.
The true parameter that is passed to the constructor for the GradientPaint object causes the gradient to be cyclic.
A cyclic gradient at 45 degrees
The final fragment, Figure 6, causes a cyclic gradient from red to orange to fill a circle in the lower-right quadrant. It will be left as an exercise for the student to interpret the coordinate values of the end points of the hypothetical line to understand how it represents a line at 45 degrees to the horizontal.
Again, the boolean value passed to the GradientPaint constructor is true, causing the gradient to be cyclic.
You can view a complete listing of the program at the end of the lesson.
The gradient can be either cyclic or acyclic, and it can progress along a hypothetical line of any length, at any angle in user space.
Copyright 2000, Richard G. Baldwin. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission from Richard Baldwin is prohibited.
About the author
Richard Baldwin is a college professor and private consultant whose primary focus is a combination of Java and XML. In addition to the many platform-independent benefits of Java applications, he believes that a combination of Java and XML will become the primary driving force in the delivery of structured information on the Web.
Richard has participated in numerous consulting projects involving Java, XML, or a combination of the two. He frequently provides onsite Java and/or XML training at the high-tech companies located in and around Austin, Texas. He is the author of Baldwin's Java Programming Tutorials, which has gained a worldwide following among experienced and aspiring Java programmers. He has also published articles on Java Programming in Java Pro magazine.
Richard holds an MSEE degree from Southern Methodist University and
has many years of experience in the application of computer technology
to real-world problems.
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