JavaFX Fundamentals - Java 8 Recipes - page 533

Figure 14-5 shows shapes displayed from top to bottom starting with an ellipse, rect-
angle, and a rounded rectangle having colored gradient fills. When drawing the eclipse
shape, you will be using a radial gradient that appears as if it were a 3D spherical ob-
ject. Next, a rectangle filled with a yellow semitransparent linear gradient is created. A
thick black line shape was drawn behind the yellow rectangle to demonstrate the rect-
angle's semitransparent color. Lastly, a rounded rectangle filled with a green-and-black
reflective linear gradient resembling 3D tubes in a diagonal direction is generated.
The amazing thing about colors with gradients is that they can often make shapes
appear three-dimensional. Gradient paint allows you to interpolate between two or
more colors, which gives the shape depth. JavaFX provides two types of gradients: a
radial ( RadialGradient ) and a linear ( LinearGradient ) gradient. A radial
gradient ( RadialGradient ) is applied to the ellipse shape in the example.
Table 14-1 is taken from the JavaFX 8 Javadoc definitions found for the Radi-
alGradient class ( http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/javafx/api/
javafx/scene/paint/RadialGradient.html ) .

Table 14-1 . RadialGradient Properties

Property Data Type Description

Angle in degrees from the center of the gradient to
the focus point to which the first color is mapped

focusAngle double

Distance from the center of the gradient to the focus
point to which the first color is mapped

focusDistance double

X coordinate of the center point of the gradient's
circle

centerX double

Y coordinate of the center point of the gradient's
circle

centerY double

Radius of the circle defining the extents of the color
gradient

radius double

Coordinates and sizes are proportional to the shape
that this gradient fills

proportional boolean

Cycle method applied to the gradient

cycleMethod CycleMethod

opaque boolean Whether the paint is completely opaque

Gradient's color specification

stops List<Stop>

In this recipe, the focus angle is set to zero, the distance is set to .1, the center X
and Y are set to (80,45), the radius is set to 120 pixels, the proportional is set to false,