Animating Android App - Animation Tutorial 01

This is a ready to serve tutorial for learning animations in android applications.You will be able to animate your app right away after  going through this article.If want to learn android animation thoroughly then go by animation documentation by Google.

What will be covered in this tutorial

1.    animations using ViewPropertyAnimator
2.    animation using java code
3.    animation using XML

1.  Using ViewPropertyAnimator

.animate () is an Object of the class ViewPropertyAnimator and very easy to use.There are several properties which can be animated by this function like, alpha, X, Y, rotation etc.

Example, FadeOut a TextView

 myTextView.animate().alpha(0).setDuration(500);

2. Using ObjectAnimator

This animator is used for some more complex animations and also helpful when you want to choreograph the animations.
Example, For transitioningTextView in x-direction.

//ObjectAnimator anim = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(view,property, startvalue, endValue);
ObjectAnimator anim = ObjectAnimator.ofFloat(myTextView, View.X, 0, 100);
anim.setDuration(1000);
anim.start();

3. Using XML

XMLs are used for simple transformations (position, size, rotation, and transparency).XML file is recommended because of its readability, reusability than hard-coding the animation
Example, For scaling an ImageView

<set android:shareInterpolator="false">
    <scale
        android:interpolator="@android:anim/accelerate_decelerate_interpolator"
        android:fromXScale="1.0"
        android:toXScale="1.4"
        android:fromYScale="1.0"
        android:toYScale="0.6"
        android:pivotX="50%"
        android:pivotY="50%"
        android:fillAfter="false"
        android:duration="700" />
</set>

Now we need to inflate and apply above animation to our ImageView.

//Animation XML is in directory Drawables>anim>scale_anim.xml
ImageView myImageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.myImage);
Animation scaleAnimation= AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this, R.anim.scale_anim);
myImageView.startAnimation(scaleAnimation);

If you want more in this series let me know through comments.

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How to create App video demo with zero budget ?

Have you developed an app and looking to create a video demo for it? then you must have come across many online service providers like, placeit.net, which provides a decent app demo.

But the problem with them is that their free version is not so great in video quality [plus watermark in background] and charge for premium version is quite high for a newcomer and a person like me, who don't have that much money.

how to create video demo with no money?

Well, I have a Jugaad for that, you just need Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your computer.

How to Do it?

01. Create a good looking slide background, give it a Tabletop  texture with some added features, like, coffee cup,pen.diary etc.

02.Create an outer frame of a smart phone and import it into the powerpoint slide.

03. Record you app Screen with whatever feature you want to show in the demo.[What I used is, AZ screen Recoreder]

04. Import captured video into powerpoint slide and Crop the unnecessary area.And try to fit the video inside Phone frame.[send it to backward]

05. Set animations to the instructions and set video play settings to automatic start.

06. Start SlideShow and record screen, with any other application or in-built screen recored in power point.

That's it, Although it may not look like a professional but serves the purpose until you get the money for a professional video demo.
Below is the video demo, I created for my app. and here is the ppt.

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how to Learn Android App Development ?

For Learning Android Development, there are thousands of tutorial available online, But choosing one which explains concepts in a easy way is very difficult.

Today I am going to list out some of best online resources to learn Android Development,most of these Tutorial are available free of cost. And if you are new to android Development, then before going to any other Tutorial, I would suggest you to go through following Tutorials which very useful and conceptual tutorials.

1. Android Development for Beginners - Udacity : Video Tutorial for Complete beginners.
2. Training for Android developers - Web based Text Tutorial Covering Basic Concepts By Google.

If during going through above Tutorial you find some topics difficult to understand then Google for that particular topic.

After going through above Tutorials you can go for any other tutorial, like Android Essential Training from Lynda.com.

Best Way to learn is to Develop small Apps,which cover basic android concepts, while learning Android Development.

So in the upcoming posts in this series of Android Development i will be posting Ideas and Concepts for Developing simple android Apps. 

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