JavaFX - Creating a Box

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A cuboid is a three-dimensional solid shape. Cuboids are composed of 6 rectangles, which are placed at right angles. A cuboid that uses square faces is a cube, if the faces are rectangles, other than cubes, it looks like a shoe box.

A cuboid is a three-dimensional shape with a length (depth), width, and a height as shown in the following diagram −

In JavaFX, this type of three-dimensional shape is addressed as a Box; as it can either be a cuboid or cube, depending on the measurements of the shape.

Box in JavaFX

In JavaFX, a 3-dimensional box is represented by a class named Box. This class belongs to the package javafx.scene.shape.

By instantiating this class, you can create a Box node in JavaFX.

This class has 3 properties of the double datatype, which are −

• width − The width of the box.

• height − The height of the box.

• depth − The depth of the box.

To draw a cubic curve, you need to pass values to these properties by passing them to the constructor of this class. This has to be done in the same order at the time of instantiation; or, by using their respective setter methods.

Steps to Draw 3D Box

To Draw a 3D box in JavaFX, follow the steps given below.

Step 1: Creating a Box

You can create a Box in JavaFX by instantiating the class named BOX, which belongs to a package javafx.scene.shape. You can instantiate this class within the start() method of the Application class as follows.

public class ClassName extends Application {  
   @Override     
   public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception {
      //Creating an object of the class Box 
      Box box = new Box();   
   }    
}

Step 2: Setting Properties to the Box

Set the properties of the 3D box, Width, Height and Depth, using their respective setter methods as shown in the following code block.

//Setting the properties of the Box 
box.setWidth(200.0); 
box.setHeight(400.0);   
box.setDepth(200.0);

Step 3: Creating a Group Object

In the start() method, create a group object by instantiating the class named Group, which belongs to the package javafx.scene.

Pass the Box (node) object, created in the previous step, as a parameter to the constructor of the Group class. This should be done in order to add it to the group as follows −

Group root = new Group(box);

Step 4: Launching an Application

Once the 3D object is created, launch the JavaFX application by following the steps below −

• Instantiate the class named Scene by passing the Group object as a parameter value to its constructor. You can also pass dimensions of the application screen as optional parameters to the constructor.

• Set the title to the stage using the setTitle() method of the Stage class.

• Add a scene object to the stage using the setScene() method of the class named Stage.

• Display the contents of the scene using the method named show().

• Lastly, the application is launched with the help of the launch() method within the Application class.

Example

Following is a program which generates a 3D box using JavaFX. Save this code in a file with the name BoxExample.java.

import javafx.application.Application; 
import javafx.scene.Group; 
import javafx.scene.Scene; 
import javafx.scene.shape.Box; 
import javafx.stage.Stage; 
         
public class BoxExample extends Application { 
   @Override 
   public void start(Stage stage) { 
      //Drawing a Box 
      Box box = new Box();  
      
      //Setting the properties of the Box 
      box.setWidth(200.0); 
      box.setHeight(400.0);   
      box.setDepth(200.0); 
         
      //Creating a Group object  
      Group root = new Group(box); 
         
      //Creating a scene object 
      Scene scene = new Scene(root, 600, 300);   
      
      //Setting title to the Stage 
      stage.setTitle("Drawing a Box"); 
         
      //Adding scene to the stage 
      stage.setScene(scene); 
         
      //Displaying the contents of the stage 
      stage.show(); 
   }
   public static void main(String args[]){ 
      launch(args); 
   } 
}

Compile and execute the saved java file from the command prompt using the following commands.

javac --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls BoxExample.java 
java --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls BoxExample

Output

On executing, the above program generates a JavaFX window displaying a 3D Box as shown below −

Example

In the previous example, we did not specify the start and end coordinates to draw the box from. However, using translateX and translateY properties of animation class, we can relocate the box on the JavaFX application. Let us look at an example below and save it in a file named TranslateBoxExample.java.

import javafx.application.Application; 
import javafx.scene.Group; 
import javafx.scene.Scene; 
import javafx.scene.shape.Box;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.scene.transform.Translate;
import javafx.stage.Stage; 
         
public class TranslateBoxExample extends Application { 
   @Override 
   public void start(Stage stage) { 
      //Drawing a Box 
      Box box = new Box();  
      
      //Setting the properties of the Box 
      box.setWidth(200.0); 
      box.setHeight(200.0);  
      box.setDepth(200.0);

      Translate translate = new Translate();       
      translate.setX(200); 
      translate.setY(150); 
      translate.setZ(25); 
      
      box.getTransforms().addAll(translate);
	  
      //Creating a Group object  
      Group root = new Group(box); 
         
      //Creating a scene object 
      Scene scene = new Scene(root, 400, 300);
	  
      scene.setFill(Color.web("#81c483"));	  
      
      //Setting title to the Stage 
      stage.setTitle("Translate a Box"); 
         
      //Adding scene to the stage 
      stage.setScene(scene); 
         
      //Displaying the contents of the stage 
      stage.show(); 
   }
   public static void main(String args[]){ 
      launch(args); 
   } 
}

Compile and execute the saved java file from the command prompt using the following commands.

javac --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls TranslateBoxExample.java 
java --module-path %PATH_TO_FX% --add-modules javafx.controls TranslateBoxExample

Output

On executing, the above program generates a JavaFX window displaying a 3D Box as shown below. We coloured the scene in order to differentiate the translated location of the box.