JavaFX 2D Shapes

In some of the applications, we need to show two dimensional shapes to the user. However, JavaFX provides the flexibility to create our own 2D shapes on the screen .

There are various classes which can be used to implement 2D shapes in our application. All these classes resides in javafx.scene.shape package.

This package contains the classes which represents different types of 2D shapes. There are several methods in the classes which deals with the coordinates regarding 2D shape creation.

What are 2D shapes?

In general, a two dimensional shape can be defined as the geometrical figure that can be drawn on the coordinate system consist of X and Y planes. However, this is different from 3D shapes in the sense that each point of the 2D shape always consists of two coordinates (X,Y).

Using JavaFX, we can create 2D shapes such as Line, Rectangle, Circle, Ellipse, Polygon, Cubic Curve, quad curve, Arc, etc. The class javafx.scene.shape.Shape is the base class for all the shape classes.

How to create 2D shapes?

As we have mentioned earlier that every shape is represented by a specific class of the package javafx.scene.shape. For creating a two dimensional shape, the following instructions need to be followed.

1. Instantiate the respective class : for example, Rectangle rect = new Rectangle()

2. Set the required properties for the class using instance setter methods: for example,

rect.setX(10);
	rect.setY(20); 
	rect.setWidth(100);
	rect.setHeight(100);

3. Add class object to the Group layout: for example,

Group root = new Group(); 
	root.getChildren().add(rect);

The following table consists of the JavaFX shape classes along with their descriptions.

Shape	Description
Line	In general, Line is the geometrical figure which joins two (X,Y) points on 2D coordinate system. In JavaFX, javafx.scene.shape.Line class needs to be instantiated in order to create lines.
Rectangle	In general, Rectangle is the geometrical figure with two pairs of two equal sides and four right angles at their joint. In JavaFX, javafx.scene.shape.Rectangle class needs to be instantiated in order to create Rectangles.
Ellipse	In general, ellipse can be defined as a curve with two focal points. The sum of the distances to the focal points are constant from each point of the ellipse. In JavaFX. javafx.scene.shape.Ellipse class needs to be instantiated in order to create Ellipse.
Arc	Arc can be defined as the part of the circumference of the circle of ellipse. In JavaFX, javafx.scene.shape.Arc class needs to be instantiated in order to create Arcs.
Circle	A circle is the special type of Ellipse having both the focal points at the same location. In JavaFX, Circle can be created by instantiating javafx.scene.shape.Circle class.
Polygon	Polygon is a geometrical figure that can be created by joining the multiple Co-planner line segments. In JavaFX, javafx.scene.shape. Pollygon class needs to be instantiated in order to create polygon.
Cubic Curve	A Cubic curve is a curve of degree 3 in the XY plane. In Javafx, javafx.scene.shape.CubicCurve class needs to be instantiated in order to create Cubic Curves.
Quad Curve	A Quad Curve is a curve of degree 2 in the XY plane. In JavaFX, javafx.scene.shape.QuadCurve class needs to be instantiated in order to create QuadCurve.