ColorAnimation Object

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Animates the value of a Color property between two target values using linear interpolation over a specified Duration.

XAML
<ColorAnimation .../>
Scripting
To create an object using scripting, see CreateFromXAML.

Properties

AutoReverse, BeginTime, By, Duration, FillBehavior, From, Name, RepeatBehavior, SpeedRatio, Storyboard.TargetName, Storyboard.TargetProperty, To

Methods

Equals, FindName, GetHost, GetValue, SetValue

Remarks

An animation updates the value of a property over a period of time. An animation effect can be subtle, such as moving a Shape a few pixels left or right, or dramatic, such as enlarging an object to 200 times its original size while spinning it and changing its color. To create an animation, you associate an animation with an object's property value.

The ColorAnimation class creates a transition between two target values. To set its target values, use its From, To, and By properties. The following table summarizes how the From, To, and By properties may be used together or separately to determine an animation's target values.

Properties specified

Resulting behavior

From

The animation progresses from the value specified by the From property to the base value of the property being animated.

From and To

The animation progresses from the value specified by the From property to the value specified by the To property.

From and By

The animation progresses from the value specified by the From property to the value specified by the sum of the From and By properties.

To

The animation progresses from the animated property's base value or a previous animation's output value to the value specified by the To property.

By

The animation progresses from the base value of the property being animated or a previous animation's output value to the sum of that value and the value specified by the By property.

Note   If you set both the To and By properties, the To property takes precedence and the By property is ignored.

To use other interpolation methods or to animate between more than two target values, use a ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames object.

Examples

The following example shows how to use ColorAnimation to animate the background color of a Canvas.

XAML 
<Canvas
  xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"
  xmlns:x="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  Width="200" Height="200"
  Background="White"
  x:Name="Page">
  <Canvas.Triggers>
    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Canvas.Loaded">
      <BeginStoryboard>
        <Storyboard x:Name="ColorStoryboard">
          <!-- Animate the background color of the canvas from red to green
               over 4 seconds. -->
          <ColorAnimation BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="Page" 
           Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Panel.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
           From="Red" To="Green" Duration="0:0:4" />
        </Storyboard>
      </BeginStoryboard>
    </EventTrigger>
  </Canvas.Triggers>
</Canvas>

Notice in the example above that the property value being animated (Color), belongs to a SolidColorBrush object which is not named or even explicitly declared. This indirect targeting is accomplished using the special syntax below.

XAML 
<Canvas
  xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"
  xmlns:x="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  Width="200" Height="200">
  <Canvas.Background>
    <SolidColorBrush x:Name="mySolidColorBrush" Color="White" />
  </Canvas.Background>
  <Canvas.Triggers>
    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Canvas.Loaded">
      <BeginStoryboard>
        <Storyboard x:Name="ColorStoryboard">
          <!-- Animate the background color of the canvas from red to green
               over 4 seconds. -->
          <ColorAnimation BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="mySolidColorBrush" 
           Storyboard.TargetProperty="Color"
           From="Red" To="Green" Duration="0:0:4" />
        </Storyboard>
      </BeginStoryboard>
    </EventTrigger>
  </Canvas.Triggers>
</Canvas>

Alternatively, you could explicitly create the SolidColorBrush, name it, and target its Color property directly. The example below shows how to create the same animation as the previous one except it uses direct property targeting.

XAML 
<Canvas
  xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"
  xmlns:x="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  Width="200" Height="200">
  <Canvas.Background>
    <SolidColorBrush x:Name="mySolidColorBrush" Color="White" />
  </Canvas.Background>
  <Canvas.Triggers>
    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Canvas.Loaded">
      <BeginStoryboard>
        <Storyboard x:Name="ColorStoryboard">
          <!-- Animate the background color of the canvas from red to green
               over 4 seconds. -->
          <ColorAnimation BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="mySolidColorBrush" 
           Storyboard.TargetProperty="Color"
           From="Red" To="Green" Duration="0:0:4" />
        </Storyboard>
      </BeginStoryboard>
    </EventTrigger>
  </Canvas.Triggers>
</Canvas>

See Also

Animation Overview
Interactive Animations Overview