How do I paint multiple objetcs that move at different speeds in Java?

Question

I am working on homework for class, and its late because I can\'t seem to understand the material despite all the research that I am doing. I am a beginner and do not know m

Answer 1

However, I struggle with arrays and I am sure that I am not doing it correctly.

I wouldn't use Arrays.

Instead, have a Ball object manage its own state. Then you can have different color, speed, size etc for each Ball. Then when the Timer fires you just calculate the new position and repaint the Ball.

Here is an example to get you started:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.Timer;

public class BallAnimation4
{
    private static void createAndShowUI()
    {
        BallPanel panel = new BallPanel();

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("BallAnimation4");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.add( panel );
        frame.setSize(800, 600);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo( null );
        //frame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
        frame.setVisible( true );

        panel.addBalls(5);
        panel.startAnimation();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
        {
            public void run()
            {
                createAndShowUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

class BallPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener
{
    private ArrayList<Ball> balls = new ArrayList<Ball>();

    public BallPanel()
    {
        setLayout( null );
        setBackground( Color.BLACK );
    }

    public void addBalls(int ballCount)
    {
        Random random = new Random();

        for (int i = 0; i < ballCount; i++)
        {
            Ball ball = new Ball();
            ball.setRandomColor(true);
            ball.setLocation(random.nextInt(getWidth()), random.nextInt(getHeight()));
            ball.setMoveRate(32, 32, 1, 1, true);
//          ball.setMoveRate(16, 16, 1, 1, true);
            ball.setSize(32, 32);
            balls.add( ball );
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
    {
        super.paintComponent(g);

        for (Ball ball: balls)
        {
            ball.draw(g);
        }
    }

    public void startAnimation()
    {
        Timer timer = new Timer(75, this);
        timer.start();
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
    {
        move();
        repaint();
    }

    private void move()
    {
        for (Ball ball : balls)
        {
            ball.move(this);
        }
    }


    class Ball
    {
        public Color color = Color.BLACK;

        public int x = 0;
        public int y = 0;
        public int width  = 1;
        public int height = 1;

        private int moveX = 1;
        private int moveY = 1;
        private int directionX = 1;
        private int directionY = 1;
        private int xScale = moveX;
        private int yScale = moveY;

        private boolean randomMove = false;
        private boolean randomColor = false;
        private Random myRand = null;

        public Ball()
        {
            myRand = new Random();
            setRandomColor(randomColor);
        }

        public void move(JPanel parent)
        {
            int iRight = parent.getSize().width;
            int iBottom = parent.getSize().height;

            x += 5 + (xScale * directionX);
            y += 5 + (yScale * directionY);

            if (x <= 0)
            {
                x = 0;
                directionX *= (-1);
                xScale = randomMove ? myRand.nextInt(moveX) : moveX;
                if (randomColor) setRandomColor(randomColor);
            }

            if (x >= iRight - width)
            {
                x = iRight - width;
                directionX *= (-1);
                xScale = randomMove ? myRand.nextInt(moveX) : moveX;
                if (randomColor) setRandomColor(randomColor);
            }

            if (y <= 0)
            {
                y = 0;
                directionY *= (-1);
                yScale = randomMove ? myRand.nextInt(moveY) : moveY;
                if (randomColor) setRandomColor(randomColor);
            }

            if (y >= iBottom - height)
            {
                y = iBottom - height;
                directionY *= (-1);
                yScale = randomMove ? myRand.nextInt(moveY) : moveY;
                if (randomColor) setRandomColor(randomColor);
            }
        }

        public void draw(Graphics g)
        {
            g.setColor(color);
            g.fillOval(x, y, width, height);
        }

        public void setColor(Color c)
        {
            color = c;
        }

        public void setLocation(int x, int y)
        {
            this.x = x;
            this.y = y;
        }

        public void setMoveRate(int xMove, int yMove, int xDir, int yDir, boolean randMove)
        {
            this.moveX = xMove;
            this.moveY = yMove;
            directionX  = xDir;
            directionY  = yDir;
            randomMove  = randMove;
        }

        public void setRandomColor(boolean randomColor)
        {
            this.randomColor = randomColor;

            switch (myRand.nextInt(3))
            {
                case 0:  color = Color.BLUE;
                         break;
                case 1:  color = Color.GREEN;
                         break;
                case 2:  color = Color.RED;
                         break;
                default: color = Color.BLACK;
                         break;
            }
        }

        public void setSize(int width, int height)
        {
            this.width  = width;
            this.height = height;
        }
    }
}

Since your Arrays only contain the Point you want to paint you don't have any information about the speed each point should be moved at. The best you could do is create a random amount each point should be moved each time its location is changed. This would give erratic movement as each time you move a point the distance would be random.

If you want more constant speed then you would need to create a second Array to contain the distance each point should move every time.

This starts to get messy creating a new Array every time you want a new property to be unique for the object you want to paint. That is why the approach to create a custom Object with multiple properties is easier to manage.