Of all of Material Design's features, animation is probably the most important and exciting. Not only does it allow for the creation of beautiful, dynamic, and fun interfaces, but animation can also serve a useful purpose instructing and directing the user in a visual rather than written fashion. For example, when a user swipes a component and it disappears from the screen, it is obvious that the item has been dismissed. Likewise, when a component is tapped and it expands to provide more detail, there is no need to explain its functionality as this is visually apparent.
The vast majority of the time, the default material animations are perfectly suited to our purposes and are very easy to implement, particularly when using the CoordinatorLayout provided by the design support library. However, it is possible, and often desirable, to generate custom animations. Not only is this a lot of fun, it is also a great way to learn the material guidelines regarding...