Animated Image-Button - wpf

Question

I need help with an custom "Image-Button" that i have used for a while. It works great, but i can't figure out how to animate the button with these three states (normal, mouseover, pressed):
Normal to MouseOver
MouseOver to Pressed
Im not that skilled with XAML so I couldn't figure it out. Anyway here's the code i've been using:
<Button Height="40" HorizontalAlignment="Left" IsEnabled="True" IsHitTestVisible="True" Margin="262,219,0,0" Name="home_btn" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="89">
<Button.Template>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
<Grid>
<Image Name="Normal" Source="normal.png" />
<Image Name="Hover" Source="hover.png" Visibility="Hidden" />
<Image Name="Pressed" Source="pressed.png" Visibility="Hidden" />
</Grid>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="ButtonBase.IsPressed" Value="True">
<Setter Property="UIElement.Visibility" TargetName="Normal" Value="Hidden" />
<Setter Property="UIElement.Visibility" TargetName="Pressed" Value="Visible" />
</Trigger>
<Trigger Property="UIElement.IsMouseOver" Value="True">
<Setter Property="UIElement.Visibility" TargetName="Normal" Value="Hidden" />
<Setter Property="UIElement.Visibility" TargetName="Hover" Value="Visible" />
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Button.Template>
</Button>
Any answer is appreciated.

Answer 1

An other way to accomplish animation is to use triggers like you did in combination with Storyboards
Here is some sample code (integrated in your posted code):
<Button Height="40" HorizontalAlignment="Left" IsEnabled="True" IsHitTestVisible="True" Margin="262,219,0,0" Name="home_btn" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="89">
<Button.Template>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
<Grid>
<Image Name="Normal" Source="normal.png" />
<Image Name="Hover" Source="hover.png" Opacity="0"/>
<Image Name="Pressed" Source="pressed.png" Opacity="0" />
</Grid>
<ControlTemplate.Resources>
<Storyboard x:Key="MouseDownTimeLine">
<DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="Pressed" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity">
<SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.05" Value="1"/>
</DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
<Storyboard x:Key="MouseUpTimeLine">
<DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="Pressed" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity">
<SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.25" Value="0"/>
</DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
<Storyboard x:Key="MouseEnterTimeLine">
<DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="Hover" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity">
<SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.25" Value="1"/>
</DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
<Storyboard x:Key="MouseExitTimeLine">
<DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="Hover" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity">
<SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.25" Value="0"/>
</DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
</ControlTemplate.Resources>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="ButtonBase.IsPressed" Value="True">
<Trigger.EnterActions>
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource MouseDownTimeLine}"/>
</Trigger.EnterActions>
<Trigger.ExitActions>
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource MouseUpTimeLine}"/>
</Trigger.ExitActions>
</Trigger>
<Trigger Property="UIElement.IsMouseOver" Value="True">
<Trigger.EnterActions>
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource MouseEnterTimeLine}"/>
</Trigger.EnterActions>
<Trigger.ExitActions>
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource MouseExitTimeLine}"/>
</Trigger.ExitActions>
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Button.Template>

Answer 2

You should probably use the VisualStateManager for that sort of thing, see its documentation for a usage example.