 <p>If anyone stumbles upon this...</p> <p>I figured this out by using the sample project from the <a href="http://developer.android.com/training/animation/screen-slide.html" rel="nofollow">Android developer training</a> website. I created an anim folder in res and adding xml set files with the Object animator tag. I didnt understand how to manipulate the values correctly to get the desired animation but after some poking around i realized the following</p> <pre><code> &lt;objectAnimator android:valueFrom= android:valueTo= android:propertyName=" android:interpolator= android:duration= /&gt; </code></pre> <p>The valueFrom tag and the valueTo tag define the points the animation runs between and android fills in the rest. The property name is used to describe what kind of motion is being manipulated (translationX, translationY, rotationX, translationY, scaleX and scaleY). The interpolator sets the rate of change of the animation and finally duration specifies how long the animation should take. </p> <p>Once the animation files are made the following code can be used to set the animations on the fragments during a transaction. </p> <pre><code> getFragmentManager() .beginTransaction() .setCustomAnimations( R.animator.exampleOut, R.animator.exampleIn, R.animator.exampleOut, R.animator.exampleIn, ).add(R.id.container, new mFragment()).addToBackStack(null).commit();\ </code></pre> <p>the first two parameters of setCustomAnimations() set the motion of the two fragments when the transaction is initiated and the last two parameters set the motion of the two fragments when the transaction is reversed, i.e., the back button is pressed.</p> <p>This can be used to achieve the desired animation however I found that the outbound fragment would disappear from view for some reason. There fore I had to use AnimatorListener as follows:</p> <pre><code>Animator.AnimatorListener listener = new AnimatorListenerAdapter() { @Override public void onAnimationEnd(Animator arg0) { getFragmentManager() .beginTransaction() .setCustomAnimations( R.animator.exampleOut, 0, 0, R.animator.exampleIn ) .add(R.id.container, new mFragment()) .addToBackStack(null) .commit(); } }; slideback(listener); mHandler.post(new Runnable() { @Override public void run() { invalidateOptionsMenu(); } }); } private void slideback(Animator.AnimatorListener listener) { View movingFragmentView = cardFrontFragment.getView(); PropertyValuesHolder rotateY = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("rotationY", 15f); PropertyValuesHolder scaleX = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("scaleX", 0.8f); PropertyValuesHolder scaleY = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("scaleY", 0.8f); PropertyValuesHolder translateX = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("translationX", 500f); ObjectAnimator movingFragmentAnimator = ObjectAnimator. ofPropertyValuesHolder(movingFragmentView, rotateY, scaleX, scaleY, translateX); ObjectAnimator movingFragmentRotator = ObjectAnimator. ofFloat(movingFragmentView, "rotationY",15f, 0f); movingFragmentAnimator.setDuration(DURATION_TIME); movingFragmentRotator.setStartDelay(DELAY_TIME); AnimatorSet s = new AnimatorSet(); s.playTogether(movingFragmentAnimator, movingFragmentRotator); s.addListener(listener); s.start(); } private void slideForward (Animator.AnimatorListener listener) { View movingFragmentView = cardFrontFragment.getView(); PropertyValuesHolder rotateY = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("rotationY", 15f); PropertyValuesHolder scaleX = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("scaleX", 1.0f); PropertyValuesHolder scaleY = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("scaleY", 1.0f); PropertyValuesHolder translateX = PropertyValuesHolder.ofFloat("translationX", 0f); ObjectAnimator movingFragmentAnimator = ObjectAnimator. ofPropertyValuesHolder(movingFragmentView, rotateY, scaleX, scaleY, translateX); ObjectAnimator movingFragmentRotator = ObjectAnimator. ofFloat(movingFragmentView, "rotationY",15f, 0f); movingFragmentAnimator.setDuration(DURATION_TIME); movingFragmentRotator.setStartDelay(DELAY_TIME); movingFragmentRotator.setDuration(DURATION_TIME); AnimatorSet s = new AnimatorSet(); s.playTogether(movingFragmentAnimator, movingFragmentRotator); s.addListener(new AnimatorListenerAdapter() { @Override public void onAnimationEnd(Animator animation) { mShowingBack = false; } }); s.start(); } </code></pre> <p>This allows you to set the properties for the outbound fragment dynamically during runtime and for some reason allows the fragment to remain in view.</p>