RE: FLASH: dynamic modify mask?

[Matt Wobensmith]

Hi Brad- 


You wrote:


>Do MCs used as masks also just use the first frame?


Yes, this is true. 


>Since the MCs acts as a grapcis, do you loose the frame actions?


Yes. Actions aren't supposed to go inside Graphic symbol frames - since

these timelines can't be given instance names, they can't be properly

targeted. 


Essentially, to create the mask effect, the Flash program takes symbols that

reside in a mask layer, converts them to Graphic symbols, and uses the first

frame and bottom layer as the masking area.


I think that it's quite natural to expect Flash to preserve all of the

attributes of Movie Clips to mask content - from a design point of view,

this would be awesome! Unfortunately, high-level engineering issues are

probably what prevents us from creating this kind of mask in Flash. The

masks in Flash are essentially good for static pieces; making them appear

animated or "dynamic" would require trickier techniques, for which I'd love

to hear people's input on.


This is a limit of the program that really hasn't been well documented. The

TechNote is there, but perhaps it should have been described in the book as

well.


If people feel strongly about having dynamic masks, or having changes to the

way Flash makes masks, please go ahead and make that request to the Flash

team at

wish-flashmacromedia [dot] com

. Sure, there are no guarantees of

anything, but this is one big way to make sure the team hears your feedback.


Matt





---------------

Matt Wobensmith

Macromedia


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