RE: FLASH: Tracking with Tell Target

[Curtis Bay]

There is another, perhaps less elegant, solution I came up with today

someone else might find a use for. By storing the box movieclip

offscreen, all the puzzle pieces can be set to their visible or

nonvisible state as the case may be. When the small onstage box is

clicked, the big offstage box movie clip simply proceeds to a frame

where all elements have been positioned onscreen. There aren't any

resetting problems because the movie clip does not load or unload,

simply moves its physical location.


Many thanks Marc and John. My mind is already reeling with the

possibilities of masking clips within clips. 


In all advanced Flash programming it is necessary to set up dozens of

empty frame/full frame states for movie clips. Wouldn't it be easier to

have DHTML-like show/hide? Wish list for Flash 4: an integrated

visibility attribute, allowing you to set a movie clip's visibility with

a Tell Target parameter.


Curtis



-----Original Message-----

From: Marc Hoffman [

marchofjps [dot] net (mailto:marchofjps [dot] net)

]

Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 1998 4:11 PM

To:

flashershocker [dot] com

Subject: Re: FLASH: Tracking with Tell Target



At 08:45 PM 10/13/98 -0700, you wrote:

>

>Example:

>=======

>Picture a puzzle composed of a large number of pieces--say 50. Each

time

>you click a piece it moves into the puzzle box. Any time you click the

>box it expands to fill the screen and displays all the pieces inside

>which have been selected up to that point.

> <SNIP>


Hi Curtis.


It should work to have each puzzle piece in a movie clip with "empty"

and

"visible" frames.  Place all clips in the same layer, above the layer

where

user interaction takes place.  Have them start empty and use Tell Target

to

move them each to the "visible" frame when clicked.  If you need the

piece

to have motion, do this in a lower layer than the one that holds all the

puzzle piece clips, and have the motion 1) move the piece into the same

position as the puzzle piece clip's "visible" counterpart and 2) when it

gets to that resting position, have it TellTarget the puzzle piece clip

to

become Visible (read on for how to conceal the clip even though the

piece

is "visible").  No reason why this shouldn't be stable.  But if, as you

suggested, clips are being reset or aren't getting called correctly

'cause

they haven't loaded, use an "If frame is loaded" condition before

getting

to that part of the movie.  If the pieces are optimized this shouldn't

add

too much to download time, even with 50 puzzle pieces.


The next issue is how to reveal those clips that are "visible" upon

clicking the box.  Do this with a mask layer above the puzzle piece

movie

clip layer. The counter-intuitive thing about masks is that they reveal

rather than conceal what is in the layer below.  "Masks" should more

aptly

be named "windows."  Anyway, create a solid rectangle the size of the

area

containing the puzzle pieces -- full stage if need be -- and put it in

its

own "visible/empty" clip.  Place this clip in the mask layer above the

puzzle piece clips.  Make the puzzle box (in a separate layer) a button

with a Tell Target that calls the mask's "visible" state.


If you need to conceal the user interactive layer (with the smaller

version

of the puzzle box), have two layers sandwiched in the middle of all

this.

Make one a full-screen mask (as in the previous paragraph) and have it

reveal a full-screen opaque backdrop beneath it, which will conceal all

layers below.  Use the same movie clip concept to make the mask idle and

functional.


Resulting Layers:

1. puzzle piece clip mask layer (a clip that masks all or none of the

stage);

2. puzzle piece clips (in their various "visible" and "empty" states);

3. backdrop mask layer (a clip that masks all or none of the stage);

4. backdrop (opaque, covers all of stage when mask above it is

activated);

5. user interactive layer with clickable pieces and puzzle box


Resulting Interactivity:

1. "visible" state, cannot be seen because there is an empty mask layer

above it) .

2. User clicks on puzzle box.  TellTarget causes a mask to reveal a

backdrop that conceals the interactive stuff. 

3. At the same time, TellTarget causes a mask on the top layer to reveal

the layer with all the puzzle piece clips in it.  Those clips that are

in

the "visible" state will now be viewable; those that are "empty" will

still

be invisible.


Remember that to TellTarget a movie clip, you must give the clip an

instance name by double-clicking it on the stage (PC platform) and

naming

its instance in the dialogue box that pops up.


Hope this helps.


-Marc H.



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