116 replies to this topic

[Anthony Rocha]

Drag and drop date component...

Attached Files

•  dateSB.swi   9.65K   428 downloads

[Anthony Rocha]

Not an intended feature but more of a tip or trick.

A really simple example of how one can build their own library catalog of buttons colors and shapes and import it for use with other projects.

Simply create the items you want in your library on stage. Add them to the library, Then delete them from the stage. Save the .swi file I saved this as library.swi. Place it in your components folder. When you drag the library component to the stage you will see nothing onstage, BUT your library will be populated with all the items that are found in the .swi's library, and ready to use.

It can be a handy way of putting allot of commonly used items in one library as opposed to storing them all as separate components or .swi files (especially handy for favorite color schemes). likewise you can keep building and adding to your custom library by simply copy and pasting new elements/shapes/or movie clips to the library.swi, adding them to the .swi's library, deleting them from the stage and saving the file again.

Place library.swi in components folder, and start max. (or if max is already running right click within the components panel and select "reload“ to refresh the components list). drag the library component to the stage and then examine your library in the content panel.

The attached library is just a simple example and contains nothing earth shattering

Attached Files

•  library.swi   99.45K   395 downloads

[FranklinFerreira]

Dear Tony,

I just realize that you are actualy offering all this for free... very generous of you

Thank you!

[Anthony Rocha]

It's for a good cause.. These guys worked hard for long time.. Plus they deal with us and our complaining and whining That can't be easy to do heh...

[philtronix]

I've been doing this over and over and for some reason the drop shadow filter isnt working,
and I've gone over your video tutorial like 6x - I'm doing it exactly as you show - am I missing
something here or do I have to buy the program for these 3rd party components to work?

Phil

[FranklinFerreira]

Make sure you are exporting to SWF8.

[Anthony Rocha]

Hi Phil

Just as "Lee" posted the export settings need to be set to flash/swf version 8 to work. You'll find the export settings by opening the export panel (from the windows menu up top). Then hit the "export settings for movie" button. You'll then be presented with the export settings dialog. Make sure you've got the swf category on the left selected then set the flash version dropdown (in the middle) to swf8.

see image sequence if you've not found it yet... *edit seems you cant post attachments in order anymore on the forums, the sequence goes: middle pic, last pic, first pic.

Attached Files

•  3.jpg   45.57K   119 downloads
•  1.jpg   27.5K   116 downloads
•  2.jpg   14.46K   121 downloads

[philtronix]

Ah - sorry about that - cool stuff.....

Quick question - these drop shadows and their distances/strength - can they
be scripted to change distance/strength over a motion tween to simulate going
closer and farther from the 'surface' ?

[Bill McCarthy]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem.

I CAN get it to work properly if I view it using File - Test - in Flash Player with no problem.

But, is it not supposed to also work when run in the internal viewer now?

[Anthony Rocha]

Certainly can, but you've got to script the drop shadow filter yourself you can't use the filter component to do that, at least not this version of it. I've been working on some animated filter components but their not complete.

I'll post a scripted/animated shadow filter when I get back shortly if no one else has time to do it before then...

[Anthony Rocha]

hmmm.. interesting Bill.. It almost sounds as if your flash plug-in (ocx) is less that flash 8 which is what the stage is using, but when you test in player your testing in player v8 at least.. I'll be back shortly let me know if you don't get it sorted.. Maybe try updating your flash browser plug-in and see if that resolves it.

[Damien Skracic]

When you play the movie internally, right click in the movie area to see which version of flash activeX control you are using.

[Anthony Rocha]

Phil.

Heres an example of animated shadow distance...

The general issue with stuff like this is that this is only one way to animate one parameter. You can animate all the prarameters in any number of ways. For example you could activate this with a button and in doing so one might script it in a different fashion. Or it could be animated left to right based on the user draging a lightbulb across the stage for example, and that would require yet another variation on the script etc.

Anyways heres a basic example..

The code is:

onSelfEvent (load)
{
	distance = 0 //this sets the initial distance to zero i.e. no drop shadow
	onEnterFrame = function()
	{
			distance++;  //this increments/increases the distance with each frame thats played
			mydrop = new flash.filters.DropShadowFilter(distance, 45, 0x000000, 0.45, 2, 3, 2, 5, false, false, false);
			filters = [mydrop];
			if(distance >= 145) //change this to change the distance this sets the maximum distance at end of animation 
			{
				delete onEnterFrame;
			}
	  }

And frankly to make it more convincing one might want to "scale" the star larger a bit given that the illusion is supposed to make it look like its getting closer to the viewer.. At the same time you might animate the "blur" or "strenth" of the shadow just a bit as well so that the farther away it gets the less defined the shadow gets as one would expect a real shadow to do.

*edit couldn’t help myself so I added the enhanced file that implements the above additional suggestions..

Attached Files

•  animated_drop_shadow_enhanced.swi   8.49K   329 downloads
•  animated_drop_shadow_distance.swi   8.84K   270 downloads

[Bill McCarthy]

Damien,

It is set to export as Flash 8.

Here are three images. One shows what it looks like (no drop shadow showing) and it says it is 'About Macromedia FlashPlayer 7' (even though it is clearly.

The second one shows what happens when I click that. It takes me to Macromedia's website and it tells me "You have version 9,0,47,0 installed" (which is supposed to be the latest version).

The third one shows that I have it set to export as Flash 8.

What am I doing wrong??

Attached Files

•  Clipboard01.jpg   14.08K   56 downloads
•  Clipboard02.jpg   88.38K   44 downloads
•  Clipboard03.jpg   110.95K   41 downloads

[philtronix]

What about a dynamic drop shadow for random object 'paths' such as
the 'magnet' effect found on the older forums for a shape ( which I pasted
into the script tab for Max2 and it didnt work.... )

Code:

onLoad () {
defaultX = _x;
defaultY = _y;
magnet = 200;
}
onEnterFrame() {
X0 = this._x;
y0 = this._y;
X1 = _root._xmouse;
Y1 = _root._ymouse;
rangeX = X1-X0;
rangeY = Y1-Y0;
range= Math.sqrt(rangeX*rangeX+rangeY*rangeY);
powerX = _x-rangeX/range*magnet/range;
powerY = _y-rangeY/range*magnet/range;
forceX = (forceX+(defaultX-X0)/2)/1.660000;
forceY = (forceY+(defaultY-Y0)/2)/1.660000;
_x = powerX+forceX;
_y = powerY+forceY;
}


:End of Code -

Put this on an object in Max1, test it out, and see if you can make it happen in Max2,
then see if you can put a drop shadow that 'dynamically' adjusts to the position of this
parent object realtime.

Although I thought, wouldnt it be easier to just create a 'clear' object with a drop
shadow and motion tween that seperately yet exactly to the parent....and I tried to
do it and Max2 when you set the shape fill to 'None' produces, naturally, no drop shadow.

Any way around that so I can do the idea above - since your the
macdaddy who authored these filters anyway....=)

Tronix