Grouping/ungrouping movie clips

Hello, I am trying to figure out how to bring in a group of 4
separate movie clips and have them behave as a single clip, and
then allow the viewer to "ungroup" the clips so that their
properties will be accessible individually. I can do the first
part, it's the second part that is giving me fits. Initially, I
want the viewer to be able to move things around on the stage. I've
entered the attached script in frame one of my timeline.
The script loads 4 clips, arranges them in a square, and
allows the viewer to drag all 4 around the stage as if they were
one clip. Clicking the release_mc instance disables the startDrag
action, but I don't know how to add a startDrag to the other clips
that is enabled with the same user action.

you have to use a hitTest() for the child movieclips of
bigBox. all mouse events will be interecepted by the parent.

Similar Messages

Disable visibility of group of movie clips?

Very simple question... How do I set up an array (or other method), to disable the visibility of a group of movie clips all at once?
I've tried this...
var invisibleMCs:Array = new Array ("MC1", "MC2", "MC3");
invisibleMCs._visible = false;
...and it does not work. I know this is a very basic problem, but one I'm not getting my tiny brain around. Any help would be appreciated.

you need to loop through your array:
mcVisibleF(false);
function mcVisibleF(b:Boolean){
for(var i:Number=0;i<invisibleMCs.length;i++){
invisibleMCs[i]._visible=b;

IPad - with movie clips - how can I play more than one at a time?

iPad2. I post short movie clips via iTunes to the Photo catagory. I can play each of these clips by selecting the clip and pressing the start arrow, only the selected clip will play. How can I select a group of movie clips and have them play with only one selection. Like a "slide show" but for movie clips???

More than one contacts at a time

Transform on movie clips

I am loading a bunch of movie clips dynamically. Right now,
the movie clips undergo a color transform for the onRelease()
action. Now, I want to be able to transform a group of movie clips
on the onRelease() action of a single movieclip.
What would be the recommendation to accomplish this task? I'm
sure there are many ways to do it, but I don't know where to start.
I tried to put the movie clips into an array to then access the
movie clips. I can get the properties of the movieclips that I want
to transform, but I cannot transform them.

This is the code that I use:
for (var j:Number = 0; j<quad.length; j++) {
var bu_mc:MovieClip = quad[j];
bu_mc.select();
trace("xPos: "+bu_mc._x+" building: "+bu_mc._name);
The correct _x and _name are displayed, but nothing happens
to the movieclip.
select() is a function that I've defined. It works when
called by the movieclip itself, but is not working when called by a
different movieclip.

Accessing an Array in a duplicated movie clip

I have a movie clip that has a script declaration of:
var myCGroup:Array = Array();
in the first frame.
(I've also tried var myCGroup:Array; var myCGroup:Array = new
Array(); and var myCGroup:Array = []; )
I duplicate this movie clip multiple times. I'm having
trouble targeting the variable myCGroup from elsewhere in the
timeline. Other non-array variables that are declared in the same
place are fully accessible.
The only code I've been able to write that writes to this
variable is:
eval(targetThumb).myCGroup = prodFlush[2].childNodes;
which actually takes the childnodes and creates an array with
them.
However, reading them back out from a separate function later
is impossible:
trace("colors to target =====" +
eval(masterProds[sm]).myCGroup);
returns nothing. I can read and write to other variables from
the same function using the same targeting.
(yes, materProds[sm] == targetThumb)
Also, the following code results in an undefined array:
// for(cg=0;cg<cGroupArray.length;cg++){
eval(targetThumb).myCGroup.push(cGroupArray[cg].firstChild.nodeValue);
// trace("time: " + cg + " || adding this color group " +
cGroupArray[cg].firstChild.nodeValue + " to product: "+ targetThumb
+ "===== " + eval(targetThumb).myCGroup)
Is this a bug, or a documented local vs. global variable
option that I'm unaware about regarding arrays?
Any other thoughts? I'm at my wits end.
Thanks in advance.
-r

question[i] = questionSet.getString(i);Try:
question[i] = questionSet.getString(1);Or better still:
question[i] = questionSet.getString("QUESTION");or "ANSWER" for the anser record set.
ResultSet.getString(int) looks up the value in a column (starting at index 1) in a result set.
getString(String) looks up the value in a column by column name.

Please help! Nested Movie Clips as navigation bar

Hi everyone,
I just had my first flash lesson a couple of days ago, but decided to venture myself into trying to build a navigation tool bar with movie clips grouped together. My intention is that once the mouse rolls over one particular movie clip, another movie clip fades in under it (my version of a "drop down" menu). Just so it happens, the movie clip that fades in, is also comprised of particular movie clips with their own behaviors (roll over tween effects).
I can make each individual movie clip behave as it should, but I cannot get them to work once they are pieced together. I'm attaching a link that contains the file I'm talking about (submenu), in the hopes that one of you good Samaritans would take a look at it and tell me where I went wrong.
Hopefully I haven't absolutely shocked you guys with my level of ignorance.
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B09iy1xwVTUYZmY0NjdhM2EtZDRjYS00MGNlLWJmNmEtMDJmOTI4ZT ZjYWFi&hl=en
Gaby

its just with the frame labels you have given every where.
and its the same "over" and "out"
the player is confused to play which one fist
i removed some lables and saw that it works partially. (did not debug the whole fla)
hope you will got the way

How do I make a movie clip play between scenes?

I am VERYnew to flash so please bear with me. I am having a
problem with a movie clip playing between scenes. As scene 1 plays,
the movie works correctly. When I click on my button to go to scene
2 the movie clip starts over. I would like it to continue from
scene 1 seamlessly. Is this possible? How do I do it?

avoid scenes - they are only for timeline management inside
flash only - upon export it all becomes
one long timeline - using them can be useful but in many
instances it can cause navigational issues
such as yours. Many developers avoid scenes - the ones who
use them are mostly animators who have
longer timelines with different scenes (actual settings, like
backgrounds and characters).
--> Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)
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Maureen Getchell wrote:
> I am VERYnew to flash so please bear with me. I am
having a problem with a
> movie clip playing between scenes. As scene 1 plays, the
movie works correctly.
> When I click on my button to go to scene 2 the movie
clip starts over. I would
> like it to continue from scene 1 seamlessly. Is this
possible? How do I do it?
>

Why use Ctrl-A just to see properties of a movie clip

I'm going through Todd Perkins' video tutorials for
ActionScript 3.0 (very good, btw) and in Chapter 5 "Handling Mouse
Clicks" there's a point where Todd says 'note that the movie clip
in the animation layer, if I lock everything else except for the
animation layer and press Ctrl-A, you can see that it's called
animation_mc".
Question - why do I need to lock all the other layers and
then hit Ctrl-A just to see the properties of the animation layer?
Once I've followed these steps and I can see the properties of
animation_mc, if I unlock just one of the other layers the
properties pane changes and shows me details of a frame. What's
going on here?
Thanks.

quote:
Originally posted by:
Newsgroup User
jcbluesman,
> Question - why do I need to lock all the other layers
> and then hit Ctrl-A just to see the properties of the
> animation layer?
>> You don't. You can select that particular movie clip
simply by clicking
>>on it -- but, as often as not, your symbol might be
layered under other
>>content, even partially or wholly obscured by it. In
cases like that,
>>locking and unlocking groups of layers can make quick
work of finding assets
>>on the Stage.
> if I unlock just one of the other layers the properties
> pane changes and shows me details of a frame. What's
> going on here?
>> The Property inspector is context sensitive, so it
changes based on what
>>you have selected. As soon as you unlock another
layer, you've changed your
>>selection. That happens because you've clicked on a
layer to unlock it. By
>>clicking the layer, you select the first frame of
that layer, which is what
>> updates the Property inspector.
David Stiller
Co-author, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers
http://tinyurl.com/5j55cv
"Luck is the residue of good design."
Thank you very much, David! I was thinking that when I hit
Ctrl-A I was selecting all the layers and I know better than that.
If I'd thought about it longer, I could have figured out I was
selecting everything on the stage. In this particular case, my
movie starts out with nothing but white the first few frames and
the stage is white. Add in the fact that I'm new to Flash and I
confused myself into thinking the movie wasn't really represented
on the stage. My mistake.

Retain layers with group/ungroup CS5

I'm hoping that I've missed a check box hidden somewhere in illustrator.
I work with complex figures and often use group to move sections around and align panels. Unfortunately, this process flattens all the objects into a single layer; which is ok when I'm moving the group, but NOT OK when I need to ungroup and edit the objects in separate layers again.
For example:
Graphic overlay, text, highlight behind text.
One use is when I'm making a template, distributing the artwork to fit available space, and then going back in and updating the text and highlights, etc.
I'm dealing with too many objects to manually reassign the layers after ungrouping.
Thanks.

Thanks for the quick response. I was afraid that this might be the case. Oh, how I miss FreeHand...
No. This feature has never existed in AI and still doesn't today. Layer affinity is not an attribute of the object, it's just the otehr way around, so any object that is grouped with ones on otehr layers is gobbled up into the dominant layer, which is usually the one the first object belonged to.
Mylenium

Misplaced Movie Clips in iPhoto Library

Hello
I'm hoping that you may be able to help me out with the following situation and advise me if I am on the right lines or need to stop and do something else! I have searched through the forum for similar problems and have tried to follow the suggestions found.
I fear something strange has happened, although I have been careful to heed the dire warnings about fiddling with things in the iPhoto Library folders. I include information which I think may be relevant.
Over a period of time (years!), I have imported a series of photos and 30 second video clips of music concerts from a Canon camera and they are sorted into Film Rolls. In some instances in order to remember which songs the video clips represent I have renamed the file - e.g. MVI_0052.AVI is now RTY MVI_0052.AVI. When clicking on the renamed file, it plays in QuickTime, but the name that displays at the top of the image is the original MVI_0052.AVI.
Q: Does renaming the file create a duplicate, or does it simply create a link from the renamed file to the original?
Q: Would it be better not to rename the files, but to use keywords to differentiate them? If I edit the renamed files and revert them to the original name will this help with the problem below or confuse things more?
Some of the video clips will not play when clicked on in the Film Roll; they seem to have converted from .avi to .jpeg.
If I do a search in spotlight on (for example) just the MVI_0052 tag, the original movie clip is usually found in the Movies list, often with the following location:
/Users/myname/Pictures/iPhoto Library/2001/01/01/Originals
I can drag this clip to the Desktop, Import it into iPhoto Library, move it into the correct roll, where it retains the MVI_0052 tag. So, I now have two copies of the clip in the appropriate roll. Whichever one I click on, both play as MVI_0052. Should I delete one from the film roll? If so, which one - the MVI_0052 I just dragged in or the renamed one RTY MVI_0052?
Incidentally, the 2001 folder is vast, contains 37.8 GB and seems to have been created in August 2006. The sub-folder /Users/myname/Pictures/iPhoto Library/2001/01/01 contains an assortment of files:
a) The majority are jpeg images of MVI files, e.g. MVI_0008.jpg; these show the jpeg icon against the file name until you click on it and then the picture (which seems to be a still of the MVI file) appears.
b) Within this folder there are just a few genuine MVI files, e.g. MVI-0008.AVI
c) There are also a few AVI files which have the QuickTime Player icon against the file name. These will also play when clicked on.
The file: /Users/myname/Pictures/iPhoto Library/2001/01/01/Originals contains only .AVI files and many of them.
Some of the movie files have simply disappeared. That is, they exist in the Film Roll, but nothing happens if I click on the file; a Spotlight search does not find them anywhere on the hard drive. I suspect these are lost forever and would be better deleted.
If anyone can tell me whether I am doing the right thing by dragging the .avi file from the spotlight finder location to the desktop and then importing it into the iPhoto Library again that would be really helpful. I fear it will take some time to work through all the film rolls and verify each movie clip, but I imagine this is the only way to find those that are retrievable.
I am wanting to move the iPhoto Library to a LaCie external hard drive and delete from my laptop, but before I do I think I need to sort this out. Apologies for such a long post, I have tried to give all the information that might be relevant.
Thanks for your time and interest.....and yes, I do know I should have backed it up along time ago; some lessons are learnt the painful way
Jill

Thanks Terence for your swift response.
Terence Devlin wrote:
Q: Does renaming the file create a duplicate, or does it simply create a link from the renamed file to the original?
Did you rename the File? Or add a Title to it in iPhoto. It sounds like you added a title in iPhoto, and this does not rename the file. Renaming (or titling) a pic/movie does not create a duplicate - nor is there "a link to the Original". It's simply an entry in the iPhoto database. If you want to use the title as filename then you can do that using the Share -> Export command - it's one of the options there.
So, if you title a movie "RTY - Whatever", it shows in iPhoto as that, but when played in QT it's still just 'Whatever' as the filename hasn't changed.
You are right: I simply added a Title to it in iPhoto. Thanks for clearing this up...
When you import a movie it goes to the Originals Folder and iPhoto creates a jpeg of the first frame. This is used for the thumbnail.
If anyone can tell me whether I am doing the right thing by dragging the .avi file from the spotlight finder location to the desktop and then importing it into the iPhoto Library again that would be really helpful.
It's best to search the iPhoto Library Folder from iPhoto. Spotlight finds all the versions - thumbnail, preview jpeg and the Movie. This is not especially helpful and is a source of confusion.
I'm not sure what you achieve by dragging a movie out of iPhoto and then back into it?
The reason for this is that at some point I had to rebuild the library and since then some of the video clips will not play from iPhoto. I searched the forum and read the following from Lori DiLoreto and have been trying to follow this advice.
"The thumbnails (jpeg pointer files) were made by iPhoto when the movie files were imported.
I'll tell you what happened to me when I did a library rebuild. It messed up the link between the jpg point files and the movie files.
when the rebuild of the library was done I had the jpeg pointer files pointing to nothing. When those were double clicked in iPhoto nothing would happen.
i had to navigate through the iPhoto Library folder in the finder and find all my movie clips and drag them all to the desktop. Then I had to go through my library within iPhoto and delete all the jpeg pointer thumbnails that were pointing to nothing. It was a major pain."
So I have used Spotlight to see if the movie file still exists (within Spotlight I have the search grouped by "Kind" so it is easy to see which are the Movies). If it does, I have then dragged it to the desktop and reimported it. If I do this I have 2 representations of the video clip in the film roll - the one that originally would not play now does, the one I just imported also plays. However, I am not sure which it might be safe to delete.
My aim is to get this into a fit state to save onto an external hard drive, delete and start afresh. However, it is proving to be a challenge!
Thanks again for your help.
Jill

Dynamic movie clip removal

I'm working on a Flash/XML photo album that loads image
thumbnails dynamically by creating individual movie clips for each
thumbnail. The thumbnails are divided into 10 groups. Every time a
new group of thumbnails is selected from the album the XML array is
upadated with the correspondig image file name and path. The only
problem is that since there are different number of photos in each
thumbnail group the extra image_mc's created dynamically remain,
even if they are not from the specific group. For example for group
1 I have 6 thumbnail images, group 2 contains 4 thumbnail images.
If I start with group 1 and then select group 2, the 4 thumbnails
from group 1 are displayed plus number 5 and 6 from the previous
group. What's the best way to remove all the image_mc's created
dynamically before each new thumbnail load. This is what I have so
far and it doesn't work:
// thumbnails is the array
function thumbDisplay(thumbnails){
var galleryLength:Number = thumbnails.length;
removeMC();
// loop through each of the images in the gallery_array.
for (var i = 0; i<galleryLength; i++) {
/* create a movie clip instance which holds the image, also
set a variable,
thisMC, which is an alias to the movie clip instance. */
thisMC = this.createEmptyMovieClip("image"+i+"_mc", i);
/* load the current image source into the new movie clip
instance,
using the MovieClipLoader class. */
mcLoader_mcl.loadClip("photos/"+selectedGallery+"/thumbs/"+thumbnails
,thisMC);
function removeMC():Void{
for(var i=0; i<thumbnails.length; i++){
thisMC.removeMovieClip("image"+i+"_mc");
Any help would be great. Thanks.

try:

Problems with movie clips in time line-program keeps quiting

Not sure if I love this new iMovie version. I have imported many clips with my Sony Digital Hi 8. No problem with past versions. Everything went good until trying to put the clips into the time line. Everytime I try working with the time line and the imported movie clips the program quits...every time. Is this normal. Its getting pretty frusterating.
Thanks for any help.
Shane

I feel your pain in that the same things are happening to us. My wife is trying to edit many video clips imported from a Panasonic PV - GS39. iMovie crashes constantly when trying to work with this particular project. I have successfully edited a project that consisted of mainly still pics with only a few short video clips thrown in. I've tried many of the suggestions from this discussion group (QT plugs, trashing prefs, etc...) with no success. I'll keep trying for a solution though.

Importing AI Layer Names as Movie Clip Names?

Hi all,
We've got an Illustrator file with something over 1,000 layers. We're trying to import this into Flash and keep the layer names intact, such that they become the names of the movie clips that are imported for each layer and can be used programmatically. (It is a diagram and arrows, boxes, etc all have callout names that will eventually allow them to link to a database.)
As near as I can tell, the Import dialog will NOT pass this info across between the two parts of the dialog. Anyone have a magical suggestion for how to make it do so? We're using Flash CS4, but I have access to CS5 too if that will help.
Thanks in advance,
Eric.

I give up.
Dear Adobe/Macromedia engineer in charge of the Illustrator Import Filter. Please DIAF. All you had to do was copy the damned layer name across the panel into the Instance name field, but that would make it too easy!
So, I figured I'd script around it. Wrote an Applescript that changes the color and transparency of every single item in the entire document to be unique and generates a text file annotating what was what. Then I tried to import it into Flash so that I could use that text file to reapply names to everything. IMMEDIATELY stymied though, because the effing Illustrator->Flash importer is inaccurate as HELL about what transparency number actually gets imported. I needed to use 0.1% transparency increments to be able to accomodate enough groups. As near as I can tell Flash barely supports 1% increments accurately though! WHAT THE HELL?!
Anyways, sorry for venting, but the experience is soooo typical of the crap you run into trying to get anything done in Flash...
Argh.

Character Animation: Movie Clip or Graphic Symbols?

Should I use Movie Clip or Graphic Symbols for Character
Animation? What do people who make TV shows use. If I'm not
planning on manipulating any symbols with ActionScript and I'm not
using a symbol that requires it's own time line like a walk cycle,
is there any reason to use movie clips symbols? If I put my
animation on the web will it download noticeably faster if I use
graphic symbols instead of movie clip symbols?

What I meant is, there are different ways of setting up a
workflow for Flash animation. Studio animators are trained in
traditional frame-by-frame animation. So their workflow is usually
to do the same in Flash: make every frame a keyframe, then copy and
paste everything from one frame into the next, then make whatever
changes are needed. A classically-trained animator can get a good
momentum working this way.
But for making the most streamlined SWF files, this method is
not the best. It's much better to rely on library assets, place
major parts or sets of parts on different layers, and only keyframe
those things that need keyframes. If good planning is done in
advance, it can be just as fast as doing straight-ahead keyframed
animation.
Either method may end up with the same result. But when you
want to go back and tweak things, it's a whole lot easier to do it
when method 2 is used.
I'm sure I'm not very clear. PM me and I'll send you a list I
created of "best practices" which I give to e-card animators.
One of these best practices is: place a thumbtack on the "G"
key on your keyboard. The very WORST habit that is taught to studio
animators using Flash is to use neither Graphics nor Movie Clips,
but to immediately click Ctrl-G every time they draw something.
This creates a Group. It's faster than hitting F8 and typing in a
name, but it causes ENORMOUS problems, especially when doing
retakes and revisions. And it results in gargantuan SWF files.
I literally GLUED a thumbtack to one one animator's keyboard,
since he seemed unable to remember this rule. Luckily this wasn't
in America, or I'd have been charged with grievous bodily
assualt.

Comment créer une boîte de dialogue pour rendre un movie-clip personnalisable ?

Bonjour,
Je souhaiterais connaitre les outils pour rendre un movie-clip personnalisable.
Par exemple : créer une boîte de dialogue spécifique à ce movie-clip pour le modifier.
Je suis auteur d'un outil - 'e-anim' - dont j'ai présenté une ancienne version à Adobe. E-anim propose une collection d'outils pour personnaliser chaque groupe (movie-clip) dans une animation. Je dois présenter ces outils dans un cadre institutionnel. et on me demande l'état de l'art en ce domaine.
J'ai toujours eu d'excellents contacts avec Adobe, et si mon travail peut profiter à tous j'en serais heureux.
Je me tiens à votre disposition pour tout renseignement complémentaires.
En vous remerciant
Philippe Destrumel

voila un petit exemple, si tu as des questions, n'hésite pas !
When my feet touch the ground each morning the devil thinks "bloody hell... He's up again!"
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Grouping/ungrouping movie clips

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