Layer manipulation in actionscript

Okay, this is something I've not found much material on, it's possible I'm looking for the wrong thing in the wrong places, so I'm posting here!
I'm creating a game-engine, which will add objects to itself as symbols, and I want to be able to choose how they are "layered". For example, say I decide to model things in a type of 3D, and the Z co-ordinate is used for depth (distance from front), how would I translate this into an object 1 unit away rendering in front of an object rendering 2 units away? The engine programming I've done fine in terms of calculating the values etc., as I have a strong javascript background so that was the easy what with actionscript's neat OO syntax, but getting it to do things visually is a bit problematic know, heh. So far all I've really managed is a nice little loading bar, which isn't really that hard =D
Also, the symbols I create are actually going to be comprised of multiple parts; a base-layer, a detail-layer, and a colour-layer. What is the easiest way to do this? Ideally I'd create the symbol with multiple layers of its own, and simply toggle the detail and colour-layers on/off as required, and tint the colour-layer independently of the rest of the symbol. Is this possible? Or will I need to use multiple symbols and move them in tandem myself?

Hmm, there must have been some way before the 3D features to control whether a symbol appears in front of or behind another symbol? The solution doesn't have to involve layers in the editor's sense; if I have to do it using three or four symbols that render on top of each other then I will, but there must be some way to do this as I've seen such effects but don't know what to look for in order to find out how myself =(

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mbrellisford
> I have this whole movie that I created using
actionscript and I
> want it to fade in...
Okay.
> I created a movie clip on a layer above the actionscript
and
> placed the movie clip on that....
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your SWF
is compiled, those layers are gone. They're an organizational
metaphor for
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> The fade in work (background images fade in) but
everything
> that was created using actions doesn't....
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tell from your
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> I created a movie clip on a layer above the actionscript
... then ...
> placed the movie clip on that
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Dev blog,
http://www.quip.net/blog/
"Luck is the residue of good design."

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Check it out :http://mr-agu.deviantart.com/#/d2s1vfc
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Yes, the problem is whith the button. But i have given the button the same instance name " home_btn".
Now error is :
TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
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And the button and actionscritp are in the same frame(365). but it says error in frame 366 !
Click on this pic and u will get a clear idea of my problem.

Statment must appear within on hanlder....

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Do not put that code on your button. Put it in the timeline that contains the button that has an instance name of "nxt" - you can create a layer specifically for actionscript and place it there so that it is easy to find. If you do it correctly a lowercase "a" should appear in the timeline frame where you place it. I deally the newthumb() function should also be in that same timeline frame.
In AS2 you can place code on objects but it is written differently. Doing that is considered bad practice though because it makes code harder to find and can confuse targeting things properly.
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Flash Banner linking

I am in Dreamweaver CS3. I have a Flash animation in a div
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an area on another line outside the Flash graphic. Am I asking too
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In other words, HTML cannot add links to Flash objects. That
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Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.projectseven.com/go
- DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs,
Tutorials & Resources
==================
"poodle101" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:fqlo4t$6mf$[email protected]..
> Hi,
>
> Add the actionscript below to a frame in your movie
clip.
>
> Cheers
>
> Paul
>
> this.onMouseDown = function() {
> getURL("www.yoursite.com");
> };
>
> or maybe if your are linking to a page in your site say
the homepage try
> something like this
>
> this.onMouseDown = function() {
> getURL("../index.html");
> };
>
> In the same layer as your actionscript make a
transparent box the same
> size as
> the
> banner.
>
>
>

Tweening assistance needed

Hello
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Select frame 1 again and click on the symbol on the stage. In the properties panel, in the color dropdown list, select "Alpha". Either drag the slider that appears down to 0%, or enter 0% in the field there. Repeat this for the frame 40.
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Help the newbie

I'm so new to Dreamweaver. I can only create static webpages
but now I really have to create a page with dynamic contents (like
get live data from a db), lots of layer manipulation(like layers
changing sizes, etc) and javascript. Any recommendations on books
that I should read to learn really fast? Any links?
Please help. Thanks.

newbiejane wrote:
> I'm so new Dreamweaver. I can only create static
webpages but now I really have
> to create a page with dynamic contents (like get live
data from a db), lots of
> layer manipulation(like layers changing sizes, etc) and
javascript. Any
> recommendations on books that I should read to learn
really fast? Any links?
>
> Please help. Thanks.
>
>
>
If you need to do it soon, the best advice anyone can give
you is to
hire someone already proficient in these things (not sure
what you mean
by "layer manipulation," though).
Otherwise, you need to get a book, take a class, or sign up
for online
training videos, depending on your learning style, and
depending on
what your host supports, and learn PHP, ASP, or CF (there are
others,
these seem to be the most commonly mentioned these days). It
also would
help to learn some theory about constructing databases
efficiently.
I am only a beginner myself, and if I needed something like
that in a
hurry I would probably try to hire a PHP person I know from
this ng
(Steve Fleischer, Gary White, there are quite a few who
answer PHP
questions frequently here) to do it for me.
In the long run, I have bought and started to study these two
books:
Database Design for Mere Mortals (don't remember author
offhand but you
can find in any online bookstore) and
PHP for Dreamweaver 8 by David Powers (who also frequents
these and
other newsgroups).
Still, unless you can devote hours a day to this, it takes
time to
learn, and you can mess up a lot more much more quickly using
dynamic
pages than you can with a simple html page.
Another option, depending on your needs, would be to delve
into an
existing content management system such as Joomla, Website
Baker, etc.,
but from what I've observed with others' experience, these
can be more
or less difficult to customize depending on your level of
expertise and
the adequacy of the documentation.
Bonnie in California
kroko at
sbcglobal dot net
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites.woa

Layer manipulation in actionscript

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