Inserted Flash animation shows off screen content

[webbie]

I am new to Flash, but I created a simple animation that moves the elements off the screen. When I import that to Presenter, the animation is smaller than the slide, and those off screen elements appear in the slide. I seem to recall mention of this, but I can't find a solution. How can I mask or hide those elements in Flash?

[Rob47]

Once the element goes "off screen" you could set the alpha of the object to zero ("0"). Alternatively you could set the invisible property to false. For example:

yourpicture._alpha = 0;
yourpicture._visible = false;


HTH,

Rob

[webbie]

Thanks, Rob. My symbols are sliding from off screen left to offscreen right in a motion tween. While I could hide the items when they are completely offscreen, I assume the playback will still show that symbol until it completely leaves the screen (i.e.,part of the symbol will be onscreen and part will be offscreen). I think I need to mask the playable area, but I'm not sure how to do that.

[Rob47]

Webbie,

I see...

What you could do is add a nother layer that is higher / above the layer that the movie plays in. Then make 4 squares that are on the boundary of the movie playing. These squares / rectangles should have the same color as your background so they do not appear to be there. This way when the movie plays "off screen" it is not seen because the 4 squares are covering the spurious content.

Rob

[Spectre]

I can vouch for Rob's last suggested approach...it works flawlessly in AP, and I have never experienced a problem.

Phil

[brianosmi]

Another thing that I have used with success is a mask...

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by brianosmi

Another thing that I have used with success is a mask...

Good tip Brian! I like your approach better, as you don't have to deal with color matching.

Phil

[webbie]

Originally Posted by brianosmi

Another thing that I have used with success is a mask...

Can you provide some guidance on how to create the mask? I tried to add a mask layer without success. This seems like an elegant solution. Just not sure how to implement. Thanks

[Spectre]

Here's a good tutorial on masking in Flash. It even includes the Flash source file.

HTH,
Phil

[brianosmi]

Nice tutorial