Many users may be unaware that Max3 and miniMax3 come with a number of menu components. The main menu component, Menu from the Components/Menu area is a strip menu that can be arranged horizontally or vertically. A number of styles allow the sub menus to be displayed in a tabbed, or flat, or perpendicular fashion. The movie below gives an example of some of the different layout possibilities.

Read on to find out more about the Menu component…

(more…)

Have you ever wondered what the “D” button in the Text Properties panel in SWiSH Max does? It allows selection of Embedded or Device fonts. Selecting between Embedded and Device font can affect the clarity and accuracy of the displayed font as well as the size of the exported movie. As the choices, Embedded or Device may sound cryptic, I have described the differences, advantages and disadvantages of each of the font options below.

The ‘Use Device Fonts’ option is on the Typeface options shown in the Text object’s Properties panel.

 The examples below demonstrates the difference in clarity for different font options. (more…)

If you want to gradually fade out the audio in your .SWF file, it can be done using Actionscript.  It isn’t always necessary to provide an actual volume control bar, and in some cases you might simply want to fade the audio out during some other event (such as fading out the background audio while a video plays).  The code snippet below will help you do just that.

The source .SWI file for the example above can be downloaded, here: fade-to-volume_v1

You will need SWiSH Max3 (build 2009.11.30 or higher) in order to open/edit the sample file.

Note:  The code can also be used in SWiSH Max2 SWI files (you just can’t open the sample file with it).

(more…)

If you are looking for a convenient way to fade the alpha level (transparency) of an object through Actionscript, then this simple code snippet may be what you need.  Without relying on any overhead in the timeline or increasing the file size, this function allows you to animate the alpha level of any object over a specified period of time.

The source .SWI file for the example above can be downloaded, here: fade-to-alpha_v1

You will need SWiSH Max3 (build 2009.11.30 or higher) in order to open/edit the sample file.

Note:  The code can also be used in SWiSH Max2 SWI files (you just can’t open the sample file with it).

(more…)

This is a continuation of the tutorial, Introducing the Timeline. Movie Clips are “mini movies”, they have independent timelines relative to the Scene and other MCs. However, the MC must exist in the scene for its timeline to exist and its timeline cannot extend beyond the scene’s timeline (i.e. not to the next scene).

Originally known as sprites in the first version of SWiSH Max, these objects are now referred to as Movie Clips . Movie Clips, abbreviated as MC in the remainder of this document, are a powerful tool that simplifies the creation of complex effects and assist in grouping complex sub assemblies into easily manageable objects.

To facilitate identification of a specific MC via script, all MC’s must be named. It is good practice to name all objects, even if they are not referenced by scripting as such naming can assist in identification of a particular object. e.g. instead of leaving the name of a shape as “Shape”, give it a name that helps identify the use of the shape within the movie. eg. “face”.

Example

With your text object selected, go to main menu and select Modify| Convert | Convert To Movie Clip.

(more…)

The aim of this tutorial is to give users a better understanding of the use of the timeline in a SWiSH Max movie. The timeline can be used to define when objects appear, disappear or have effects applied to them. It can also be used to define when various “Script Actions” occur.

Each Scene and each Movie Clip within your movie has its own independent timeline. The Scene timeline can be used to manipulate objects that are in a scene. Movie Clip timelines are used to manipulate objects within the specific Movie Clip. Scene timelines run when a specific scene is visible. Movie Clip timelines run while the object exists within the scene. For example, if you are using a ‘place’ effect, the Movie Clip timeline will not start running until the object has been placed. The independent nature of the timelines means that a movie clip timeline will contine to play even if the main scene timeline is stopped. Script commands explained later in this article can be used to synchronize the different timelines. (more…)