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).

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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).

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In many projects, you might have a need to disable a button or two.  In some projects, you might need to disable all buttons at once.  This process can be tedious if using the most common methods, but we’ll show you how to do it quickly and easily in this short tutorial. One practical example of this might be in something like an image “lightbox” – where you have an image opening on top of your movie and don’t want the buttons beneath it to be clickable.

This first example shows a standard image gallery.  Click on any of the thumbnails to open the larger image.  You can move your mouse around the movie and see that the cursor changes as you mouseover the buttons.  These are all still active and clickable while the image is open. (more…)

Turning a text object (or any object, for that matter) into a pile of rubble is quite simple in SWiSH Max.  This quick tutorial will show you how to break an object into tiny pieces – without the usual guilt and expense!

You can download the source file for the example above, here: exploding-text

You will need SWiSH Max3 or SWiSH miniMax3 build date 2009.11.30 or later to open the SWI file.

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Sending commands from one SWF to another often involves using very specific Javascript and FSCommands.  This method is limited in functionality and is time consuming to update.  A more efficient method can be used directly inside the SWF files.  This is the ‘LocalConnection’ method available in Actionscript.

The following example is an SWF file that sends commands to the SWF file below it:

This is just HTML text to show that the SWF
above and the one below are separate files.

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Resizing your SWiSH Max movie to fill the entire browser, used to mean scaling content. This would lead to pixilated images and text (a problem if you are using bitmap fonts). How can you scale one element and not another? How can you keep certain parts of your site fixed at a specific location in the browser? Well, that’s what this tutorial is all about! (more…)