Flash movie cast member options

The following options are available for Flash movie cast members from the Flash Asset Properties dialog box.



Media options

Linked keeps the actual media of the Flash movie stored in an external file.When a sprite created with this cast member appears on the stage in a Director movie, Director will automatically load the file into memory by looking in the location specified in the Link File box. If you deselect Linked, Director copies the Flash movie into the cast. (The next time you open this dialog box for a movie stored in the cast, the Link File box is blank.)

Preload requires Director to load the entire Flash movie into memory before playing the movie's first frame. If you deselect Preload, Director will start playing the movie immediately while continuing to stream the cast member into memory. If you selected Linked, this option is available.



Playback options

These options control the way a Flash movie sprite plays in a Director projector, in a Shockwave Director movie, and while you are authoring in Director.

Image displays images from the Flash movie when it plays. When Image is deselected, the images are invisible.

Sound enables any sound in the Flash movie to play. When Sound is deselected, the movie plays without sound.

Paused dsplays only the first frame of the movie without playing the movie. To start a paused Flash movie, use the play Lingo command. When Paused is deselected, the movie begins playing immediately when it appears on the Director stage.

Loop makes the movie play again from frame 1 once it finishes. When Loop is deselected, the movie plays once and stops.

Direct To Stage displays the movie immediately when it appears on the stage. When Direct To Stage is deselected, Director draws the entire sprite first in memory before actually displaying it. The advantage of selecting Direct To Stage is that it provides the fastest, smoothest playback of a Flash movie. The disadvantage is that the movie always appears on top of other sprites, regardless of the channel in which it appears in the score, and ink effects have no effect. Deselecting Direct To Stage allows Director to composite the movie with other sprites and to apply ink effects.



Additional options

Scale specifies a scale value. Type a percentage to scale the cast member.

Rotation specifies a rotation value. Drag the slider to specify the number of degrees to rotate the movie.

Quality specifies a quality value. When set to a high-quality setting, the Flash movie plays with anti-aliasing turned on, which slows down performance. A low-quality setting turns off anti-aliasing but speeds up performance. Choose one of these options:

High: Director always plays the movie with anti-aliasing turned on.
Low: Director always plays the movie with anti-aliasing turned off.
Auto-High: Director starts playing the movie with anti-aliasing on but will turn it off if it can't play the movie at the required frame rate.
Auto-Low: Director starts playing the movie with anti-aliasing turned off but will turn on anti-aliasing if it can do so and continue playing the movie at the required frame rate.

Scale Mode controls the way the Flash movie's sprites are scaled on the stage. Choose one of these options:

Show All: Director maintains the movie's aspect ratio and, if necessary, fills in any gap along the horizontal or vertical dimension using the movie's background color.
No Border: Director maintains the movie's aspect ratio by cropping the horizontal or vertical dimension as necessary without leaving a border.
Exact Fit: Director stretches the movie to fit the sprite exactly, disregarding aspect ratio.

Tempo controls the rate at which Director tries to play the Flash movie. Choose one of these options:

Normal: Director tries to play the Flash movie at the required tempo.
Lock Step: For each Director frame, a frame of the Flash movie plays.
Fixed Rate: Director plays the movie at a rate you specify by typing a value in the entry box.


Previous | Next