foreground & walkable area issues
hi, i'm new at lassieDirector, but i'm getting the hang of it. i searched the forums but i didnt find anything on the topics... 1) first problem : is there a way to have transparent swf foregrounds that do not affect clickable objects. let me explain. i read the forums and help files pertaining to transparencies and foregrounds... it said to use matte ink and so on (which eliminates the white)... the reason i cant do that is because my foreground is essentially light effects. i provided a link, it's a little easier to understand knowing what my foreground swf looks like. http://games.cyanstudios.ca/example.jpg as you can see, my foreground isn't just a graphic with white areas... the blue crappy looking cup at the top left is there to show you that the part of the cup that is outside of the light-ray is clickable, yet the part that is behind it, is not... i understand why this is, but is there away around this? a way to make my foreground swf completely invisible to the mouse? 2) second problem : i have no idea why this is, but when i go to edit my walkable areas... i can only see the graphic that i have set as my background and my crappy blue cup... technically my background is an object because i need to place things behind it that are partially visible... any reasons why the only object i can see is the cup? http://games.cyanstudios.ca/example2.jpg thanks a lot guys

if your using lighting effects, why not have all the objects part of an SWF background and use transparent sprites to to trigger events within the swf, i did a crude attempt with Lassie AS and it did work, all be it a bit sequential, i'm not sure if lassie director would do it, its been almost a year since i last used it my scene had shadow effects for blinds opening and cast dfferent shadows, lassie-as can call selected frames within a swf very easily the forground, if you set it as ambient (amb) and as high number sprite the cursor should ignore it sorry if i haven't been much help but greg's the guru and he's globe trotting at the moment

i want the foreground to basically sit over top of everything yet effect nothing... i thought that setting it as ambient would do exactly what im after, but upon further reading in the manual pdf, i see this: "BGTrans with SWFs - ...mouse hit area is reduced to the positive image area of the sprite"... and thats what is kinda screwing me right now. as far as lassie is concerned there isnt any background showing, regarldess that the movie clip is just opacities.... doh... thanks for the quick reply, i'll keep trying stuff out... if any one else has any ideas, id love to hear them. thanks again mate.

OK! Looks like i was going about this all wrong... i switched over to LassieAS... the foreground with transparency issue SOLVED!... i guess i should have justed started with lassieAS in the first place... seeing how i'm decent with actionscript and much prefer importing swfs... i think the issue/ difference is this: lassieDIR interprets the ambient function more simply... where ever there are vectors (regardless of its transparencies/ opacities) thats where the foreground will be. the only time there will be transparencies, is where there is no graphics at all (background shows through) lassieAS: since it works more specifically with SWFs, the ambient function works more like a how i thought it should. (i.e. having the ability to add semi translucent layers without it preventing objects underneath it from being unclickable) now... back to game making! thanks Paranoia, your comment made me try lassieAS, thus solving my problems. i am still having the problem with the walkable area and not seeing all the objects

Hey, game looks good. Sorry I´m being brief but I'm writing from an internet cafe... currently at the base of Machu Picchu. The transparency issues are difference between Flash and Director. the long and short of it is that Director is getting pretty outdated, and they've stopped keeping it current with Flash. Director has no advanced SWF hit detect beyond bounding boxes... a problem that looks like will never be fixed. So, literally the ONLY way to do transparent foreground in Director are with matte ink bitmaps. Good move on switching to LassieAS. It still has its share of problems, but Flash is just SO much better and more robust a package than director.

thanks for the feedback! hope you're enjoying your trip!

i figured out the problem i was having when i was editing the walkable areas and not seeing all my graphics. in the walk area editor, lassieAS doesn't eliminate the background color of the swf you imported. my problem was that i had a foreground which covered the entire screen... and thats why i wasnt seeing any graphics.

yep. problem. No sweat in LassieAS though, as you found. Other developers who may read this: note the difference between the two systems.

I'm posting this in all walkable area threads: "Walkable Areas for Dummies" has been posted on the Shepherd workshop site with a really cool interactive widget that will let you -*test*-('") paths across a box grid. Finally understand Lassie's walkable area model at: http://lassie.gmacwill.com/shepherd/pathfinder.htm

Very cool demo.

Thanks John, good to see you! I've actually got an expanded version now where you can layout your own walkable area using the editor tools then run that pathfinder across it in near real-time (enabling the pathfinder does have to disable point/box dragging since the pathfinder needs to compile the grid data before working). I'll post that to play with as soon as I get around to it.