Creating a Distort Effect Cast Member

Using Intel® Web Design Effects (WDE) Distort Effect in Macromedia® Director®, you can:

Create and insert a stand-alone distort effect such as pond or reflection into your cast, or
Apply an effect to a bitmap cast member and insert the result into your cast. In this case, you should first prepare and import the bitmap into your cast.

Click the topic that matches what you want to do: 

Insert a stand-alone Distort Effect
Prepare a bitmap image to receive a Distort Effect
Import a bitmap cast member
Apply a Distort Effect to a bitmap cast member

To insert a stand-alone Distort Effect:

1 Choose Insert > Intel Web Design Effects > Distort Effect.
Director opens the Distort Web Design Effects Properties Editor dialog box. Pond, the default distort effect, is already selected and appears in the small preview window.

2 Select the type of effect you want from among the eight choices in the dialog box.
As you select an effect, it appears in the preview window.
3 Click OK.
The selected effect is inserted as a cast member into the current frame of your cast. This tiny icon represents the new cast member.

4 Drag the cast member icon onto the stage (or into the score) to make it a sprite. The following sprite would appear if you selected the default, Pond.
Tip: If you want to add a bitmap to the effect later, double click on the sprite and apply the effect to a bitmap cast member.

To prepare a bitmap image:

When preparing a bitmap to receive a distort effect, keep this point in mind:

If you want to apply a distort effect to text in Macromedia Director, create your text string in the Director Paint* window, not in the Director Text window. The Paint window saves text images as bitmaps that are supported by Intel WDE Xtras. You can alter the font, style, and size of the text by right-clicking on it within the Paint window.

To import a bitmap cast member:

1 Choose File > Import, OR
Right click inside an empty frame in your internal cast and choose Import.
You'll see the Import Files into "Internal" dialog box.

2 Choose the image(s) you wish to include as cast member(s), choose a color depth option, and click OK. The cast member bitmap(s) appear in one or more frames in the internal cast.
Note: Images with alpha channel effects (transparency) are 32-bits. If you reduce the color depth, Director removes all the alpha channel data.

To apply a Distort Effect to a bitmap cast member:

Before starting, make sure that you have prepared the cast member(s) you want to use in a distort effect and that they are imported/stored in a cast linked to the movie. See Requirements for Distort Effect for details about types of bitmaps that can receive distort effects.

1 Choose Insert > Intel Web Design Effects > Distort Effect, OR
Right click on a distort effect sprite on the stage (if one is present) and choose Edit Cast Member.
Director opens the Distort Web Design Effects Properties Editor dialog box.
2 Select the type of effect you want from among the eight choices in the dialog box.
As you select an effect, it appears in the preview window.
3 If necessary, use the < and > buttons to move through the Cast window until you find the bitmap you want to use with the effect. (Note that you can view members of both internal and external casts, if present.)
As you click the buttons, a thumbnail of the each cast member displays.
You can also type a cast member number in the box below the image and press Tab; Director will select that number or the closest cast member to it.
4 Choose the cast member you want by clicking the Select-> button. The image displays in the larger window, where the effect appears superimposed on the image.

5 When you are satisfied with the result, click OK.
The result is inserted as a cast member into the current frame of your cast. The icon shown in frame 2 represents the new cast member.

6 Drag the cast member icon from your cast onto the stage (or score) to make it a sprite:
Tips: You can position and scale the sprite as needed. The effect animates when the movie is played; see Using Distort Effect in a Director movie.
To change the effect type or bitmap image, double click on the sprite to bring up the Distort Web Design Effects Properties Editor dialog box, and make your changes.

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