Working with Movie Clips and Buttons > Using actions and methods to control movie clips > Using movie clips as masks |
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Using movie clips as masks
You can use a movie clip as a mask to create a hole through which the contents of another movie clip are visible. The mask movie clip plays all the frames in its Timeline, just like a regular movie clip. You can make the mask movie clip draggable, animate it along a motion guide, use separate shapes within a single mask, or resize a mask dynamically. You can also use ActionScript to turn a mask on and off while a movie plays.
You cannot use a mask to mask another mask. You cannot set the _alpha
property of a mask movie clip. Only fills are used in a movie clip that is used as a mask; strokes are ignored.
To create a mask:
1 |
On the Stage, choose a movie clip to be masked. |
2 |
In the Property inspector, enter an instance name for the movie clip, such as |
3 |
Create a movie clip to be a mask. Give it an instance name in the Property inspector, such as |
4 |
Select frame 1 in the Timeline. |
5 |
Choose Window > Actions to open the Actions panel if it isn't already open. |
6 |
In the Actions toolbox (at the left of the panel), click the Objects category, the Movie category, the MovieClip category, and the Methods category, and double-click |
7 |
In the parameters area, enter the instance name of the mask movie clip. |
The code should look like this: |
|
image.setMask(mask); |
For detailed information, see MovieClip.setMask
in the ActionScript Dictionary.
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