Using Director > Vector Shapes and Bitmaps > Setting bitmap cast member properties

 

Setting bitmap cast member properties

To view important information about cast members, change a cast member's name, choose alpha settings, or turn on highlighting and dithering, you use bitmap cast member properties.

To view or change bitmap cast member properties:

1

Select a bitmap cast member, and click the Member tab of the Property Inspector using the Graphical view.

The Member tab displays the following:

Updateable fields to view or change the cast member's name, a Comments field to enter text that appears in the Comments column of the Cast List window, and an Unload field that lets you determine how to remove a cast member from memory.

View-only fields that indicate when the cast member was created and modified, and the name of the person who modified the cast member.

2

If the bitmap cast member is linked to an external file, the full pathname for the file appears in the Filename field. To choose a different file to link to the cast member, either type a new file name into the field, or click the Browse button and select the path to the new file name.

3

Click the Bitmap tab using the Graphical view.

4

To invert the current cast member when the user clicks it, select Highlight When Clicked.

Use this option to create buttons. Even if Highlight When Clicked is selected, the cast member will not do anything unless it is controlled by a behavior or Lingo script.

5

To make Director approximate an original color in the bitmap if there is a palette problem, select Dither. When a color is not available because of a palette conflict, Dither displays a pattern of pixels of similar colors. If this option is off, Director uses the color in the current palette closest to the original.

6

If the imported bitmap has a white canvas that you want to remove, select Trim White Space. If you want to retain the white canvas, deselect Trim White Space.

7

To make Director use the alpha channel (transparency) data in the cast member, choose Use Embedded Alpha.

This option is on by default for all imported cast members with alpha channel data.

8

To determine how a transparent area receives a mouse click, use the Alpha Click Threshold slider to specify a value.

Any area with a greater degree of opacity than the specified threshold will be able to receive a mouse click.

9

To assign a different palette to an 8-bit cast member while maintaining the cast member's original palette references, choose a new palette from the Palette pop-up menu.