Flash :: Masks And Dynamic Text

Masks & Dynamic Text?
Can anybody tell me if they have experienced this (and if so, tell me if there is a solution)?

I have been trying to figure out why my Dynamic Text Fields
were not showing up in my current project. When I moved each item and all script to a new movie - everything worked correctly, though the same elements did not function in the movie I'm currently working on. I discovered, after delving into this dilemma, that if I moved the layer which contained dynamic text above a layer mask, located on my _root timeline, the text then appeared.

Does anybody have any info about the interaction between Dynamic Text Fields and Layer Masks.

Because I seem not to be able to apply a mask to Dynamic Text can anyone point me to a tut. or info on how to script a simple letter by leter typer (no other applied fx)?

Dynamic Text And Masks
Hi. I'm using an Dynamic text box that call an external text file (For the ease of updating). This Dynamic Text Box is in a Movie Clip. This Movie Clip containing the text box is on the stage under a Mask Layer.

Once it's exported the dynamic text doesnt appear, is I export the text again, but without the Layer Mask, the Dynamic Text is there.

Is there a solution I can use? I need some text of my document to be easelly updatable but I need the Mask to work on it.... THanks!

Dynamic Text And Masks
Hey all,

Can anyone tell me how to put Dynamic Text under a mask WITHOUT embedding the font?

I have a dynamic text box (Verdana, 10px) and have a mask over it but in order for the text to be revealed through the mask I have to embed the font set. I'd like to NOT use the embedded font as it makes the text look all pixelated.

I've thought of toggling the quality, but I don't want the whole movie to be Low Quality simply for the text.

Lemme know if you all have any thoughts or know what to do.

Cheers,
jb

Dynamic Text And Masks
Hi Flashers

I'm loading a text file from an external source, but it wont show through the mask I have in the movie. I can't take teh mask out for design purposes, so I'm wondering why ' dynamic text 'wont show through a mask. Is there a way around this via coding?

thanks in advance

yeffer

Masks And Dynamic Text...? Bug?
hi there,
i've got some dynamic text fields, with a mask covering them up. However none of the text is visable...?

is this a bug? or is there an easy eay around it?

Cheers

Danny

UPDATE:
just found that if i embed the font it works....
is this the only/best way?

Dynamic Text - Masks
I'm trying to use a masking effect that will show a dynamic text field. If you look at this sweeeet site www.hybride.com you can get an idea of what I'm looking for in terms of the effect. How did they do this?

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!

Masks And Dynamic Text
Ok...The first thing i tried that didnt work was... Make a Dynamic text feild inside a MC... Then I put a mask on the MovieClip...The text did not show up for some reason...So I took off the mask, and it worked, so I ended up keeping the mask off.

Now I tryed putting a Dynamic text field in another MC that changes the _visible property. The text does not show up...

Can anyone give me a suggestion on what to do?

Dynamic Text And Masks?
Howdy,

I've loaded some text into a dynamic text box from a PHP file.

Now I want to use a masking layer so that only some of the text is shown.

For some reason when I mask the text (i.e. create a mask layer above the text as you normally would for any kind of mask) NONE of the text shows.

Is anyone aware of this problem and can anyone suggest a possible remedy/way around this?

Cheers

Dynamic Text And Masks
I have created a dynamic text field and placed it behind a mask. I have embedded the fonts so the text shows through.

When I place this under a tweening mask it shows through fine until it hits a keyframe in the mask tween, then the text that was typed directly into the field shows through instead of the dynamic text. Why?

See attached for an example.

Thanks.

_t

Masks And Dynamic Text
does anybody know why you can't view dynamic text if its under a mask?

this is really annoying... is there a way around this?

-Pez

[F8] Dynamic Text Masks
Even though I'm not a newbie, and know heaps about flash, I can't get a dynamic text field to mask a gradient in a rectangle. I have tried most of the suggested methods on other threads, and none work. Please help me with this issue.

Thanks alot.

[F8] Masks And Dynamic Text Help
Flash 8

So I can’t mask Dynamic text. Is there anyway to do this? Would a component be the right idea? If so which component?

Basically I’m making a text box that opens and closes (mask). I’d like to load an xml or txt file into instead of republishing every time I need to update.

I would greatly appreciate any advice.
Thanks,

Dynamic Text And Masks
hello; I have:

1) a FIRST.swf with a target_mc in it that
2) is setMasked by mask_mc;
3) target_mc is replaced by SECOND.swf via a loadMovie(...);
4) SECOND.swf has a special_mc which has
5) a text_box (dynamic)

the dynamic text_box is causing havoc with mask_mc; however if I change text_box to type = static I do not have any problems;

any ideas?
thanks
Shannon Burnett

Masks And Dynamic Text?
Quite a simple question(s), but I just dnt know!!! It doesnt SEEM to be wrking...

Does a mask layer wrk on dynamic text??

And can a mask be tweened??

Dynamic Text And Masks
im trying to scroll a movie clip that contains dynamic text and is covered by a mask. However when i publish the movie i cant see the dynamic text? Is there anyway around this or am I done for?

Dynamic TEXT Under Masks
hey.. guys..

how are you?..
me? not so well.. too much work over here..

i am stuck on this..

http://inz.zonaz.net/cartavio/nuevo

i am wondering to know if there is some way to make work some "DYNAMIC TEXT FIELD" that are already under some mask..

if you got it please.. tell me how to do it..

i could not use the text above the mask cause its a SWF called into a Movieclip that is masked.

thanks..

Dynamic Text And Masks
Hello all,

I have finally sussed out some of the problems I was having with dynamic texts boxes inside of movie clips.

My remaining dilemma is that my text reads fine when it is above the mask layer. However it is necessary for me to have the movie clip containing the text to below the mask because it sits outside of the desired vewing area when not in use. If the mask wasn't there then one would see the movieclip when one isn't meant to. Like I said, the text is visible when the layer containing it is above the mask, but once I put it under the mask it disappears even when it should be within the mask range and thus visible. The movie clip it resides in is still visible! why isn't the text!? arghhh.

Does anyone know why this happens?

tah

Gaz.

Masks And Dynamic Text Fields
Is there a chance to see dynamic text fields behind a mask??
I can only see static text or graphics!!!
I need that to scroll this layer, and can not use the text.scoll Object.

Thanx for any help
MUGGEL

Dynamic Text Fields And Masks?
Hello,

I have a Dynamic text fields, which are under a mask. The font in that field will only show of the font is "Embedded" but..... Is there any way to get around this??

Thanks.

Masks And Dynamic Text Fields?
i have a scrolling dynamic text field that won't mask! It works if its a static text field, but not dynamic! hellp!

Dynamic Text Fields And Masks
Can someone refresh my memory on how to get a mask to work on a dynamic text field? I've been tinkering with it and can't get it to work. I remember doing it a loooooooong time ago but can't find the file. Any help?

Dynamic Instances, Masks & Text
Just a little question:

I have a document with a movie instance called "dummy", I reproduce
with an Actionscript like this:

Code:
for (..) {

duplicateMovieClip(dummy, "dummy_" + i, 2 + i);

}
Now I want to know how I can change vars of these instances? I'm not that good in AS, so I don't want to use components or something like this.

setProperty() doesn't work, apparently it's just for standard properties like _y.

Another question

It seems that dynamic text boxes inside of masks don't work. Why is that? I tried to place a movie with some dynamic text boxes inside of a mask. Normally that movie works fine, but inside the mask the text boxes ar hidden.

Dynamic Text And Tweened Masks
Yo,

I am trying to mask some dynamic text. I have embedded the font and provided that the mask is a single shape the mask works and the dynamic text displays what i want it to.

However if i decide to tween the mask to slowly reveal the text the text simply does not display. The tween in question is a shape tween, nothing complicated. nothing silly, no alpha channels or gradients or anything, just solid shapes.

Is there a reason why? It seems that as soon as the tween crosses into its second keyframe that is the moment the text disappears.

Oddness.

Thanks for any help,

Steven.

Dynamic Text Boxes And Masks... HELP
i have a flash website where individual pages are loaded as swf's and sit behind a mask to cut off the dirty egdes.

in some of my swf's there are dynamic text boxes... the problem is the text boxes wont display if the mask is turned on... I have to delete the mask layer for them to display... but I need the mask layer to keep the movie tidy... Any ideas?

I have encountered this before in another situation and all I could do was delete the mask.... it seems dynamic text just wont be masked....

Thanks.

Masks And Dynamic Text Boxes
Whenever I place dynamic text within a mask it disappears (static text works fine) is there any way to stop this from happening.

EDIT: Problem solved check here if you are haveing a similar problem (http://www.kirupa.com/developer/mx2004/maskfonts.htm)

Web Service, Dynamic Text And Masks...
I am creating a virtual news application that pulls all content from WebServices. I am using a unique font for the heading and arial for the body. I have my feeds working but am having a hard time using mask with my feeds.

My feeds are coming into a text field included in a movieClip. The mc is where the mask needs to applied.

How do I apply a mask to this or can't it be done?

Does Dynamic Text To Work With Masks?
How the heck do I get dynamic text to work with a mask? I can't seem to figure it out?!

Dynamic Text + Masks = Errors
I'm working on a project where i must have unantialiased text (HTML) so i'm using the dynamic text box and MX's new 'make as html' button. This works perfectly...until i put it as being masked. Is this a know problem or have i stumbled across this by accident? Any help/comments would be great!

Dynamic Text, Masks, And Shared Fonts
I'm having a problem with using dynamic text fields with layer masks.

Basically I'm try to have a gradiant on a dynamic text string. So the text is my mask, and the gradiant is my base layer.

I realize that I have to embed the font. When I embed the font, it works. However, I want to seperate the font into an external font library so that I can use the font in multiple swf's. As soon as I externalize the embedded font into a shared font library, the layer mask stops working.

Question: Can I use layer masks on dynamic text fields while using a shared font library? If so... how? Thanks a bunch.

-Mike

Dynamic Text Field, Integers And Masks
I have a very odd problem here. But first let me set the scene...

I have a site which im developing entirely in Flash. Although I have some experiance with flash i have never ventured further than dots which follow the mouse or the odd tween etc.

This project ahs taught me ALOT; everything from loading multiple movies into a scene and handling XML along side that ive picked up some nifty Apache ReWriteRule tricks which are proving wonders for integrating the site with PHP and MySQL (somethihng I can actually do well!)

Anyway, enough blabbering.

On my root movie (as in the movie which calls all the others) I have a little dynamic text field at the bottom for displaying my telephone number and address.

The content is pulled in via HTML and the whle thing is masked.

Now. When I preview just the SCENE itself everythign works hunky dory and looks verrrrry sexy

BUT when i export the entire movie (version checkers, preloaders, intro and main content itself) a very odd thign happens... all the numbers dont show up! The characters are fine but its as if all the numbers have beend ropped somehow. but only when i view the entire movie from begginning to end.

I've tried embedding the font and still nothing.

Any one experienced this before or know what might be going wrong?

Im thinking its something to do with the first 3 scenes, but all the code in there seems fairly simple?? is there a conflict?

I'll post code if anyone can suggest what code to publish as I'm not terribly sure exactly what should be published.

Many thanks

Pablo

[MX04] Masks Hiding Dynamic Text
I have a movieclip that has buttons in it, and it is scrollable. the movie clip has a mask applied to view only a limited number of buttons. I am asigning dynamic text boxes to the buttons through code.

if the mask layer is present, the text does not show in the buttons. If I remove the mask layer, the text shows, but so do the rest of the buttons.

is there any way to fix this?

I am trying to apply this fix to an old file, so I can't really change the layout. It was due on wednesday, but this mask thing has thrown my whole world around. I though it was my code that was wrong, but it is this damn mask layer.

any help would be great

IMS

Dynamic Text Fields, Layer Masks, And Shared Font Libraries.
I'm having a problem with using dynamic text fields with layer masks.

Basically I'm try to have a gradiant on a dynamic text string. So the text is my mask, and the gradiant is my base layer.

I realize that I have to embed the font. When I embed the font, it works. However, I want to seperate the font into an external font library so that I can use the font in multiple swf's. As soon as I externalize the embedded font into a shared font library, the layer mask stops working.

Question: Can I use layer masks on dynamic text fields while using a shared font library? If so... how? Thanks a bunch.

-Mike

Dynamic Masks
Hola...

I'm creating some on-the-fly SWFs that will need to make use of masks. The problem I'm having is that the masks have to be variable and loaded in externally as well as the graphics that are being masked.

From my experiments so far it appears that if I create an 2 empty container MCs: One MC as a mask on one layer and another as the masked clip on the layer beneath it and try to load an external SWFs into each of those containers the mask does not work.

If I set the Layer back to a normal state and preview it-both clips load correctly so I know that the loadMovie command is working correctly.

The external mask.swf file contains 5 frames each with a different shaped mask. I'm using a _root.mask.gotoAndStop(variable) command to try to display the mask I want.

Any ideas on how to make dynamic masks that aren't hard-coded into the main flash file?

Appreciate any insight anyone has...

Dynamic Masks
¿Is it possible to change Movie Clip "_alpha" property in a Movie Clip set to Mask (by the "mymc.setMask(target)" method)?

Thanks for advanced

Dynamic Masks
lo there. anybody been to the www.fontsforflash.com site, when the content loads in the boxes, it comes in with a kinda mask effect, i think its a mask anyways, any one know of any tutes on the subject (dynamic masks) or if its not a mask maybe put me right, its a really cool pixel effect and i'd like somthin similar on my site!
thnx. kev

Dynamic Masks
Hi there,
I'm in the creation of, something special Can't realy say much about this untill I'm certain I'll continue it. I can say it'll be a game, and that it'll use one big mask wich get's bigger throughout the game. When the user fires a bullet, a clip will be attached into the mask MC, wich will increase the mask.

There are a vieuw things I'm concerned about, and need to get figured out before heading on. Sometimes, when I start with too complicated shapes, the mask kinda fails and instead of normaly adding the holes, they get white shapes around it. What is causing this, and how can I prevent it? It sometimes required me to totaly redraw the level, and that's getting pretty irritated.

Another thing I'm concerned about is speed, the game will be scrolling and thus the mask will need to be quite big (will cut it into pieces though). Is flash able to handle such a big scrolling mask, plus the rest a game involves? The engine will be pretty powerfull when completed.

These are my main worries, I hope someone can help me. I didn't post this on the games-board, because I thought you people would be a bit more familiair with dynamic masks.

Thanks,
SaphuA

<> Masks And Dynamic Txt Boxes?
Hi,

Im using a mask to mask an area of a dynamically created vertical list of Mc's attached to a empty movie clip (like a menu). Essentailly I want it to work like a scrolling text box. The list is constructed of squarish Mc's which have text boxes sitting inside them which act as labels. These Mc's are children to an empty Mc attached via attachMovie() and linkage. THE PROBLEM IS: that without masking the dynamically populated txt boxes (within these created Mc's) recieve and display related text fantastically. BUT on the other hand, mask the layer (to add scrolling) which contains the parent empty clip and these very same text boxes not to display their text. Am I wrong in thinking that buy masking the parent that I would also be masking the dynamically created clips?? OR do dynamic txt boxes have issues with masks??.

PLEASE HELP!

Masks And Dynamic Movieclips
I have a movieclip which acts as a container for other movie clips. It has a mask to clip any movie clip added to it which is panned out of "view". The problem I am having is that when I add a new movieclip to this container movieclip it comes in on top of the mask and isn't clipped. I've tried setting the depth to 0, and even negative values but it still has no effect. Any suggestions?

Problem With Dynamic Masks
I cant get a series of masks drawn at runtime to actually mask an image loaded at runtime. Attached is the FLA and below is the code. So far, the code successfully creates a series of mask slices that combined form the entire image. The tweening works to get the masks to move to the correct place. MovieClips are successfully loaded with the same image for each mask slice. But it behaves erroneously at the final step: "imgSlice.setMask(maskSlice_mc)".

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

ActionScript Code:
#include "drawRect.as"
import mx.transitions.Tween;
import mx.transitions.easing.*;

_global.img_width = 1024;
_global.img_height = 768;

_global.numMasks = 5;
_global.maxSliceWidth = img_width / numMasks;
_global.minSliceWidth = 25;

remainingWidth = img_width;
inc = 1;
while(remainingWidth > maxSliceWidth)
{
// -------------- create holder for image and load image
imgSlice_mc = _root.createEmptyMovieClip("imgToMask"+inc, _root.getNextHighestDepth() );
// imgSlice_mc.loadMovie("03_item_butterfly.jpg")

// -------------- calculate mask size from total image size and update remaining image size
sliceWidth = minSliceWidth + Math.floor(Math.random() * maxSliceWidth);
remainingWidth -= sliceWidth;
// -------------- create mask mc and draw mask slice
maskSlice_mc = _root.createEmptyMovieClip("mask"+inc, _root.getNextHighestDepth() );
drawMask(maskSlice_mc, sliceWidth);

// -------------- set the maskSlice to an image instance
_root.imgSlice_mc.setMask( _root.maskSlice_mc );
// -------------- give the mask motion
var maskMotion_tw:Tween = new Tween(maskSlice_mc, "_x", Strong.easeOut, Math.random()*img_width, remainingWidth, 3, true);
inc++;
}

// -------------- create mask for remaining slice of image
imgSlice_mc = _root.createEmptyMovieClip("imgToMask"+inc, _root.getNextHighestDepth() );
imgSlice_mc.loadMovie("03_item_butterfly.jpg")

maskSlice_mc = this.createEmptyMovieClip("mask"+inc, this.getNextHighestDepth() );
drawMask(maskSlice_mc, remainingWidth);
var maskMotion_tw:Tween = new Tween(maskSlice_mc, "_x", Strong.easeOut, Math.random()*img_width, 0, 3, true);

imgSlice_mc.setMask( maskSlice_mc );

function drawMask(newMask_mc, maskWidth)
{
newMask_mc.beginFill (0xAABBCC);
newMask_mc.drawRect(0, 0, maskWidth, img_height, 0);
newMask_mc.endFill ();
}

Dynamic Texts + Masks
can dynamic texts be masked? coz i have a movie clip as a button with dynamic text in it and it is masked fine. then i have another movie clip with dynamic text in it and it isn't masked..
please help..

Dynamic Made Buttons And Masks..
Hi,

I got some buttons that are created dynamically (using the duplicateMovieClip code) using variables from a database. The buttons work fine and everything links up great but the buttons are on top of the mask that i made. How can I push the buttons back into the mask?? Heres the bit of code, its stuck in a for statement to get it to generate the buttons:

duplicateMovieClip(_root.buttoncloneholder, "buttoncloneholder"+i, i);

I've been looking everywhere for some help, some pointers (once again) would be really good.

Steven.

Dynamic Masks With Loaded Swfs Into MCs
Hi

I have a MC masking another MC with some code. but... when I load another swf into the MC being masked - the mask no longer works.

Is this a limitation of masks in flash or am I doing something wrong do you think?

thanks alot for your help!

Masks & Dynamic Created Movies...
I inserted a mask layer on top of a movie clip ...which should cover it ..
But the problem is now..that i duplicate that clip underneath the mask..
and then for some reason that new movie is not being influenced by the MASK at all...

how can i dynamically tell the mask to also cover my duplicated movie ??

Thanks !

Flash And Dynamic Drawing With Masks
Hello, All.

This is my first post. Hoping to get a little help on a very specific issue.

I am trying to make a rectangle dynamically and use that rectangle as a mask for another clip. Basically, I am trying to accomplish a "marquee" effect around a building in an image. Much like the Photoshop Marquee Tool does when you select an area.

I use the code below to create a box, and then another box within it and fill the difference to form a thick rectangle box. Now, I could do this just as easily with a lineStyle, but as you know Flash doesn't mask lines so I created this box.

The problem is Flash is treating the entire outline as a FILLED shape.

Please take a look at the code below, the FLA included for a simple example of my problem and the JPEGs that represent each state.

Thanks so much!
Nick

Code:
beginFill(0xFFFFFF);
moveTo(0, 0);
lineTo(varObjectWidth, 0);
lineTo(varObjectWidth, varObjectHeight);
lineTo(0, varObjectHeight);
lineTo(0, 0);
moveTo(5, 5);
lineTo(varObjectWidth-5, 5);
lineTo(varObjectWidth-5, varObjectHeight-5);
lineTo(5, varObjectHeight-5);
lineTo(5, 5);
endFill();
2.jpg is how I want it to look.
3.jpg is how it looks with the mask applied.
1.jpg is the mask on it's own.
4.jpg is the item to be masked.

Problem With Dynamic Images And Masks
!

Help With Dynamic Masks/smoothed Images
Hello,
I'm creating a site using almost totally one frame of Actionscript, which has got me pulling my hair out because of where I am with the language. I'm to a very desperate level with this project and I'd so greatly appreciate it if someone could help.

The concept of the site is as a smooth resizable swf. The bitmaps are all dynamic, smoothed (by the method on Kaourantin), & masked dynamically with the drawing API. For some reason (and it's probably due to my load order), the masking isn't working as I intended. I want to be able to tween the images separate from the masks.

Currently, the dynamic masker and maskee are created with the following hierarchy...

ActionScript Code:
_level0.backgroundMC.thumb1.maskee
_level0.backgroundMC.thumb1.masker
setMask doesn't do the trick.

There's a lot of functions in the AS that work inter-dependently, so I'm giving a link to the fla rather than any more AS snippets. The file is 15MB...sorry about the size, but I figure it's better to include the bitmaps so you don't have to create your own.
Dynamic Smoothed Bitmaps & Drawing Masks FLA