Interactive Installation

Sprite Properties

This is a list of the different sprite properties you can measure or change in Lingo. Some special types of sprites (for instance, Quicktime Video or Flash .SWF files) have extra properties.
One or two of these are actually member properties, which apply to the cast member rather than sprites made from the cast member.

Property	What it is	Example
.loch	Horizontal Location in pixels	sprite(1).loch = 80
.locv	Vertical Location in pixels	sprite(1).locv = 120
.loc	The location point	sprite(1).loc = point(80, 120)
.width	Width in pixels	sprite(1).width = 100
.height	Height in pixels	sprite(1).height = 100
.ink	Changes ink - see inkcodes*	sprite(1).ink = 36
.blend	The translucency (0-100)	sprite(1).blend = 50
.member	The Cast by name or cast number	sprite(1).member = ÒdogÓ
.rotation	The rotation in Degrees	sprite(1).rotation = 180
.regpoint	The registration point of castmember	member("dog").regpoint = point(80, 120)
.skew	Distorts sprite (0-360)	sprite(1).skew = 180
.flipH, .flipV	Horizontal flip (true-false)	sprite(1).flipH = false
.left, .right	Left/right side on the stage	sprite(1).left =50
.top, .bottom	Top/bottom side on the stage	sprite(1).top = 75
.moveablesprite	user can move the sprite (true-false)	sprite(1).movablesprite = true
.trails	Sprite leaves trace image (true-false)	sprite(1).trails = false
.visible	Mutes sprite channel (true-false)	sprite(1).visible = true
.cursor	Changes cursor - see cursor codes*	sprite(1).cursor = 2
.color	Applies a color to the sprite	sprite(1).color = color (255,0,0)
.forecolor	Better w/tool shapes or 1bits (0-255)	sprite(1). forecolor = 2
.backcolor	Better w/tool shapes or 1bits (0-255)	sprite(1). backcolor = 2
.mediaready	Shockwave Ð if media has arrived	if sprite(1). mediaready = false then

Identifying Sprites

Sprites are identified by Number. the number for a sprite is the Sprite Channel that it is in (in the score). This is different from the Cast Member Number and Cast Member Name. Say I create a new movie, make a graphic, name it "sun", and drag it to the score in the 5th sprite channel. The sprite number is 5, the member name is "sun", and the member number is 1.

In Director MX2004 you can also Name Sprites in the property inspector. If you name a sprite, you don't have to remember which number it is anymore, and can say things like:

sprite("sun").member="bright sun"

Ink Codes

choose these from the Ink popup menu in property inspector; or set them numerically in lingo. Copy, Matte, and Background Transparent are the most used. Mask uses the next cast member as a mask for the sprite. Lighten, Darken, Add, etc. are pretty self-explanatory.

Code	Ink
0	Copy
8	Matte
36	Background Transparent
32	Blend
1	Transparent
33	Add pin
2	reverse
34	add
3	ghost
35	subtract pin
4	not copy
5	not transparent
37	lightest
6	not reverse
38	subtract
7	not ghost
39	darkest
40	lighten
9	mask
41	darken

Good Transparency in Director

Using Matte or Background Transparent knocks out White in the image. For good transparency, just make your graphics in Photoshop, with a transparent background, and save them as regular .PSD files. They will import into Director without any problems. You can also import .PNG or .TIFF files to get good transparency (alpha channel), but PSD is often the quickest way to go.

if / then / else >><< Event Handlers Sprite Properties