Actually, I don't know. I'm sure there are tons of raster methods since I've seen Andre Michelle use them, and my PNG's alpha channels are intact.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dimitrios Bendilas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Flashcoders mailing list" <flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com> Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 4:28 AM Subject: Re: [FlashCoders] scrollRect Hello Jester, I apologize for taking Soooo long to reply. Thank you very much for the information you provided! When I was asking you "how you handle alpha" I meant alpha values. Like when having a few movieclips on top of another, with _alpha = 40 or any value<100. Can you do that with BitmapData? (sorry if this is a very basic question, I didn't have the chance to work with bitmaps a lot yet). I think I'll see how performance goes and maybe I'll bother you and the list again if I need to start digging more into your approach. Thanks a lot. Regards, Dimitrios ----- Original Message ----- From: "JesterXL" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Flashcoders mailing list" <flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com> Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 5:11 PM Subject: Re: [FlashCoders] scrollRect > BitmapSprites extend Bitmap. Bitmap is an internal class, and extends > DisplayObject. DisplayObjects' have a drawing index, just like MovieClips > do. So, instead of swapDepths, you'd use setChildIndex. > > Now, for individual bitmaps that you are drawing, addToBitmapSprite, they > are added to the internal array, and drawn in that order. It would be > probably 10 minutes to add that method and call redraw to allow bitmaps to > change depth. > > ...or you could do it; I can give you Suversion access to the source if > you > wish. > > Alpha is handled by your bitmap. Bitmaps support alpha channels, so > whatever bitmap you added should have the alpha. In my case, the moving > sprites example uses a circular PNG, and since PNG's have alpha channels, > Flash draws the circle correctly on top of other circles. > > MovieClip's have gotten more powerful in Flash Player 8.5, yes, mainly > because of the DisplayList which seperates a MovieClip from existing from > actually being rendered/drawn each frame. It is not, however, > re-inventing > the wheel. We have not been able to blit in the Flash Player until > version > 8; instead, we've had to duplicate a tile 100 times vs. drawing onto 1 > bitmap. > > Great example of why blitting is so powerful and scaleable: > http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2005/08/flash_8_thought.html > > Significantly less process, less RAM, and scales to infinite bitmaps. > > I have no benchmarks nor numbers other than creating 100 MovieClips in > Flash > 8 used 99%CPU, and 60 megs of RAM, and the framerate sucked. Changing > those > 100 MovieClips to be 1 bitmap, and scrolled via a copyPixels from a > double-buffering used 6% CPU and full framerate. That's what made me > write > Diesel. > > When you start adding BitmapSprites, you are adding overhead however > because > they themselves are DisplayObjects, like MovieClips, only they are drawn > into 1 bitmap vs. 30 of them drawn in 30 places in the DisplayList. > > The hybrid approach is to use 1 Bitmap, load all of your tiles and draw to > just 1. You're actual monsters and characters that move, make Sprites (or > MovieClips), and remove them from the DisplayList if they are not > on-screen. > Use scrollRect for the area you are scrolling, and use double-buffering > (copyPixels from a rectangle from an off-screen bitmap). > > This doesn't scale well because Sprites have more overhead, and moving > them > is sometimes more expensive then copyPixels, but it works well enough in > the > alpha, so I'm sure beta, and release it'll still be smokin'. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dimitrios Bendilas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Flashcoders mailing list" <flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com> > Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 6:36 AM > Subject: Re: [FlashCoders] scrollRect > > > Hi Jester, > > Thanks for the url. It seems very interesting. > There is one thing that bothers me, aside the fact that > I'would have to re-write a lot of stuff from scratch, if I > used a model like this. > > How do you know in what depth to draw everything? > How do you handle _alphas? > > The movieclip model provides a very easy way to stack > images one above another with no problems. It just seems > a lot of work, it's like re-inveting the wheel. > > How much can performance benefit from an approach > like this? Any benchmarks, numbers? > > Is there a hybrid approach maybe? One that requires > less code but increases performance? > > Thanks! > > > Dimitrios > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "JesterXL" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Flashcoders mailing list" <flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com> > Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 3:53 AM > Subject: Re: [FlashCoders] scrollRect > > >>I oringally wrote this in Flash 8, and ported to Flash 8.5. There is no >> reason it couldn't go back. >> >> http://www.jessewarden.com/archives/2006/01/diesel_battlefi.html >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Dimitrios Bendilas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com> >> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:55 PM >> Subject: [FlashCoders] scrollRect >> >> >> Hi all, >> >> I'm trying to make a very basic prototype to test parallax movement with >> Flash 8. >> >> Is movieclip.scrollRect what I should be using? I tried this: >> >> var bg:MovieClip = _root.attachMovie("bg", "bg", 2); >> var y:Number = 0; >> _root.onEnterFrame = function():Void { >> bg.scrollRect = {x:0, y:y--, width:635, height:540}; >> } >> >> The movieclip "bg" contains only a jpg 635x540. >> The movement is pretty jumpy. Should I be using BitmapData instead? >> >> I'm a bit lost! I've been searching for code samples online for the past >> 2 >> hours and >> I haven't found anything useful. >> >> Does anyone have a useful link for parallax or tile-based games using >> Flash >> 8 features? >> Performance is the key issue here, since this is going for a very big and >> complex game >> and I want to optimize it as much as possible. >> >> Thanks a lot! >> >> Dimitrios >> _______________________________________________ >> Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com >> To change your subscription options or search the archive: >> http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders >> >> Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software >> Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training >> http://www.figleaf.com >> http://training.figleaf.com >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com >> To change your subscription options or search the archive: >> http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders >> >> Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software >> Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training >> http://www.figleaf.com >> http://training.figleaf.com >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com > To change your subscription options or search the archive: > http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders > > Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software > Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training > http://www.figleaf.com > http://training.figleaf.com > > _______________________________________________ > Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com > To change your subscription options or search the archive: > http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders > > Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software > Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training > http://www.figleaf.com > http://training.figleaf.com > > _______________________________________________ Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com To change your subscription options or search the archive: http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com _______________________________________________ Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com To change your subscription options or search the archive: http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com
