Webmaster Forum / Flash / General Flash Topics / July 2008

you can accomplish this using the 'blend modes' - break apart both elements and
make each into an independent MC, then place both within another symbol holder.
in the properties panel change the blend mode of the 'holder' mc to 'layer' -
then go into the holder mc and change the blend mode of the 'G' to 'add' -
although this wont 'look' right while your within the symbol - go back to the
main timeline to view the effect. you should construct your animation sequence
within the holder symbols timeline.

when you say 'another symbol holder' do you mean a movie clip or symbol. Does it matter?
Thanks a lot
james

yes a movieclip - which is one of the three symbol types james ;) although i do think that the blend modes can be applied to any of them.

and you're welcome :)

Thats working great but how can I control the color of the overlap? My objects
are a dark grey and at the moment the overlap is a lighter grey, but I would
like it to be white.

Also, could I make the overlap see through? I'm thinking about adding some
static content in the background.
thanks again ;- )
james

cool - yeah i guess i'd test a lighter grey - you can use 'erase' mode to knock
out the 1 with the G - but in doing so the G will become 'invisible' - so you
could just make a 'dual' layer set up - one that has the G knocking out the 1,
and another with the 1 knocking out the G - and animate them the same.

one 'could' get fancy and use the BitmapData class threshold method to convert
the 'light' gray pixels to white - but that's a ways to go for this ;)

Ive copied the 'G' and set it to erase but it erases the other 'G' aswell!
How can I get round this or am i just being stupid?

lmao!! - oh man you could have just cut them up key keyframed it by now :)

just kidding - yeah I hadn't really thought of that either - i guess you'll
need to make two 'holder' MCs with identical animations, but opposite effects.
and place them directly on top of each other - i'd finish one first - then copy
the MC and then go into the second one and reverse the modes.

Ive got a movie called ?1? where the 1 comes from from the top and stops in the
center.
Ive also got a movie called ?G? where the G comes from the right and stops in
the center.

Ive got a top level movie called holderboth.
In that Ive got a movie called holder1, and holderG.

In holder1 the 1 gets a chunk taken out of it by the G, and in holderG the G
gets a chunk taken out by the 1.

If holder1 and holderG are some distance apart then they work fine. Both the 1
and the G move and then have a chunk taken out of them at the end. When I have
them overlapping however, so they finish in the position they need to, one will
completely erase the other!

I think I understand why this is happening. I think the ?1? or ?G? which is
set to erase is not just erasing in its holder but also the other holder. How
can I turn this off though?

Ive positioned them a little bit away so you can see what I mean here;

http://jameschetwood.com/flash/holder.swf

In case it helps ive now also uploaded my actually flash file here;

http://jameschetwood.com/flash/holder_notoverlapping.fla

Does anyone know how to fix this?
thanks
james