TIFFANY HOLMES>LINGO TO MEMORIZE>AOS>HANDOUT 1

EVENTS>Examples

on exitframe (begins a frame behavior script – gear icon in cast)

on startmovie (begins a global movie script – orange arrow icon in cast)

SPRITE PROPERTIES>Examples>loc, loch, locv, width, height, blend, rect, etc.

Examples:

sprite(2).loc=point(0,0) –(sprite in channel 2 located at top left of stage)

sprite(2).rect=rect(0,0,160,120) – (0,0) is top left coordinate and (160,120) is lower right coordinate of the sprites bounding box

sprite(2).color=rgb(255,0,0) – turns any BITMAP sprite a pure red

TYPES OF CAST MEMBERS: bitmaps, vector shapes, text fields, quicktimes

COMMANDS

go next --go to the next marker AND go previous --go to the previous marker

go to the frame –loop playback head in same frame

put “Andrew is a” && field “animal” into field “answer

VARIABLES: LOCAL VS. GLOBAL

A “placeholder” that holds a numeric or string value. Example: x=4

If you want a variable to be in memory for the duration of the movie it has to be a global variable. Example:

global TrackObj

REPEAT LOOPS

An excellent way to make sprites in channels 10 through 20 all move off-screen!

repeat with x=10 to 20

sprite(x).loc=point(-500,-500)

end repeat

ABOUT TRACK THEM COLORS

***ALWAYS PLACE COPY OF TTC XTRA IN DIRECTOR XTRAS FOLDER BEFORE RUNNING MOVIE AND HAVE CAMERA CONNECTED

GrabToCast(TrackObj,[rect(0,0,320,240),17])

--This function grabs a frame of live video with the bounding box (0,0,320,240) to the internal cast member 17 (useful to store a copy of your reference frame)

CUSTOM VARIABLES IN TTC

EXAMPLE: tolerance = 40

--Tolerance is a number between 1 and 100 defining how different a pixel needs to be from the same pixel in the reference frame in order to be included in the result. The higher the number the less pixels will be selected. You will need to calibrate tolerance to your installation space.

GrabOneFrame(TrackObj)

--This function grabs a reference frame (not to the cast just to system memory) for the duration of the movie

TrackResults=TrackChangeBlobs(TrackObj,[[tolerance,Rect(0,0,320,240)]])

--TrackChangeBlobs is a function that looks for changes in current video compared to the reference frame. The function returns a series of rect values.

PROBLEMS TO SOLVE

1) Create a single frame movie with the same sprite (a black or gray square) in channels 1 through 15 scattered all over the stage. Write a repeat loop in the on exitframe handler to move all the sprites to the location (0,0) on stage when the movie is played.

2) Change your script in #1 to have the spites move to random locations on stage.

3) Add a line to change the colors of the sprites (in channels 1 through 15) randomly.

4) Delete the repeat loop and all the sprites except for the one in channel 5. Run movie and add this line of code: sprite(5).trails=1

5) Create a field to show the color value for sprite 5.

FINISHED?

Hook up a camera and examine a test movie using TTC.

Open movie trackchange_reference.dir (Available in the instructor’s folder on ATS file server.