Add “Filter”

In “Flash”, we have a number of “Filters” that we can apply to “Movie clip symbols”, “Button symbols” and “Text” fields but, NOT “Graphic symbols”.

To create a “Filter”, select the body of the text on the “Stage” and open the “Properties Window”.

In the “Properties Window” we find the “Filters” option. When we click the downward pointing arrow, it opens the “Filters” section which displays the existing “Filters”.

At the bottom of the “Filters” section, we find some icons to “Add Filter” or “Filters”, to “Enable or Disable Filter”, “Presets”, “Clipboard” and “Remove Filter”.

You have the option of setting one or more “Filters” on an object.

Depending on the selected “Filter” in the “Properties window”, we have some options that seem clear to me. If this is not the case, you have to check your options.

The second icon is, “Presets” where we can set a “Filter” that we have saved already. In this way it is easy to use a “Filter” with the same set of properties, to be applied to other objects on our “Stage”.

With the third icon which is the “Clipboard”, we can copy and paste the properties of the “Filter” that is selected, into a different “Filter”.

The fourth icon is the “Enable or Disable Filter” which can be turned on or off.

The fifth icon is the “Reset Filter” which resets the “Filter” with its default values.

The last icon is the “Remove Filter”.

Note that when you have multiple “Filters” applied to an object, you first select the appropriate “Filter” you want to edit in the “Properties window”.

 

Animate “Filter”

As with objects, we can animate an applied “Filter”.

This happens exactly the same way but, the only difference is that the properties of the “Filter” change in the final keyframe of the “Motion tween”.

 

Blend Modes

With blending, we can create unique effects with the colors in overlapping movie clips.

A blending mode contains the following elements:

• Blend color – the color that the blending mode is applied.
• Opacity – the degree of transparency applied to the blending mode.
• Basic color – the color of the pixels under the blend color.
• Resulting color – the result of the effect of the blend color on the base.

 

 

 

 

 

Blending modes depend on both the color of the object you are applying the mode to and the color of the underlying base.

We find the different blending modes under the “Display” section in the “Properties Window” .

“Normal”: Adjusts the color to normal, without interaction with the basic colors.
“Layer”: Allows you to stack film clips on top of each other without affecting the color.
“Darken”: Replaces only the areas that are lighter than the blend color. Areas that are darker, are not changed.
“Multiply”: Multiplies the base color by the blend color. This results in darker colors.
“Lighten”: Replaces only the pixels that are darker than the blend color. Areas that are lighter, are not changed.
“Screen”: Multiplies the inverted color of the blend color with the base color. This leads to fading.
“Overlay”: Multiplies or rasterizes the colors, depending on the basic colors.
“Hard Light“: Multiplies or rasterizes the colors, depending on the blend color.
The effect is similar to what happens when a spotlight shines on the object.
“Difference”: Draws the blend color from the base color or the base color off the blend color, depending on which color is the brightest. The effect is similar to a color negative.
“Add”: Usually used to create a moving light diffusion effect between two images.
“Subtract“: Commonly used to spread a moving darkening effect between two images.
“Invert“: Returns to the base.
“Alpha”: Applies an alpha mask.
“Erase”: Removes all base color pixels, including those in the background image.

To apply blending modes, first select the movie clip instance on which you want to apply.

In the “Properties window”, under the “Color” section, adjust the color and transparency of the movie clip instance.

Select the blending mode as “Blend”.

The blending mode is applied to the selected movie clip instance.

Make sure the selected blending mode is suitable for the effect you want to achieve.

For the rest, I can only suggest that you experiment with both the color and transparency settings of the movie clip and different blending modes to achieve the desired effect.

 

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