MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR, Use Manual, Page: 69 / 500

Positioning sprites 69
To determine whether two sprites overlap:
•
Use the
sprite...intersects
operator to determine whether a sprite’s bounding rectangle
touches the bounding rectangle of a second sprite. Use the
sprite...within
operator to
determine whether a sprite is entirely within a second sprite. For more information about these
operators, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.
Changing when a sprite appears on the Stage
A sprite controls where and when media appear on the Stage. You change when a sprite appears
on the Stage by moving the sprite to different frames in the Score and by changing the number of
frames the sprite spans. You can either drag sprites to new frames or copy and paste them.
Copying and pasting is easier when moving sprites more than one screen width in the Score. You
can also copy and paste to move sprites from one movie to another.
Note: When you copy a sprite from one movie to another, save the source movie first.
Moving a sprite in the Score
To change when a sprite appears on the Stage:
1
Select Window > Score to display the Score.
2
Select a sprite or sprites, as described in “Selecting sprites” on page 53 .
3
Drag the sprite to a different frame.
To move a sprite without spreading it over additional frames, hold down the Spacebar and
drag. This technique is also useful for moving any sprite that consists mostly (or entirely)
of keyframes.
To copy or move sprites between frames:
1
Select a sprite or sprites, as described in “Selecting sprites” on page 53 .
2
Select Edit > Cut Sprites or Edit > Copy Sprites.
3
Position the pointer where you want to paste the sprite, and select Edit > Paste Sprites.
If the pasting will overwrite existing sprites, select one of the following Paste options in the
Paste Options dialog box:
Overwrite Existing Sprites
replaces the sprites with the content of the Clipboard.
Truncate Sprites Being Pasted pastes the Clipboard contents in the space available without
replacing existing sprites.
Insert Blank Frames to Make Room adds new frames for the contents of the Clipboard.