Working with actors

Table of Contents | Getting Started

Working with Movies | Working with Actors | Working with Sprite Tracks

Working with actors

Electrifier Pro lets you import all types of content into a movie, from still graphics to sounds to video. Each piece of content you bring into Electrifier Pro is called an actor. This section covers how to import actors into a movie, move them around, change the way they look, apply effects and actions to them, and copy modifiers from one to another. Creating No-Bandwidth media and text actors within Electrifier Pro is also introduced.

Importing actors

If you have content that you would like to make an actor in an Electrifier Pro movie, go ahead and import it. With support for over 25 file formats, you can import any content you have into Electrifier Pro without worrying about conversions.

Drag-and-drop import

Importing content is easy with Electrifier Pro's sophisticated drag-and-drop interface.

To drag in an actor:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in.
In the Finder, click the icon of the file that you wish to import and drag it into the Movie window. To place an actor in the sprite track, drag it onto the sprite track. Otherwise, just drag the actor to the movie window. Visual files will instantly open and appear within the current movie.

Add command import

Actors can also be imported into a movie using the Add command.

To Add an actor:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in.
Choose Add from the Actor menu. The Add Actor dialog box will appear.
Select the actor file that you wish to import and click OK.
Choose where you want to place the actor. and click OK Actors can be imported directly into the movie, or placed in a sprite track.

Clipboard import

You can copy any actor, even actors that have been modified with actions and effects, from one Electrifier movie to another Electrifier movie using the Clipboard.

To copy an actor from one movie to another:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in.
Select the actor that you wish to copy and choose Copy from the Edit menu.
Click the Layout or Structure tab in the Movie window of the movie where you wish to paste the actor, to select the appropriate view. To paste the actor inside a sprite track, click the sprite track to select it.
Choose Paste from the Edit menu.

Selecting and deselecting actors

You can only work on an actor that you have selected. If you don't want to affect an actor as you work, make sure it's not selected.

To select an actor:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette. Position the mouse over the actor you wish to select and briefly press and release the mouse button. A rectangle will appear around the actor, indicating that it's selected.

To deselect an actor:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette. Click anywhere in the drawing area outside the item. The handles disappear, indicating that the item is no longer selected.

To select multiple actors:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click the first actor to select it.
Hold down the Shift key and click the next actor.
To select additional items, repeat step 2.

Selecting audio actors: You can work with all kinds of actors to you movie in Electrifier Pro; however, audio actors have no visual representation, so you can only select an audio actor or apply effects to it in the Structure view.

Setting the registration point of an actor

You can also set the registration point of an actor, for greater control over the way it moves and animates. The registration point is the "center" of the actor for purposes of positioning and orientation: when you set the location of an actor, its registration point will be positioned at the coordinates you choose, and when you rotate, skew, or add perspective to an actor, the registration point is the one point which stays still.

To set the registration point of an actor

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click the actor to select it.
Choose Registration Point from the Content menu.
Type in new coordinates for the registration point and click OK.

Moving actors

Electrifier Pro lets you easily control where each visual actor is positioned within a movie.

To move an actor manually:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click the actor to select it. Drag the actor to the desired position.

To move an actor to precise coordinates:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click to select the actor you want to move.
Type the coordinates where you want to place the actor into the appropriate fields on the Inspector palette. All positions are in pixels from the upper left corner of the movie or sprite track
Enter your changes by pressing Return or clicking Apply. If you are in Layout view, you will see the actor move to the new location.

For more information

For detailed information about the Inspector palette, see the Inspector palette section of the Window and Palette Reference.

Changing the size of actors

Electrifier Pro gives you the power to change the size of any visual actor. All visual actors can be scaled to any size in Electrifier without changing the file size of the movie, though only vector graphics will display smoothly at scales larger than 100%.

To resize an actor manually:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click to select the actor you wish to resize.
Click on the corner of the rectangle that appears around the actor to indicate that it is selected. By dragging the corner of the rectangle up and down, and side to side, you can scale the rectangle to a new size. The actor will automatically rescale to match.

To scale an actor to a precise size

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to select the view you want to work in. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click to select the actor you want to resize.
Type new horizontal and vertical scale values into the appropriate fields in the Inspector palette. All scale values are percentages of the actor's original size.
Enter your changes by pressing Return or clicking Apply. If you are in Layout view, you will see the actor scale to the new size.

For more information

For detailed information about the Inspector palette, see the Inspector palette section of the Window and Palette Reference.

Changing the orientation of actors

Electrifier Pro gives you the power to alter the way actors look by changing their slant, rotation, and perspective.

To change an actor's orientation manually:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view.
Choose the Slant tool, the Rotate tool, or the Perspective tool, according to how you want to change the orientation of the actor, and click to select the actor you want to reorient.
Click the corner of the rectangle that appears around the actor to indicate that it is selected. By dragging the corner of the rectangle up and down, and side to side, you can adjust the orientation of the rectangle. The actor will automatically reorient to match.

To change an actor's orientation by a precise number of degrees:

Click the Layout or Structure tabs of the Movie window to select the view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click to select the actor whose orientation you want to change.
Type new orientation angle values into the appropriate fields in the Inspector palette. All angles are in degrees.
Enter your changes by pressing Return or clicking Apply. If you are in Layout view, you will see the actor reorient to the new angle.

For more information

For detailed information about the Inspector palette, see the Inspector palette section of the Window and Palette Reference.

Arranging actors

Electrifier Pro lets you arrange the layering order of actors within a movie. Layering order refers to the positioning of actors from the front of the movie to the back. If you're working with overlapping actors, you may need to adjust the layering order to control which actor visually eclipses another when the movie is played back.

To change the layering order of an actor:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and select the Actor whose layer position you want to change.
Choose the desired ordering command from the Arrange menu. The ordering commands are Bring to Front, Bring Closer, Send Farther, or Send to Back.

For more information

For detailed information about the commands relevant to arranging actors see the Arrange menu section of the Menu Reference.

Applying ink to actors

Electrifier Pro gives you the power to change the way visual actors look by changing their overall pigmentation or "ink." Electrifier Pro has fifteen different inks to choose from, for sophisticated transparency effects. The preset ink is Opaque.

To change the ink of an actor:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and select the actor whose ink you want to change.
The Ink pull-down menu is located near the top of the Inspector palette. Choose the ink that you wish to use from the Ink pull-down menu. Click Apply to use the new ink.

Tip: [box] If you choose a special ink from the Ink pull-down menu in the Inspector palette and apply the Fade, Color fade, or Ink effect to the same actor, the ink designated by the effect will override the ink designated on the Inspector palette.

For more information

For detailed information about different inks, see the Ink options appendix.

For detailed information about ink effects like Fade, Color fade, and Ink, see the Modifier palette section of the Window and Palette Reference.

Setting start times

An actor's start time is the delay between when the actor's container (the movie or sprite track) appears, and when the actor appears. Similarly, an effect's start time is the delay between when the effect's container (the actor) appears, and when the effect starts to play. The preset start time for all actors and effects is 0.0 seconds, which makes them appear right away.

It may seem strange to use an offset for a start time instead of an absolute time value; however, this approach is remarkably powerful. For example, if all start times were calculated from the start of the movie, then changing the start time of an actor would require that you also change the start time of all its effects, whereas Electrifier retains all the necessary relations between effects ant their actors automatically--change the start time of an actor and all its effects move with it.

To set an actor's start time

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click to select the actor you want to reschedule.
Type the exact time that you would like the actor to appear in the movie into the Start Time field in the Inspector palette. Electrifier Pro is accurate to 1/100th of a second.
Enter your changes by pressing Return or clicking Apply.

Setting durations

An actor or effect's duration is the length of time for which the item is visible in the movie. The preset duration for all items is auto, which uses an appropriate duration, based on the context.

Some actors, like video or sound files, have a "natural" duration, which equals the amount of time it takes them to play from start to finish. Other files, like still images, have no natural duration, and so are given a default duration of 10 seconds. Effects last as long as their actors by default.

To set an actor's duration

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and click to select the actor you want to reschedule.
Type the exact length of time for which you would like the actor to be present in your multimedia. Electrifier Pro is accurate to 1/100th of a second.
Enter your changes by pressing Return or clicking Apply.

Deleting actors

If you want to remove an unwanted actor from a movie you can use the Delete command or the Clear command. Deleting the actor cuts it out of the movie and copies it to the Clipboard. Clearing the actor removes it from the movie without copying it to the Clipboard.

To delete an actor:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and select the actor you want to delete.
Choose Cut from the Edit menu.

To clear an actor:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. Choose the Pointer tool at the top left of the Tool palette and select the actor you want to clear.
Choose Clear from the Edit menu.

Applying modifiers to actors

Electrifier Pro offers over 40 modifiers that let you direct how an actor will perform when a movie is played back. Modifiers are divided into two different categories: effects and actions.

Effects provide instructions that tell an actor how to change over time. Since animation is enhanced by a sprite track, it is recommended that you bring actors into a sprite track if you plan to apply effects to them.

Actions make actors interactive. An action tells an actor how to perform after a certain event has occurred, like a mouse click or a mouse-over. Actions can only be applied to actors placed in sprite tracks, so if you plan to make an actor interactive, you will need to use it within a sprite track.

Applying actors is a very straightforward process due to Electrifier Pro's sophisticated drag-and-drop interface.

To apply an effect to an actor:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view. For audio actors, click the Structure tab of the Movie window to select the Structure view.
Select one of the twenty-seven visual and audio effects located on the Effects tab of the Modifier palette.
Drag the effect onto the actor that you wish to modify. The options for the selected effect will appear in the Inspector palette, where you can alter them just as you would an actor's position or scale.

To apply an action to an actor:

Click the Layout tab of the Movie window to select the Layout view.
Click the Actions tab at the top of the Modifier palette to show the list of possible actions. Select one of the 20 different actions.
Drag the action onto the actor that you wish to make interactive. The options for the selected action will appear in the Inspector palette, where you can alter them just as you would an actor's position or scale.

Copying modifiers between actors

If you have customized an effect or action and want to modify another actors in exactly the same way, you can save time by cutting and pasting modifiers between actors.

To copy a modifier between two actors:

Click the Modifier that you wish to copy to select it.
Choose Copy from the Edit menu.
Select the actor that you wish to apply the modifier to. Choose Paste from the Edit menu.

For more information

For detailed information about the Modifier palette, see the Modifier palette section of the Window and Palette Reference.

Using No-Bandwidth media

Electrifier Pro's No-Bandwidth media--fire, clouds, and ripples--are often used in conjunction with other actors, to create an especially attention-grabbing visual presentation. And since No-Bandwidth media are under 1K in file size, they do not significantly increase the bandwidth overhead of a movie.

The Fire tool, Cloud tool, and Ripple tool, all used for creating No-Bandwidth media, are located at the bottom of the Tool palette.

To create No-Bandwidth media:

Choose the Fire tool, Cloud tool, or Ripple tool.
Decide where in the current movie the No-Bandwidth media should be positioned.
Click in the appropriate area of your movie and drag outward and downward. A rectangle will appear in your movie that indicates the exact area where the No-Bandwidth media will be created. Size the rectangle to cover the desired area.
An options dialog box will appear. You can customize the look of the actor, or leave it at the default settings.
Click OK.

To change options for No-Bandwidth media:

Select the No-Bandwidth actor you want to edit and choose Modify from the Content menu.
Enter the new settings for your actor into the dialog box and click OK.

For more information

For detailed information about the tools used to create No-Bandwidth media, see the Tool palette section of the Window and Palette Reference.

Working with Movies | Working with Actors | Working with Sprite Tracks