Working with Sprite Tracks

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

Working with Sprite Tracks

In Electrifier Pro, any actor can be placed directly in a movie, or in a container such as a sprite track. Sprite tracks are useful because they provide the best possible playback for animation effects, and allow you to use interactivity in your multimedia. For some specific uses, such as stationary video clips or VR panoramas, playback may be smoother if the actor is placed directly in the movie. However, since Electrifier Pro allows actors to be placed individually, you can place some actors in sprite tracks, and others directly in the movie, as appropriate.

In this section you will learn the basics about working with sprite tracks including adding actors to sprite tracks, resizing sprite tracks, and setting sprite track options.

Adding a sprite track to your movie

If you are planning to use animations or interactivity in your movie, you should use a sprite track.

To create a new movie with a sprite track:

Choose New from the File menu to create a new movie.
Click Sprite Track to automatically create a sprite track that fills the movie.

To create a new sprite track in an existing movie:

Choose New Sprite Track from the Actor menu to create a new Sprite track in your movie. You can either make the sprite track the same size as the movie or set it to a specific size of its own.

Adding actors to sprite tracks

Any actor which you are planning to animate, or to make interactive, should be placed in a sprite track.

To add an actor to a sprite track:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to choose the appropriate view.
Select an actor file in the Finder and drag it into the sprite track in the Movie window (the sprite track will highlight when the file is over it).

Resizing the sprite track

If you are using a sprite track with other content, you may want to change its size from that of the movie. You can resize the sprite track by choosing the Dimensions command from the Content menu.

To resize the sprite track:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to choose the appropriate view.
Select the sprite track you want to resize.
Choose Dimensions from the Content menu, and enter the new size for the sprite track.

Changing the sprite track options

You can adjust the way a sprite track displays to make it fit more smoothly into the rest of your movie, or into the setting the movie will be played in.

To set the sprite track options:

Click the Layout or Structure tab of the Movie window to choose the appropriate view.
Select the sprite track whose options you want to change.
Choose Sprite Track Options from the Content menu, and enter the options you want to set for the track. The options include:
- Number of colors--the maximum number of colors to draw the sprite track and its actors in. Using a smaller number of colors will make the sprite track draw more quickly, but the actors may look less smooth
- Background color--the background color for the sprite track itself. The sprite track background will show anywhere not covered by an actor.
- Use as invisible mask--the sprite track will not draw in Preview view or in the exported movie, but actors in the sprite track will continue to respond to clicks. This is useful for creating image maps on existing still images or video clips.
- Enlarge actors smoothly

For more information

For detailed information about Electrifier Pro's commands for working with the sprite track, please see the Content menu section of the Menu Reference.

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