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kristah11918479
kristah11918479
Participant
September 18, 2017
Answered

animating all instances of movieclip

  • September 18, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 1268 views

I have a frame that has several instances of a movieclip. Each of those instances are named, but I have a button that needs to trigger ALL instances to animate simultaneously.

My code is currently looking like this, where "allInstances" is the clip I'm trying to animate. If that is a specific instance name, it works, but I need to have multiples, and using the original movieClip name doesn't work.

this.exampleBtn.addEventListener("click", doTheThing.bind(this));
function doTheThing()
{
this.parent.parent.allInstances.play("activateIt");
}

Not expecting anyone to write my code for me, but any hints in the right direction would be appreciated.

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Colin Holgate

If you set each one playing one after another, they won't start playing instantly. Also I don't think play("frame label") would work.

To play three movie clips at the same time, and from a frame label of "activateI", and the three of them are in the button's parent's parent, you would do this:

this.exampleBtn.addEventListener("click", doTheThing.bind(this)); 

 

function doTheThing() { 

   this.parent.parent.mc1.gotoAndPlay("activateIt");  

   this.parent.parent.mc2.gotoAndPlay("activateIt"); 

   this.parent.parent.mc3.gotoAndPlay("activateIt"); 

} 

If you want a lot of copies of the same movieclip to play at the same time you could have a listener in the movieclip itself. For example, in the movieclip that is in the library, have this in frame 1:

stage.addEventListener("doactivate",activatenow.bind(this));

this.stop();

function activatenow(){

  this.gotoAndPlay("activateIt");

}

then change your button script to:

this.exampleBtn.addEventListener("click", doTheThing.bind(this)); 

 

function doTheThing() { 

stage.dispatchEvent("doactivate");

}

I just tried it, and it works well, and has the advantage that it doesn't matter where the button and movieclips are in the hierarchy. Try my test here (click the circle):

playnow

1 reply

Colin Holgate
Colin HolgateCorrect answer
Inspiring
September 19, 2017

If you set each one playing one after another, they won't start playing instantly. Also I don't think play("frame label") would work.

To play three movie clips at the same time, and from a frame label of "activateI", and the three of them are in the button's parent's parent, you would do this:

this.exampleBtn.addEventListener("click", doTheThing.bind(this)); 

 

function doTheThing() { 

   this.parent.parent.mc1.gotoAndPlay("activateIt");  

   this.parent.parent.mc2.gotoAndPlay("activateIt"); 

   this.parent.parent.mc3.gotoAndPlay("activateIt"); 

} 

If you want a lot of copies of the same movieclip to play at the same time you could have a listener in the movieclip itself. For example, in the movieclip that is in the library, have this in frame 1:

stage.addEventListener("doactivate",activatenow.bind(this));

this.stop();

function activatenow(){

  this.gotoAndPlay("activateIt");

}

then change your button script to:

this.exampleBtn.addEventListener("click", doTheThing.bind(this)); 

 

function doTheThing() { 

stage.dispatchEvent("doactivate");

}

I just tried it, and it works well, and has the advantage that it doesn't matter where the button and movieclips are in the hierarchy. Try my test here (click the circle):

playnow

kristah11918479
kristah11918479Author
Participant
September 19, 2017

thanks for your response. I was trying to avoid playing them all by name individually, as I'm trying to have them be very reusable. i have other frames with a very similar setup, but the number of movie clips varies. I was hoping for some sort of array type approach, or some naming convention where I can target them all in one shot. That being said, I'll mess around with your second suggestion.  Thanks!

D
dmennenoh
Inspiring
September 19, 2017

You could try something like this.

In frame 1 of the instanced movieClip you want to animate:

stop();

stage.addEventListener("PLAY", doPlay);

function doPlay(e:Event):void

{

     gotoAndPlay(2);

}

And then this on the main timeline - I have a shape with the instance name of 'btn'.

btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, doPlay);

function doPlay(e:MouseEvent):void

{

     stage.dispatchEvent(new Event("PLAY"));

}

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