nice doodle!
OK. I'm going out for a meal with the wife, so I might not get this done before I go. You do love to complicate matters don't you?
The system used in the FLA is based on a 3-d (ie: x,y,z) co-ordinate system (this will all be explained in the FAQ, but I'll just give you a summary for now, I don't expect you to take this info and be able to understand it just yet).
For each 'node' in the 3-d shape you have a co-ordinate in space. If you draw a block outline of an 'E' on a piece of paper, what you see is the outline in the x-y plane. If you draw x/y axis on the 'E', where the x-axis starts (ie: the origin) at the bottom-left corner of the 'E' and extends to the right, and the y-axis starts in the same place and extends upwards, the you have the makings of a graph to work out the co-ordinates of every 'node'.
Now, if you left it at that it would be fine, but you would have a spinning 2-d wireframe (would still give a 3-d-esque effect, but of a 2-d object). To get the 3-d effect, you recreate your graph the exact same way. Now on the first graph, number the nodes, starting from where you want the object to spin from (on my 'E' it was the top-left node), and continue numbering in a clock-wise (to makes things easier) direction. Now continue the numbering on the second graph, starting at the same point and moving in the same direction (so if you finished numbering at 12 on the first 'E', the first node of the second 'E' would be 13). Remember to use 01,02,03 notation rather than 1,2,3.
OK, you've got your 2 graphs and you've numbered the nodes from 01 through 24 (in the case of the 'E'). Now you can start working out the co-ordinates for each node. The rule I use is to make the node furthest away from the origin the value 099 (don't go over this value). So in the case of your 'E' the (x,y) co-ordinates of the top-left node would be (0,99) or for the purposes of the FLA: 001,099 (because 000 isn't recognised). To give another example, the topmost right-hand node would have (x,y) co-ordinates: 060,099. Once you have done the first 'E' the second 'E' has the exact same (x,y) co-ordinates for each node (only the node numbering is different at this stage).
So now you have:
>> two graphs of a letter 'E'
>> 24 nodes numbered independently
>> 12 x,y co-ordinates relating to each node, repeated for the second 'E'
At this stage we get into 3d land. As you can imagine, the 3d 'E' consists of your two 'E's, placed one behind the other and linked by lines at each corresponding node between the two 'E's. These linking lines lie in the z-axis. If you look straight ahead at your (x,y) 'E' which you have drawn, then your z-axis goes 'into' the page.
Now, the first 'E' will be closest to you, so we can give every node on the first 'E' the z-axis value of 0 ( or 001). Thus, you simply add ',001' to the end of all the co-ordinates you worked out for the first 'E's nodes. So, the value of the bottem-left node becomes 001,001,001....the top-left node becomes 001,099,001....the topmost-right node becomes 060,099,001.
For the second 'E', choose a value which relates to the length of the lines connecting the two 'E's in 3d space. In the fla I made for you this vale was 20 because it equalled the length of the shortest side. So, with 20 as the z-axis value, the co-ordinates of each of the node in the second 'E' have ,020 added onto the end:
bottom-left: 001,001,020
top-left: 001,099,020
topmost-right: 060,099,020
etc
So now you have:
>> two graphs of a letter 'E'
>> 24 nodes numbered independently
>> 24 x,y,z co-ordinates relating independently to each node on both 'E's
Now comes the slightly tricky part, if anything lets you down it will be this (and something does usually go wrong here). We're now going to tell the FLA which points are joined together, and this is why we numbered in a clock-wise direction: to make this bit easier. OK, if you've number correctly then node01 will join node02, node02, will join node03, etc, etc. So just write a list thus:
0102
0203
0304
0405
etc
for all nodes on each of the two 'E's. You should have 24 in all at this stage (one for each line on the two 'E's).
Now, add to this list the lines which join the two 'E's in the z-axis. So the first node of the first 'E' joins the first node of the second 'E'. If you've numbered the nodes as I've described, the addition to the list should look like this (there will be 12 values):
0113
0214
0315
0416
.
.
1123
1224
At this stage we get into 3d land. As you can imagine, the 3d 'E' consists of your two 'E's, placed one behind the other and linked by lines at each corresponding node between the two 'E's. These linking lines lie in the z-axis. If you look straight ahead at your (x,y) 'E' which you have drawn, then your z-axis goes 'into' the page.
Now, the first 'E' will be closest to you, so we can give every node on the first 'E' the z-axis value of 0 ( or 001). Thus, you simply add ',001' to the end of all the co-ordinates you worked out for the first 'E's nodes. So, the value of the bottem-left node becomes 001,001,001....the top-left node becomes 001,099,001....the topmost-right node becomes 060,099,001.
For the second 'E', choose a value which relates to the length of the lines connecting the two 'E's in 3d space. In the fla I made for you this vale was 20 because it equalled the length of the shortest side. So, with 20 as the z-axis value, the co-ordinates of each of the node in the second 'E' have ,020 added onto the end:
bottom-left: 001,001,020
top-left: 001,099,020
topmost-right: 060,099,020
So now you have:
>> two graphs of a letter 'E'
>> 24 nodes numbered independently
>> 24 x,y,z co-ordinates relating independently to each node on both 'E's
>> 36 node-to-node values
Final stage
OK, grab you're list of co-ordinates and write them in a single line (I do this in notepad so that I can view the line as I'm doing it, rather than typing it striaght into the Action window), separate each of the node co-ordinates with an 'R', thus:
001,001,001R060,001,001R020,020,001R.........etc
Do the same for the node-to-node values, thus:
0102R0204R0403R0305R0506R...........etc
Now, open movie-explorer and double-click on the actions for frame1 of the mc '3d-movie'. Insert the following into the variables already set:
//the number of nodes
totalpoints = "24";
//the co-ordinates of each node
points = "001,001,001R060,001,001R020,020,001R.....etc";
//the number of node-to-node lines
totallines = "36";
//the node-to-node list
lines = "0102R0204R0403R0305R0506R...........etc";
//the following line determine's how 'close' the
//3d object spins to the viewer (ie: the perspective)
//experiment with this
eyez = "300";
//the following variable sets the distance of
//the 3d object from the viewer
//experiment with this
zoom = "100";
OK, that's it in a nutshell. Guess I've just written hlaf of the FAQ already! But at least you can have a go at creating a shpae yourself now.
I'm off for dinner with my lovely wife. I'll see you later.
dave
dave@pinkzeppelin.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^