need help with random function

[iostream71]

i want to make some stars and have them twinkle randomly. this is what i have so far:

just duplicating a single star MC 100 times and randomly placing...but i'm not sure how to make them twinkle randomly

for(i = 0; i < 100; i++){
duplicateMovieClip(star, 'star' + i, i);
xHigh = 699;
xLow = 1;
yHigh = 1;
yLow = 171;
alphaHigh = 100;
alphaLow = 10;
randAlpha = Math.floor(Math.random() * (alphaHigh - alphaLow)) + alphaLow;
randX = Math.floor(Math.random() * (xHigh - xLow)) + xLow;
randY = Math.floor(Math.random() * (yHigh - yLow)) + yLow;
_root['star' + i]._x = randX;
_root['star' + i]._y = randY;
_root['star' + i]._alpha = randAlpha;
}

 

[oldnewbie]

What if the original star clip is a continuously rotating clip to start with? Regards,

 

[iostream71]

hmm...i tried something like that, but they all blink at the same rate. i was wanting it to be more random

 

[billwatson]

it looks like your code is just giving each star a random alpha. for twinkle the alpha must change (randomly if you wish)

twinkle = setInterval(shine,50);

function shine(){
for(i = 0; i < 100; i++){
randAlpha = Math.floor(Math.random() * (alphaHigh - alphaLow)) + alphaLow;
_root['star' + i]._alpha = randAlpha;
}


dont forget to clear the interval at some stage.

 

[skeletrooper]

I would like to keyframe this starfield. I created this starfield (the duplicated movie clips) in a movie clip called "MC_stars". But when I placed it on the main timeline, keyframed it, and tested the movie, only 1 star showed up (none of the other duplicates showed up).

Any ideas?

Here's my code for "MC_stars":

for(i = 0; i < 200; i++){
duplicateMovieClip(introstar, 'introstar' + i, i);
xHigh = 999;
xLow = 1;
yHigh = 1;
yLow = 299;
alphaHigh = 60;
alphaLow = 40;
xscaleHigh = 150;
xscaleLow = 50;
yscaleHigh = xscaleHigh;
yscaleLow = xscaleLow;
randAlpha = Math.floor(Math.random() * (alphaHigh - alphaLow)) + alphaLow;
randxScale = Math.floor(Math.random() * (xscaleHigh - xscaleLow)) + xscaleLow;
randyScale = randxScale;
randX = Math.floor(Math.random() * (xHigh - xLow)) + xLow;
randY = Math.floor(Math.random() * (yHigh - yLow)) + yLow;
_root['introstar' + i]._x = randX;
_root['introstar' + i]._y = randY;
_root['introstar' + i]._alpha = randAlpha;
_root['introstar' + i]._xscale = randxScale;
_root['introstar' + i]._yscale = randyScale;
}

twinkle = setInterval(shine,100);

function shine(){
for(i = 0; i < 200; i++){
randAlpha = Math.floor(Math.random() * (alphaHigh - alphaLow)) + alphaLow;
_root['introstar' + i]._alpha = randAlpha;
}
}

By the way, this creates some killer twinkling stars!

-Skeletrooper