What the color object does is allows you ways to apply color and alpha
effects to movieclip objects much in the sense of a filter. When applied to a
movieclip object, it is applied to everything within that movieclip. This
includes all lines, all fills and any symbol that may exist within that
movieclip, no matter what their color.
setRGB is an absolute color effect. Absolute
in terms of, when set, the set color is the absolute or only color that the
entire movieclip will possess (again this is for everything within that clip
since everything inside is part of what makes that clip what it is).
setTransform allows more control with amounts
of color added. In fact, there really doesn't even need to be a setRGB because
it can be done just the same with setTransform. setTransform just gives you
more options and is therefore, harder to use. What you can escape from with
setTransform is, though, the whole absolute color deal, now being able to
apply only subtle amounts of color to a movieclip, or even reversing the
current color.
Now, these are methods of a color object. A color object is a controller of
these 'filters'. Its not itself a filter. The color object is more like the
pull-down menu you open to choose your filters. Of course, before you open
that menu, you have to select the movieclip the menu actions will effect i.e.
colorObj = new Color(selected_movieclip);
Then you select your filter with whatever options you want, be it through
setRGB or setTransform, and those effects will be applied to the movieclip.
Because the color object is the menu, deleting it only takes away your ability
to change that movieclip's color again unless you make yourself another menu
(color object). Deleting the menu will not remove the filters... and in fact any
effect to a movieclip is effectively 1 color effect filter as, like I said
before, setRGB is just a simple version of setTransform. So everything revolves
around what can be achieved through setTransform. Using setTransform on a
movieclip again will not add to any previous color effects, but rather, change
it to the new setting.
By default each movieclip has a default transform of:
ra = 100 (in a range of -100 to 100)
rb = 0 (in a range of -255 to 255)
ga = 100 (in a range of -100 to 100)
gb = 0 (in a range of -255 to 255)
ba = 100 (in a range of -100 to 100)
bb = 0 (in a range of -255 to 255)
aa = 100 (in a range of -100 to 100)
ab = 0 (in a range of -255 to 255)
These you can actually see in the Flash authoring environment by selecting a
clip and in the properties panel selecting
Color: Advanced > Settings...
and there you have your setTransform options.
Using setRGB changes those options to reflect full color of whatever color
you've passed. For example, if you made you set an RGB to blue, you would
get the following for the transform properties:
ra = 0
rb = 0
ga = 0
gb = 0
ba = 100
bb = 255
aa = 0
ab = 0
Should you ever need to remove a color effect from a movieclip, its just a
matter of ... well removing that color as specified from the transform object.
This means setting the clip to the original transform settings of:
ra = 100
rb = 0
ga = 100
gb = 0
ba = 100
bb = 0
aa = 100
ab = 0
This can be done either manually using:
colorObj.setTransform({ra:100,
rb:0,ga:100,gb:0,ba:100,bb:0,aa:100,ab:0});
....or by simply saving the getTransform of the movieclip before you do
anything to it and reapplying it when you need to reset it. That getTransform
however, will be the exact object that's used in the setTransform above. Using
getTransform just prevents you from having to write it out. Note that setRGB
does not have the ability to remove such colors because of its absolute color
applying behavior. Only the setTransform method can restore a movieclip and
remove whatever 'filter effects' you might have applied.
Now, in case you were wondering, what those values in the transform object
represent. There are 2 properties for each channel: 2 for each Red, Green, Blue
and Alpha - each dubbed A (-100 to 100) and B (-255 to 255).
A represents % of current color. As you can see, the default A for every clip is
100 or 100% of current color. This means that for every red, green, blue and
alpha part of that clip, 100% of it will be seen and seen 100%. If, for example,
you have a red square and you reduce its ra (A of red) down to 0 or 0%, that
square will then become black since you just robbed that clip of all of its red.
Since it was only red and nothing else, no other colors will be seen so you get
black. A purple clip (or magenta rather) in the same situation would turn blue.
Magenta is made of red and blue. Reducing a magenta clips ra to 0% would mean
all the red is gone and only the blue remains to be seen. The A values also go
below 0% down to 100%, but for normal clip color, that has no meaning... not
unless there's any B involved.
B represents added color. B lets you give a color to a clip that has no color,
and as we all know, color is measured in values of 0 to 255 hence the range set
for B. Given a black movieclip, you are able to change its color from black to
red by giving that clip a rb of 255. The A in a black clip is already 100%, but
since black has no red its not like we can up that anymore to bring it out. To
add the red it has to be... added. And that's what B is for. But that's not all.
Not only can B add, but it can also take away, hence the -255 portion of its
range. Naturally its useless on our black clip so we'll return to the red clip.
Given a red clip with a 100% ra, it can be turned black by giving is a rb of
-255. Now, since the red clip is already red, if you decided to give it a rb of
positive 255, that would only make it more red, which visually, has no effect.
Now, however, the ra could be used in its negative range and it could be set to
-100% which would knock all the red out of the clip and turn it back to black.
When setRGB is used to set something red, you can see it set all A's and B's to
0 (removing those colors completely) and upped the A and B for red to their max,
ensuring absolute red-ness - as is the nature of setRGB. Removing that set color
is just a matter of resetting A's to 100 and B's to 0 since then you would have
100% all true normal color and 0 added color.
And let me remind you that all of this happens for and entire clip and ALL of
its contents. These colors are like a stain that is coated on to the clip
applied so it just seeps in and gets in everything within no matter what it is.
So in the case of altering fill and stroke of a movieclip, each one of those
elements would need to be completely separate - their own movieclips - if you
need to have complete control over each's color.
If you have any questions, feel free to post on the
forums.
