Chalk this one up to Things Jeff Taught Me. Jeff Gold (ue_jeff) is our Game Developer and, as such, is terribly helpful. It amazes me that i can use Flash professionally for ten years and i still find myself discovering features that have existed for many versions. This is one feature that Jeff tipped me off to.

Have you ever noticed when you fade a vector MovieClip in or out in Flash, that it goes all ghosty / X-ray and you can see the separate layers inside of it? This has always driven me ninety-nine percent nuts, and i’ve cooked up work-arounds that essentially flatten the artwork before i fade the clip.

Here’s what that horrendous ghosty alpha fade looks like:

You can totally tell that the blimple’s four legs are separate MovieClips because they fade in and out independantly of the body.

You can avoid the X-ray effect using a Blend Mode called “Layer”.

1. Select your MovieClip
2. Open the Properties panel
3. In the “Blend” drop-down list, choose “Layer”

Now, when the clip fades in and out, it looks decent and is presentable in polite society:

Cheers, Jeff!

Fancy blend modes may affect performance, so don’t go nuts with them. But if you need a clip here and there to look proper and you don’t have time for an artwork-flattening work-around, give this a shot.

To read more tutorials on Flash and Actionscript, check out our Flash and Actionscript 911 feature.

Ryan Henson Creighton is a Toronto-based game developer, and founder of Untold Entertainment Inc., specializing in online games for kids, teens, tweens and preschoolers.

Ryan Henson Creighton

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