My feature suggestion for gideros

atilim

Then after Event.COMPLETE, sprite1 sprite2 sprite3 will be remove from stage?

not very exactly. In fact they are not on the stage or they are not children of MovieClip. They are just internally referenced and used by MovieClip to draw them to the screen.
edit: When MovieClip is eligible to GC then sprite1, sprite2 and sprite3 will be too.

My common situation, the sprite is always on the stage, and I need to make different animation to the sprite.

If this is your case, then you should use GTween. Add the sprite to the stage and animate it by using GTween.

alexzheng

At first,I always use GTween, but I found some very strange result if I play my game very fast, I guess it maybe because the local gtween is collected before the animation completed. So I begin to make a reference myself carefully.
And since the MovieClip is a native implemetation, it's performance may be better.

atilim

At first,I always use GTween, but I found some very strange result if I play my game very fast, I guess it maybe because the local gtween is collected before the animation completed.

This shouldn't be. GTween object is not collected if it's running. I'll test it.

And since the MovieClip is a native implemetation, it's performance may be better.

That's true

alexzheng

not very exactly. In fact they are not on the stage or they are not children of MovieClip. They are just internally referenced and used by MovieClip to draw them to the screen.

Then these sprites will disappear from the stage?

And the GTween is not suit for a character with some frames for walking,some for jump,and so on

atilim

Then these sprites will disappear from the stage?

Yes, if you remove the MovieClip from the stage (and if these sprites are not added to the stage somewhere else).

alexzheng

I think I have understood the MovieClip much better, thanks @atilim

atilim

You're welcome

alexzheng

is there any side effect if I use movieClip instead of GTween in this way:

mcs = {} local sprite1 = Sprite.new(...) stage:addChild(sprite1 )   local mc = MovieClip.new(... sprite1 ....) mc:addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, function(mc) mcs[mc] = nil end, mc) mcs[mc] = true

atilim

hmm.. I think there isn't any side effects (but isn't adding mc to the stage easier)?

alexzheng

add both sprite and movieclip to the stage?
like that:

local sprite1 = Sprite.new(...)
stage:addChild(sprite1 )

local mc = MovieClip.new(... sprite1 ....)
mc:addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, function(mc)mc:removeFromParent() end, mc)
stage:addChild(mc)

atilim

If you add both, the sprite will be drawn twice

alexzheng

So that's not a good way to achieve that.
Unfortunately all of my games have used MovieClip this way. :-(
So what's the best way to use MovieClip just instead of Gtween?
in other words, Keeping the sprite on the stage and release the MovieClip after complete.

atilim

The best way is adding only the MovieClip to the stage. hehe

But your solution also works:

mcs = {} local sprite1 = Sprite.new(...) stage:addChild(sprite1 )   local mc = MovieClip.new(... sprite1 ....) mc:addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, function(mc) mcs[mc] = nil end, mc) mcs[mc] = true

alexzheng

The best way is adding only the MovieClip to the stage.

But the sprite will aslo be disppared from the stage if not add to the stage after release the movieclip.

and will this code also draw twice ?
mcs = {}
local sprite1 = Sprite.new(...)
stage:addChild(sprite1 )

local mc = MovieClip.new(... sprite1 ....)
mc:addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, function(mc) mcs[mc] = nil end, mc)
mcs[mc] = true

atilim

Your code is not drawing twice because you're not adding the MovieClip to the stage.

I mean the best way is adding only the MovieClip and not the sprite. Like:

local sprite1 = Sprite.new(...)   local mc = MovieClip.new(... sprite1 ....) stage:addChild(mc) -- if you want you can use Event.COMPLETE to remove the MovieClip from stage when it's finished

atilim

But in this case, I also guess that you need to change your current code a lot.

alexzheng

Can I understand MovieClip as a special sprites container with the ability to draw different sprites and run actions sush as moveto, scaleto on them?

So, as I understand
If you want to show a sequence of bitmaps,either once (show a firework and remove it when completed) or looping (an endless walking man), the MovieClip is the best choice, and you can simply add the MovieClip to the stage and remove it when it's not needed.

However, in another situation, When you want to run an action on a sprite that is already on the stage, and after the action is completed, the action object is collected and the sprite is still on the stage,maybe the best choice is GTween.

alexzheng

Here is my story why I prefer MovieClip to GTween when I just need to run an action on a sprite.

I will illustrate my situation with a simple demo

At first, I use GTween, and I want the sprite always move to the last point I tapped,
But It failed on very fast taps.

local sprite = Bitmap.new(Texture.new("box.png")) stage:addChild(sprite)   --GTween.new(sprite, 2, {x = 240}, {delay = 0.2, ease = easing.outBounce, repeatCount = 1, reflect = true})     local gtween stage:addEventListener(Event.MOUSE_DOWN, function(event) if gtween then gtween:toEnd() ---stop the previous action end gtween = GTween.new(sprite, math.random(4), {x = event.x, y = event.y}, {delay = 0.2, ease = easing.outBounce, repeatCount = 1, reflect = true}) end)

So I try MovieClip in this way, and it works as I expected.
But it may not meet the origal objective of the MovieClip.

local mc stage:addEventListener(Event.MOUSE_DOWN, function(event) if mc then mc:gotoAndStop(200) end mc = MovieClip.new{ {1, 200, sprite, {x = {sprite:getX(), event.x}, y= {sprite:getY(), event.y}}} } end)

alexzheng

hi @atilim

finally, I got your online again.
Can you take an look at my confusion for MovieClip and GTween agian, thanks.

atilim

Can I understand MovieClip as a special sprites container with the ability to draw different sprites and run actions sush as moveto, scaleto on them?

So, as I understand
If you want to show a sequence of bitmaps,either once (show a firework and remove it when completed) or looping (an endless walking man), the MovieClip is the best choice, and you can simply add the MovieClip to the stage and remove it when it's not needed.

However, in another situation, When you want to run an action on a sprite that is already on the stage, and after the action is completed, the action object is collected and the sprite is still on the stage,maybe the best choice is GTween.

exactly!

alexzheng

Then is there any bugs in the above code to use GTween?

atilim

Interestingly, this code is working as expected:

local gtween stage:addEventListener(Event.MOUSE_DOWN, function(event) GTween.stopAll() gtween = GTween.new(sprite, 1, {x = event.x, y = event.y}, {ease = easing.outBounce}) end)

But not this one (this is the correct usage):

local gtween stage:addEventListener(Event.MOUSE_DOWN, function(event) gtween:setPaused(true) gtween = GTween.new(sprite, 1, {x = event.x, y = event.y}, {ease = easing.outBounce}) end)

I think there is a bug with GTween. I'll look at it.

alexzheng

GTween.stopAll() will stop all action run on all sprite, that's not as expected.

atilim

Although it's the incorrect usage, I just put it to show the desired behavior

alexzheng

Interestingly, this code is working as expected:
I think there is a bug with GTween. I'll look at it.

Then, finally, I know why I changed all the gtween to movieclip

alexzheng

So currently, I must use movieclip in that abnormal way to achieve what I expected.

alexzheng

gtween:setPaused(true)
toBeginning
toEnd

I have tried all before change to MovieClip

atilim

gtween:setPaused(true)
toBeginning
toEnd

I have tried all before change to MovieClip

:-\"

alexzheng

Maybe you can add an feature to MovieClip to make it a repalcement for gtween totally.

Make my way to use movieclip become legal ;;)

atilim

If you mean prevent garbage collection of running MovieClips, it causes much more trouble. And fixing GTween is easier