Using Director > Sprites > Using sprite inks > Ink definitions |  |

Ink definitions

Following are definitions of all available ink types.

Copy displays all the original colors in a sprite. All colors, including white, are opaque unless the image contains alpha channel effects (transparency). Copy is the default ink and is useful for backgrounds or for sprites that do not appear in front of other artwork. If the cast member is not rectangular, a white box appears around the sprite when it passes in front of another sprite or is displayed on a nonwhite background. Sprites with the Copy ink animate faster than sprites with any other ink.

Matte removes the white bounding rectangle around a sprite. Artwork within the boundaries is opaque. Matte functions much like the Lasso tool in the Paint window in that the artwork is outlined rather than enclosed in a rectangle. Matte, like Mask, uses more RAM than the other inks, and sprites with this ink animate more slowly than other sprites.

Background Transparent makes all the pixels in the background color of the selected sprite appear transparent and permits the background to be seen.

Transparent makes all light colors transparent so you can see lighter objects beneath the sprite.

Reverse reverses overlapping colors. When applied to the foreground sprite, where colors overlap, the upper color changes to the chromatic opposite (based on the color palette currently in use) of the color beneath it. Pixels that were originally white become transparent and let the background show through unchanged. Reverse is good for creating custom masks.

Ghost, like Reverse, reverses overlapping colors, except nonoverlapping colors are transparent. The sprite is not visible unless it is overlapping another sprite.

Not Copy reverses all the colors in an image to create a chromatic negative of the original.

Not Transparent, Not Reverse, and Not Ghost are all variations of other effects. The foreground image is first reversed, then the Copy, Transparent, Reverse, or Ghost ink is applied. These inks are good for creating odd effects.

Mask determines the exact transparent or opaque parts of a sprite. For Mask ink to work, you must place a mask cast member in the Cast window position immediately following the cast member to be masked. The black areas of the mask make the sprite opaque, and white areas are transparent. Colors between black and white are more or less transparent; darker colors are more opaque. See Using Mask ink to create transparency effects.

Blend ensures that the sprite uses the color blend percentage specified in the Sprite tab of the Property Inspector. See Setting blends.

Darkest compares RGB pixel colors in the foreground and background and uses whichever pixel color is darkest.

Lightest compares RGB pixel colors in the foreground and background and uses whichever pixel color is lightest.

Add creates a new color that is the result of adding the RGB color value of the foreground sprite to the color value of the background sprite. If the value of the two colors exceeds the maximum RGB color value (255), Director subtracts 256 from the remaining value so that the result is between 0 and 255.

Add Pin is similar to Add. The foreground sprite's RGB color value is added to the background sprite's RGB color value, but the value of the new color cannot exceed the maximum color value (255).

Subtract subtracts the RGB color value of the foreground sprite's color from the RGB value of the background sprite's color to arrive at the new color. If the color value of the new color is less than 0, Director adds 256 so the remaining value is between 0 and 255.

Subtract Pin subtracts the RGB color value of pixels in the foreground sprite from the value of the background sprite. The value of the new color cannot be less than 0.

Darken changes the effect of the Foreground and Background color properties of a sprite to create dramatic color effects that generally darken and tint a sprite. Darken ink makes the background color equivalent to a color filter through which the sprite is viewed on the Stage. White provides no filtering; black darkens all color to pure black. The foreground color is then added to the filtered image, creating an effect similar to shining light of that color onto the image. Choosing Darken ink has no effect on a sprite until you select nondefault foreground and background colors. See About Darken and Lighten inks.

Lighten changes the effect of the Foreground and Background color properties of a sprite so that it is easy to create dramatic color effects that generally lighten an image. Lighten ink makes the colors in a sprite lighter as the background color gets darker. The foreground color tints the image to the degree allowed by the lightening. See About Darken and Lighten inks.

Note: Mask and Matte use more memory than other inks because Director must duplicate the mask of the artwork.