Using Director > Text > Setting text or field cast member properties |  |

Setting text or field cast member properties

Use the Property Inspector to view and change settings for selected text cast members. In addition to standard Name and Unload properties, you can specify whether text is editable while the movie plays, improve performance with pre-rendering, and control anti-aliasing and kerning.

To view or change text or field cast member properties:

1 | Select a text cast member.
2 | To display the Property Inspector, choose Modify > Cast Member > Properties or choose Window > Properties > Inspector.
3 | If necessary, click the Member tab using the Graphical view.
| The following noneditable settings are displayed:
| The cast member size in kilobytes
| The cast member creation and edit dates
| The name of the last person who modified the cast member
4 | To view or edit the cast member name, use the Name field.
5 | To add comments about the cast member, use the Comments field.
6 | To specify how Director removes the cast member from memory if memory is low, choose an option from the Unload pop-up menu. See Controlling cast member unloading.
7 | To change the text of the cast member, click Edit.
8 | Click the Text or Field tab of the Property Inspector using the Graphical view.
9 | To determine how Director places text within the boundaries of the cast member, choose a Framing option:
| Adjust to Fit expands the text box vertically when text that is entered extends beyond the current size of the box.
| Scrolling attaches a scroll bar to the right side of the text box. This is useful when there is a large amount of text. Note that the scroll bar will be drawn direct to Stage; this means that even if another cast member is in front of a cast member containing a scroll bar, the scroll bar will appear frontmost.
| Fixed retains the original size of the text box. If you enter text that extends beyond the limits of the box, the text is stored but not displayed. You can set up scrolling with Lingo (see Controlling scrolling text with Lingo).
| Limit to Field Size (available only for field cast members) displays only the amount of text that fits within the field's bounding rectangle.
10 | To set editing and display options, choose from the following options:
| Editable makes the cast member editable while the movie plays (see Using editable text).
| Wrap increases the vertical size of the text box or field on the Stage so that all text is visible.
| Tab to Next Editable Item advances the text insertion point to the next editable sprite on the Stage when the user presses Tab.
| Direct to Stage (text cast members only) makes text display more quickly by rendering it directly to the Stage without composing it with other sprites. This prevents other sprites from appearing over the text and limits the ink options to Copy.
| Use Hypertext Styles (text cast members only) makes hypertext links appear as they do in a Web browser, initially using blue underlining, and then red once the link has been visited. (See Creating a hyperlink.)
11 | To make text of a text cast member appear on the Stage more quickly, choose a pre-render option. Pre-rendering controls when text buffers will be created.
| Without pre-rendering, large amounts of anti-aliased text can take a while to load, causing a noticeable pause on a frame that displays the text for the first time. When a pre-render option is selected, text buffers are created when the current text member is loaded instead of when the member first appears on the Stage.
| Select one of the following pre-render options from the Pre-Render pop-up menu:
| None provides no pre-rendering.
| Copy Ink optimizes the pre-rendering for Copy Ink. (This option renders text more quickly than Other Ink.)
| Other Ink pre-renders the text for all other ink types.
| If you choose a pre-render option, you can make text appear on the Stage even more quickly by selecting Save Bitmap. See Using the Save Bitmap feature for pre-rendered text.
12 | To control how Director anti-aliases text for a text cast member, choose an Anti-Alias option:
| All Text anti-aliases all the text in the text block.
| Larger Than anti-aliases only text larger than the point size entered in the Points field.
| None turns off anti-aliasing for the current cast member.
| Anti-aliasing dramatically improves the appearance of large text, but it can blur or distort smaller text. Experiment with the size setting to get the best results for the font you are using. (See About anti-aliased text.)
13 | To control how Director kerns text, choose a Kerning option.
| Kerning often does not improve the appearance of text at small point sizes. See About kerning.
| All Text kerns all the text in the cast member according to the standard kerning table.
| Larger Than kerns only text larger than the point size entered in the Points field.
| None turns off kerning for the current cast member.

Using the Save Bitmap feature for pre-rendered text

The Save Bitmap feature works in tandem with pre-render options to display a buffer image of your text while your user waits for the actual text to load. This feature is useful when you're working with a large amount of anti-aliased text. (The Save Bitmap feature is different from the Convert to Bitmap menu command, which converts a text cast member into a bitmap image.)

You can also use the Save Bitmap feature with pre-render options if you're using special text characters for an audience not equipped to display them. For example, using Save Bitmap enables a non-Japanese system to display a text sprite that contains Japanese characters. Note, however, that the Save Bitmap option adds to the file size. The feature works with static text, but not with editable or scrolling text.

To use the Save Bitmap feature for pre-rendered text:

1 | Select the text sprite.
2 | On the Text tab of the Property Inspector, select from the Pre-Render pop-up menu:
| If the text sprite's ink is Copy Ink, select Copy Ink.
| If the text sprite's ink is any type of ink other than Copy Ink, select Other Ink.
| For this procedure to work, you must make the correct selection from the Pre-Render pop-up menu. You can determine the Sprite's ink on the Sprite tab of the Property Inspector.
3 | Select Save Bitmap.