Explosion Button documentation
 
Quick Start

When you receive the product you will receive a .zip file. The zip file will contain the following files

  • explosion_button.fla
  • explosion_button.swf
  • Readme.htm

Do the following steps to start using explosion Button;

  1. Unzip the .zip file.
  2. Open Flash CS3 (or higher).
  3. Open explosion_button.fla.
  4. Drag component "explosion button" from the explosion_button.fla .fla Library to the Library of the new .fla you want to use it in.
  5. Drag component "explosion button" from the new .fla Library on stage/canvas of the new .fla.
  6. Select the Explosion Button component on stage and open [Component Inspector].
  7. Set parameter "button text" to the text which the button should show.
  8. Set other parameters to your liking.


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Component Parameters.
When you place the explosion Button component on stage, you will have a number of parameters you can modify to suit the visual to your needs. Below are detailed explanations about what every parameter does or customizes.
button text     The text which will appear in the button.
button width   ( OPTIONAL ) exact width for the button bar part, will override the automatically calculated width.
align text to center   If set to true, the text will be aligned at the center of the button instead of at the left side.
explosions   Number of explosions per button
explosions hor. spread   Horizontal spread of the buttons. Notice that the first explosion is ALWAYS centered.
explosions ver. spread   Vertical spread of the buttons. Notice that the first explosion is ALWAYS centered.
explosions min. scale   Explosions minimum scale
explosions max. scale   Explosions maximum scale
smoke hor. spread   Horizontal spread of the smoke coming of one explosion instance
smoke ver. spread   Vertical spread of the smoke coming of one explosion instance
min. particle duplicates   Minimum number of explosion-smoke particles generated every time you move over the button.
max. particle duplicates   Maximum number of explosion-smoke particles generated every time you move over the button.
particle color(s)   Array of possible color(s) which the explosion-smoke particles can become.
acceleration   Accelerationof the explosion-smoke particles movement. 0 = continuous speed, 1 = decelarating, 2 = accelerating.
min. move duration   Minimum explosion-smoke particle move duration (in frames).
max. move duration   Maximum explosion-smoke particle move duration (in frames).
min. start delay   Minimum start delay between generation of explosion-smoke particles
max. start delay   Maximum start delay between generation of explosion-smoke particles
min. hor. position   ( OPTIONAL ) Minimum horizontal position of the explosion-smoke particles (start) position, will orverride the automatically calculated area.
max. hor. position   ( OPTIONAL ) Maximum horizontal position of the explosion-smoke particles (start) position, will orverride the automatically calculated area.
min. ver. position   Minimum vertical position of the explosion-smoke particles (start) position.
max. ver. position   Maximum vertical position of the explosion-smoke particles (start) position.
min. hor. move   Minimum horizontal movement of the explosion-smoke particles.
max. hor. move   Maximum horizontal movement of the explosion-smoke particles.
min. ver. move   Minimum vertical movement of the explosion-smoke particles.
max. ver. move   Maximum vertical movement of the explosion-smoke particles.
min. swing move   Minimum parabolic (horizontal) swing movement of the explosion-smoke particles.
max. swing move   Maximum parabolic (horizontal) swing movement of the explosion-smoke particles.
min. swing speed   Minimum speed of the (horizontal) explosion-smoke particle swing movement.
max. swing speed   Maximum speed of the (horizontal) explosion-smoke particle swing movement.
min. scale   Minimum scale of the explosion-smoke particles.
max. scale   Maximum scale of the explosion-smoke particles.
min. stretch   Minimum random stretching of explosion-smoke particles. Used for horizontal and vertical rescaling (seperately) at start - mid- and end- points of each particle individually.
max. stretch   Maximum random stretching of explosion-smoke particles. Used for horizontal and vertical rescaling (seperately) at start - mid- and end- points of each particle individually.
min. alpha   Minimum alpha transparency of the explosion-smoke particles.
max. alpha   Maximum alpha transparency of the explosion-smoke particles.
min. rotation   Minimum rotation of the explosion-smoke particles. Calculated seperately for start - mid- and end- points of each particle.
max. rotation   Maximum rotation of the explosion-smoke particles. Calculated seperately for start - mid- and end- points of each particle.
rotate in both directions   Allow rotation clockwise and counterclockwise at random of explosion-smoke particles.
cluster   Number of explosion-smoke particles forming a cluster together (making more coherent explosion)
cluster spread   Horizontal and vertical random spreading of cluster explosion-smoke particles
swing in both directions   Allow swing direction to start to both left and right at random.
scale down factor   explosion-smoke particles rescale down factor along movement.
transparency down factor   explosion-smoke particles refade away transparency factor along movement.
extra random duration offset   Allow random extra durations of explosion-smoke particles within a cluster (by default every cluster choses one duration for all particles within it).
wait new explosion until finish   If set to true, a button will complete and wait for the explosion effect to finish before allowing a new effect when the mouse goes over it. This can aleviate playback performance with 'extreme' heavy effect buttons.
arrow distance   Distance of the arrow animations left and right from the text on mouse over
letters explode distance   Maximum distance of the letters exploding outwards on mouse over
letters extra duration   Increases the duration of letters exploding effect (base duration is keyframe total of MovieClip "explosion keyframes")

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Tips


Some tips to keep in mind when working with explosion Button;

  • Stack buttons from bottom up!
    When creating a vertical list of buttons, start with the last one. Why? Basically because the explosion-smoke coming from a button will prevent any other underlying movie items (lower depths) from temporarily receiving Mouse Events. So if the explosion goes upwards in the layout, make sure that 'higher buttons' receive a higher depth so that it will be stacked on top of the 'lower buttons'.
    In general, simply creating a new "layer" for each button will do the trick, start with the last one in the list and keep creating new "layers" until you finish with the first one in the list.
    Of course you may need to revert the principle if you create a down-going explosion visual
  • Don't REMOVE contents from the movieclips.
    All items of the buttons are targeted with Action Script and removing them will lead to scripting errors. If you want to 'hide' something, either use component parameters where possible or set alpha transparency for those items to "0".
  • Keep the [shim_#####_button] movieclip in your Library
    (where ##### is the name of your button)
    This movieclip contains compiled actionscript code which is used and included by the Button components on export/publish. If you copy the Button component to other .fla files, make sure it's copied to its Library (should be automatically)
  • Every instance of the Explosion Button component can be configured individually
    Rememember that you can create different visuals at the same time for different buttons. If you want to make exact same looking buttons, it's reckomended to first create the visual on one button and then copy-paste it for the remaining buttons.

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Explosion Button Disclaimer
© 2009 Patrick Jansen Design

E xplosion Button Component is Intellectual Property of Patrick Jansen. You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using Explosion Button Component. Your use of files indicates your acceptance of this license agreement and warranty

You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting donations, for Explosion Button Component and from distributing these files (commercial or otherwise) without prior written permission. Unauthorized usage or distribution is prohibited and is in violation of international copyright laws.

Reverse-engineering, decompiling and/or any form of modification or reproduction of Explosion Button Component is prohibited. You are allowed to use Explosion Button component in commercial works, provided the end-works are not competitive or harmful to Patrick Jansen products. Any other usage of the Explosion Button effects not described herein can only be performed with specific authorization by Patrick Jansen.

Disclaimer of Warranty

THE Patrick Jansen Products (including but not limited to "Explosion Button" and "XML List Menu" and "GaDGeTS" and "ASTRO" and "PJ" and "Supreme 4" and "Elite" and "Pixel Font" and "X-mas Mix" components) AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH PATRICK JANSEN PRODUCTS MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.

Patrick Jansen Products copyright registrations are available at USA Library of Congress - Copyright Office.
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