Review tutorial - TXeff component by JumpEye

[Flep]

Hello everyone!

While surfing the web looking for news in the field of Flash CS3, I came across the site of JumpEye Components, developer of components for Flash CS3 very beautiful.

I tried some and I must say that I was enthusiastic.

I tried to take part as a beginner with Flash CS3 and I discovered a good approach with the use of these components.

The impact with the panel of the parameters of the components JumpEye is spontaneous and immediate, easily understandable offers easy configuration of their components.

Which target / level users are directed?

Certainly for beginners who want to get impressive effects and outside the town without using Actionscript or interpolations on the timeline.

But they are good even for advanced users that require a quick tool in order to save valuable time in creating effects and beyond.

Having said that, I decided to write some reviews of these components

I want start
from TXeff, a component that creates effects to the texts of our text fields.

In practice, simply create a text field and associate to the eff TX, choose a pattern effect, duration and other appropriate options and it's done.

You can build cool effects within few minutes.

Installation

Be sure to have the last version of Adobe Extension Manager installed on your machine, or download it here.

Double click on file TXEFFV3.mxp and it opens the Adobe Extension Manager.

Acept the disclaimer.

Reboot Flash or refresh the components panel!

You will find the component in components panel of your Flash under a new folder named TXEff - JumpEye.

Now install the patterns, that is another file MXP that is the component and enables us to choose from dozens of effects.

Double click on file TXEFFPatterns.mxp and it opens the Adobe Extension Manager.

Acept the disclaimer.

Reboot Flash or refresh the components panel!

You will find a list of new components in components panel of your Flash under the folder named TXEff - JumpEye.

 

Creating a TextField

The component TXeff apply effects very appealing to our text fields, and then they create one.

It must be dynamic, apply the text you want and assign it a name instance, in this case test_txt.

Enable the anti-aliasing for animations.

Enable render the text as HTML.

Choose the font that you prefer and remember to embed the character set or otherwise you will not see the text

After that, I have to assign the instance name of the TextField to TXeff component.

 

The component inspector panel

Once installed the TXeff, I just open the window components and drag the component TXEFF on stage.

Select it, go down in the property panel tab parameters and click the button that will open the component inspector panel.

Now we assign the instance name of the TextField by filling in _targetInstanceName: test_txt.

Then, I just below an option that is called textChangeDelay: the interval between two consecutive hide and show transitions ( when autoPlay=true ).

I also have another parameter which is called autoPlay. If selected, animation starts automatically.

In addition we have to choose what kind of effect we want to apply to and in the Transition Params can choose:

• transitionType, 2 possibilities:
  
  hide, show


• tweenType, 6 possibilities:
  
  regular, strong, back, bounce, elastic, none


• easeType, 4 possibilities:
  
  easeIn, easeOut, easeInOut, easeNone


• tweenDuration

We have other options available also very useful under Partial Effect Params

• partial group ( apply the effect to letters or words...), 4 possibilities:
  
  letters, words, lines, selected strings


• partialPercent ( the percentage of elements on which the effect will be applied)


• selectedStrings ( the string from the text on which the effect will be applied)


• blurAmount ( the amount of blur applied on the elements that are not included in the partial effect)


• partialStart ( the delay between the start of the effect tween on the chosen text elements and start of the alpha fade tween on the rest of the text elements)

 

How to get a loop

We can also ensure that our entertainment, our effect applies to the text, runs as a loop.

To achieve this, simply act on the timeline using 2 instances of TXeff component as folowing:

here is a sample:

 

Using the patterns

The big news of this component is that we can use with the effects of the parameters already set up choosing among dozens of types.

We can choose and test all the patterns (which of course are free for those who buy the component) by clicking Browse effects at the top of component inspector panel and it will launch a web page that refer to the site component ( TXeff component ).

We are directed to the site of the component and not just try dozens of effects already created but also you can share your own effects by clicking Share effect button at the top of the component inspector panel.

So essentially we can provide our effects to others who use the same component, and vice versa.

Using a pattern is extremely simple.

First of all we have to choose which category it belongs to the effect and the categories are nothing more than a list of components that appears when TXEFFPatterns.mxp install.

Go to the site of the component, choose the category that you like more, click Copy effect id # and paste it at 'paste effect id' option at the top of the component inspector panel.

"pattern is unavailable" error message

Question: When I try to run my clip, after I import an effect id from the txeff.com site, I get the following error message:

The Pattern:'PatternName' is unavailable.

at TXEFF/removeEffect()

at TXEFF/transitionEffect()

at TXEFF/draw()

at fl.core::UIComponent/callLaterDispatcher()

The Pattern:'PatternName' is unavailable.

at TXEFF/removeEffect()

at TXEFF/transitionEffect()

at TXEFF/draw()

at TXEFF/callDraw()

Answer: The above error means that the TxEff component cannot find the specified pattern in the Library.

When you import an effect setting from the site, you need to make sure you have that pattern in your project's Library (each effect is based on a pattern - you can find the pattern name in the effect's description). The TxEff component has only 3 patterns embedded into it: Alpha, Blur and XYScale. This means that when you import the TxEff component into the Library you also import the three patterns. All the other patterns are components that need to be installed in your Flash IDE and drag and dropped from the Components panel to your project's Library.

For example, if I chose the category NeonTubes, then I drag the panel components at the component library TXEFFPatternNeonTubes.

Create the SWF That's it!

Here is another sample:

Simple !

 

Using TXeff with Actionscript

And if I do not want to start the animation immediately ( disable autoPlay ), how do I start the effect using Actionscript?

Simple, we have methods, properties and events.

Let's say that I have my component autoPlay unchecked.

I can start it whenever I want, I assign an instance name to the component (for example tx_eff) and use the following methods:

- tx_eff.show();

- tx_eff.hide();

Of course the first uses the incoming transition and the second one out.

On JumpEye site is the complete list of all the methods, properties and events available.

If we wanted to start the component without manually drag on the stage but using Actionscript, then simply use the following syntax:

var tx_eff:TXEFF = new TXEFF();

this.addChild(tx_eff);

tx_eff._targetInstanceName = "test_txt";

 

What xmlPath option is?

This component allows us to manage the parameters desired effect even from an XML file.

Simply create an XML file like the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<component name="TXEFF">
	<properties>
		<!-- the instance name of the target text field -->
	    <_targetInstanceName>
			<type>String</type>
			<value>test_txt</value>
		<_targetInstanceName>
		<!-- if true, the effect starts automatically -->
	    <autoPlay>
	        <type>Boolean</type>
	        <value>true</value>
	    </autoPlay>
		<!-- the name of the effect that will be applied on the text -->
	    <patternName>
	        <type>String</type>
	        <value>XYScale</value>
	    </patternName>
		
	    <preset>
	        <type>Number</type>
	        <value>9</value>
	    </preset>
		<!-- the action that the effect will perform: display the text or hide the text -->
		<transitionType>
			<type>String</type>
			<value>show</value>
		</transitionType>
		<!-- the type of tween that the effect will use -->
	    <tweenType>
	        <type>String</type>
	        <value>Bounce</value>
	    </tweenType>
		<!-- the type of easing used by the animation tween -->
		<easeType>
	        <type>String</type>
	        <value>easeOut</value>
	    </easeType>
		<!-- how much time (in seconds) the effect will last -->
		<tweenduration>
	        <type>Number</type>
	        <value>5</value>
	    </tweenduration>
	</properties>
</component>

 

Requirements

Adobe Flash CS3 only.

Windows o MAC

Publish settings

Flash Player 9 or +

Actionscript 3.0 only

Rating

frequency of use: Essential

complexity: Plug and Play

stability: Robust

popularity: innovation

total: excellent

Try it now !

See you next !

[Fred 27]

Ahhhg - this sounds so simple but I just get a blank screen.
Does anyone have an .fla that I can see - basic please.

[Flep]

thanks for the info Flep... just one problem... after installing the MXP files they don't show up in the component panel..
i'm using Flash CS4... do i have to get TxEff2?? isn't there a way to make TxEff 1 work in Flash CS4??

Hi,
I think this question can find good answer at JumpEye support website