How to apply graphic effects to an object
This lesson will show us how to apply some of LiveCode's built in graphics effects to an object.
Create a stack and create a graphic
1) Create a new stack and select the 'Freehand Polygon' tool.
2) Draw a nice looking random shape on the card. Each mouse click will create a point in your polygon. Double click to release the mouse when you are finished.
Setup the polygon
In order to get the best view of our effects in action we need to:
1) Set the 'Opaque' property of the stack to true
2) Set the 'Line thickness' property to 0 (removing the border)
3) Go to the 'Colors' tab and set the 'background fill'. I chose this nice blue.
Select an effect
1) With your polygon selected, choose the 'Effects' tab in the Property Inspector
2) Select an effect to apply (In this case 'outerGlow')
3) Increase the 'size' property until you are happy with your effect
It's easy to apply any other effect. Just select it and play with the settings to create some really cool effects.
Play around to achieve some cool effects
Barry Levine
Very nice effects. Can the graphic, with the effects intact, be exported from the stack to a file? I'm thinking of acjpeg or tiff or pdf, etc.
Michael McCreary
Hi Barry
You can export the graphic to an image using the export snapshot command, remembering to specify "with effects".
export snapshot from graphic "" with effects to file ".png" as PNG
See the export snapshot dictionary entry for more information.
You can also export the contents to PDF using the print commands. See the following lesson for more info.
http://lessons.runrev.com/spaces/lessons/buckets/809/lessons/29177-How-to-create-PDFs-using-LiveCode
Warm Regards,
Michael
Ryan Simmons
I'm trying to create a button using a round rectangle and all of the graphic effect properties are disabled except for the drop shadow property. The properties for the inner glow effect are all disabled. I can see them but they are disabled. I downloaded all versions of livecode and they are still disabled. Please help!
Ryan
Hanson Schmidt-Cornelius
Hi Ryan,
try selecting the line rather than the tick box. You should find that the blue highlight bar moves onto the line you select. The controls become active if you then select the tick box.
Kind Regards,
Hanson