Zooming and Scrolling the Stage

Zooming and Scrolling the Stage

While working on your movie, you may find it helpful to zoom your view of the Stage in and out ( Figure 9.7 ). The zoom level of the Stage is not saved with your movie file and does not affect the way the movie looks when it's distributed.

When you zoom in the Stage, you can scroll to unseen parts of the Stage by using the Hand tool or the scroll bars. (If you've placed any sprites in the gray offstage area, for example, you may need to scroll the Stage even when it's at its normal zoom level.) If you find the scroll bars distracting, you can hide them.

To zoom in or out:

• Choose View > Zoom, and select a magnification level.

  or

1. Select the Magnifying Glass tool in the Tool palette ( Figure 9.8 ).

   Figure 9.8. The Magnifying Glass and Hand tools let you zoom in and scroll the Stage, respectively.

   

2. Click anywhere on the Stage to zoom in, or Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac) to zoom out.

Tips

• If you zoom with the View menu, Director zooms in on the center of the Stage. If you zoom with the Magnifying Glass, Director zooms in on the area you click.

• To restore the Stage to normal zoom level, choose View > Standard View, or double-click the Magnifying Glass tool in the Tool palette. (Doing so not only restores the zoom level to 100 percent; but it also moves the Stage to the location specified in the Property Inspector, regardless of where you might have moved it manually.)

Using Grids and Guides

Director allows you to place a grid on the Stage for help in aligning sprites ( Figure 9.10 ). You can use the grid as a visual reference, or you can use the Snap To setting to make sprites snap to the grid.

Sometimes you need to align sprites to a specific position on the Stage that doesn't coincide with a grid line. In this case, you can add custom guide lines, much like those in a page-layout program, and align sprites to them ( Figure 9.11 ).

All of the controls for the grid and guides are on the Guides tab in the Property Inspector. (If the Guides tab isn't available, click anywhere on the Stage or in the Score, and it will appear.) The grid controls are in the lower half of the window, so you may have to click the expander arrow to make them visible ( Figure 9.12 ).

The grid and guides are visible only in the Director application; they don't show up in distributed versions of your movie.

To show or hide the grid:

• Choose View > Guides and Grid > Show Grid.

  or

  Select or deselect the Visible check box in the Grid section of the Guides tab in the Property Inspector ( Figure 9.13 ).

  Figure 9.13. Specify grid settings in the Grid section of the Guides tab.

  

To configure the grid:

(All of these settings are done in the Grid section of the Guides tab in the Property Inspector.)

1. In the Grid section of the Property Inspector's Guides tab, select either Dots or Lines.

   The Lines option shows a normal grid. The Dots option shows only the points where the lines in the grid intersect ( Figure 9.14 ).

   Figure 9.14. Director offers two ways to display a grid.

   

2. Specify the spacing of the grid lines, in pixels.

   For horizontal spacing, enter a value in the W (for Width) box. For vertical spacing, enter a value in the H (for Height) box.

To add a guide to the Stage:

1. On the Guides tab of the Property Inspector, position your mouse pointer over the horizontal or vertical guide symbol ( Figure 9.15 ).

   Figure 9.15. The Guides tab lets you choose a vertical or horizontal guide for the Stage.

   

   The mouse pointer becomes a hand.

2. Depress the mouse button and drag the mouse to the Stage ( Figure 9.16 ).

   Figure 9.16. Place a horizontal or vertical guide on the stage by dragging it from the Guides tab in the Property Inspector.

   

   The mouse pointer is now dragging a guide.

3. Release the mouse button when the guide is in the desired position.

Tips

• Guides are automatically made visible when you drag a new guide to the Stage. If you want to toggle the guides' visibility, choose View > Guides and Grid > Show Guides, or use the Visible check box on the Guides tab of the Property Inspector.

• The visibility settings of guides and the grid are not saved with the movie file. However, the positions of any guides that you place on the Stage are saved with the movie file.