Create
transparent backgrounds for your Flash text effects
with Wildform Wild FX Pro & Dreamweaver MX
Note: This
tutorial requires that you have Wild FX, the
Flash 6 (or higher) player installed and a copy
of Dreamweaver MX. The latest Flash player may
be downloaded here. This tutorial also relies
on the active-X Control of Flash, which means
that the transparent background will only work
for viewers on Windows systems with IE 4.0 or
higher.
The
Wildform Wild FX
Pro Flash Text Animator lets you create Flash
text effects in seconds and comes with over 400
effects (more than any other Flash text effects
tool on the market.) Wild FX is a great way to
create animated text for your banners and buttons.
We frequently receive support questions on how
to create a Wild FX text banner with a transparent
background.
The backgrounds in Wild FX Pro are actually transparent.
However, many people want to bring their Wild
FX Pro Flash text effects directly into their
favorite HTML editor, and when they do, the background
color is retained.
This brief tutorial shows you how to bring your
Wild FX Pro text effect into Dreamweaver MX,
lay it over an image, and make the background
of the text effect transparent. It will show
you how to take these two files displayed here:
In
my HTML file in Dreamweaver, I am going to insert
my image file, "Wild FX_icons_400_color_gradient.jpg",
by selecting from the menu bar, "Insert
-> Image".
Then, I am going to bring in my Wild FX Pro effect, "Wild
FX_text_banner.swf", by selecting from the
menu bar, "Insert -> Media -> Flash".
Next,
I am going to set up two separate layers in Dreamweaver
and put the image file in the bottom layer and
the Wild FX Pro text effect in the top layer.
To create the first layer from the menu bar I
select "Insert -> Layer" which creates
a new layer in my HTML page.
Then
I am going to drag my image file into the layer.
I
am now going to repeat the process and create
a second layer into which I will drag my "Wild
FX_text_banner.swf".
Then I will drag my second layer on top of my
first to create the following:
When
I preview the HTML file in my browser it looks
like this (to preview your file in Dreamweaver,
select the f12 key on your computer keyboard):
Now
I want to remove the red background from my text
effect. To do so I am going to set the Wild FX
Pro layer as transparent. Activate the Wild FX
Pro layer by clicking on it and then in the Properties
Window go to the Background Color box, which
specifies a background color for the layer.
Leave this option blank to specify a transparent background.
Then set the Parameter and Value on the Wild
FX Pro file itself. Click on the Wild FX Pro
file within the Wild FX Pro layer, and in the
Properties Window click on the "Parameter" button.
In
the Parameters box, type in the following:
Parameter: WMODE
Value: Transparent
Click "Okay",
return to your HTML page, and preview your file,
which should now look like this:
Voila!
The background of your original Wild FX Pro file
has disappeared.
Creating
text effects for banners and buttons is easy
with Wild FX Pro. We hope you enjoy your work
with it. If you come up with anything you would
like to share, please feel free to email
us and we may feature your work in our gallery.
Wildform
provides a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all our Flash software.
If you are not completely satisfied with our Flash multimedia software
for any reason you may request a refund within 15 days
of purchase.
