Swift 3D swf into Director - bg transparent?

[staticshock]

Hi There,

I am thinking of buying Swift 3D for a project I am working on, but need to know if it will do what I hope it does.

I am creating a Director movie which will feature a 3D navigational rotating globe. I think the best way to approach this is to create a 3D globe in Swift 3D v3, output as swf, and then import it into Director. Having done this, will be able to set the backgroung to transparent? I know that you can set a Flash sprite to BG transparent, is there some setting for rendering a swf from Swift 3D without a background?

I am guessing the answer is yes, but I'd appreciate any info on this.

thanks in advance, Matt

[gerbick]

yes. if you bring a Swift3D object into Director, the background does not show.

However, I'm sure that you can find a pre-textured *.w3d file - which can be used in Director 8.5 and MX - that would work as well.

Just a thought.

[staticshock]

Great, thanks for that.

I did think about the W3D approach.
Basically I want a globe large in the centre for navigation. When you select a section it slides to the top left corner. I need this all to sit on to of the background designs, hence the background transparent question.

I rekon I can do this with the Flash approach, but can a Shockwave 3D sprite be set to background transparent? And would sliding it around the screen like that be very processor intensive? More so than a flash sprite?

I guess I'll have to try it out.

Cheers, Matt

[gerbick]

yes, via Lingo, you can alter transparency and location.

and I personally think it would look better.

[staticshock]

yeah, it appears so. I wonder if the w3d or the swift approach will be more processor intensive. Guess it depends how I handle it. I'd be grateful to hear about anyone's experience with either method.

thanks, matt