Why doesn't setMask work is this example after it worked once.

Question

I'm trying to use setMask to create 3 "windows" of masked movieClips in AS2 (CS3).

The main window is masked fine.

After clicking a button, I'm creating two additional windows, but the refuse to be masked No error, it's just that the mask is not applied, and the mask rectangle is still visible.

All 3 windows are masked using the same function, with different MC parameter.

I have nested MCs, but basically, the main window is masked as:

_level0.GUI.OBJ.mainWinMC.mainWindowMC.mainWindow.setMask(_level0.GUI.OBJ.mainWinMC.mainWindowMC.mainWindow_PlanMask);

where mainWindow_PlanMask contains an MC with a red rectangle. (Note: I'm using MovieClip variables and I posted here their movieclip traced path. This works fine.

After pressing a button, I'm setting two more masks:

_level0.GUI.OBJ.mainWinMC.side0MC.side0.setMask(_level0.GUI.OBJ.mainWinMC.side0MC.side0_PlanMask);

_level0.GUI.OBJ.mainWinMC.side1MC.side1.setMask(_level0.GUI.OBJ.mainWinMC.side1MC.side1_PlanMask);

side0_PlanMask and side1_PlanMask contain rectangles too. But in these cases, the red rectangle is kept visible and the mask is not applied. I have no idea why. Any help will be appreciated.

[Edit] applying cacheAsBitmap all MCs from both mask and masked MCs to the _root caused the first mask operation not to work as well.

Answer 1

Masks in Flash can be unpredictable. Try setting cacheAsBitmap to true for everything.

UPDATE:

Try setting cacheAsBitmap to true for each movieclip going down from the _root. Try Embedding all fonts on any textfields that are inside the movieclip you are masking - infact make sure you have embedded all your fonts everywhere.

Answer 2

it's hard to help you debug with the provided information

you can try:

1. make sure you have correctly named the movieclips with an incorrect instance names (sometimes you will find that you forgot to name some of the movieclips)

2. open a new fla and make a much more simple version of the things that you want to do, so that you can isolate the errors.

btw, not really necessary, but try using _root instead of _level0, it will be clearer.