Scene Assets

These are user controllable compositional objects of various types to be used for Scene Composition (SC). They are stored in "Scene" Asset Bin that is stacked on top of the Compose window when we are in SC mode. You simply drag-n-drop these objects from asset bin onto the stage for using in your composition.

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Bounding Box

When you drop a composition object onto the stage or click on one already on stage, a bounding box will appear around this object indicating it is being selected. This bounding box has 8 control buttons anchored symmetrically at its 4 corners and along its 4 sides. Other than a couple of exceptions, these controls behave basically the same on all composition objects. They serve for defining an on stage object's compositional variables: position, size, orientation, color and stacking order.

Drag control

You can drag an object to any position on Compose stage by "grabbing" within the bounding box and moving with it (you'll see the hand cursor turning from open to grab when you press your mouse button down). You can also fine tune your object's position by using your keyboard's 'Directional' keys with 'Shift' key pressed down to move the object one pixel at a time to any direction you want.

Size control

You can drag the square button at the lower right corner of bounding box inward or outward to adjust the size of your object (you'll see a double ended arrow cursor when you hover your mouse over it). If you enlarge an object to a very large size that part of it is grown out of stage, as you release your mouse, the bounding box will snap back to a default maximum size situated within the confine of Compose stage. This is to ensure that even when an object is grown out of stage user can still access all the bounding box controls of that object.

Tilt control

You can adjust the rotation of an object by turning clockwise or counterclockwise the rounded button at the upper right corner of the bounding box (you'll see a curved arrow cursor when you hover your mouse over it).

Flip controls

This function is represented by the 2 side buttons on the bounding box. The right one is for flipping the object horizontally. The left one is for flipping the object vertically.

Note: Flip controls don't work for bitmap objects.

Layer controls

You can bring an object forward or backward in relationship to the rest of the on stage object(s). The 2 square buttons located at the top and bottom sides of the bounding box serve for this function. The top button (with an arrow pointing up) is for bringing the object one layer forward to the front. The bottom button (with an arrow pointing down) is for sending the object one layer back to the background.

Color control

You can change the color and alpha (transparency) of an object by clicking the rainbow button (at the lower left corner of the bounding box) to bring up a color swatch. The swatch panel contains 16 colors and an alpha slider. Clicking on a color will change the tint of your object to that color, except the black and the white colors. The black color (button) will render your object totally black and the white color will return your object to its original state. Moving the alpha slider horizontally will change the transparency of your object: 100% at its far right position and 0% at its far left position. Clicking the rainbow button again or clicking outside of bounding box will turn off the swatch panel. The tint and alpha changes take immediate effect upon your selection.

Note: the color function is not available for user objects though the alpha control is.

Delete button

You can remove any object from the stage by clicking the delete button (with an X in it) at the top left corner of the bounding box. You can also use the "Delete" key on your keyboard to deliver the same task.