alpha on a pivot?

I'm trying to fade out a collection of shapes that have the same pivot as the parent, but I can't use entityAlpha on the pivot. It gives me an error saying "Entity is not a model". Is there an easy way to fade out the entire group some how? I really don't want to have to fade every single shape individually.

You can't do what you ask. The alpha of the parent mesh will have no bearing on it's children, only scale / rotation etc.. This is the only way I can think of and it involves going through them all individually.

Stevie

for c = 1 to countchildren( pivot )

  child = getchild( pivot, c )
  if entityclass$( child ) = "Mesh"
     entityalpha child, .25
  endif

next

You might need to make that a recursive function, Stevie, just incase the children, have children.

Probably best to put those objects into a type, then you can loop the type etc

But, in doing that, how do you know whats parented to what? You'll still need to use the getchildren() command. I agree however, that storing every mesh you load in a type collection is an excellent idea :o)

cool, that'll work. thanks.

boomboom
Ross C:

I like the idea. Every time you add a mesh, you do a mymesh.typethingee = new typethingee
and then you can FOR-EACH through the whole list, regardless of whether the mesh in question is a parent or child, or even a seventh-generation recursive child. Sweet!

You still have the problem of finding each mesh parented though. So, you would need to use the recursive getchild method to find all the children :o) Types are ace for storing your meshes though.

Ross C:
If each mesh is added to the type collection as it gets added to the pivot, then it shouldn't be a problem, right?

Another possibility I see, though, is instead of using a pivot, use a tiny mesh as the parent, and hideentity it, but otherwise use it as the parent, and then set the alpha for it.

I think it's just easier and requires less coding to use the recursive getchild :o) Your way would work, but freeing an entity. You'd need to search through the type collection and remove any meshes/entities that are parented also.

I think for simplicity and ease of use, the getchild is the best way to go. But, it's always good to throw about other ideas :o)