Digital Workshop

Can anybody tell me how to control the speed of the action "Scroll to End" applied to a text box. If I apply this action it scrolls to the end OK, but instantly. I would like to set it to a nice leisurely (readable) pace.

I tried using a transition On Show, in which case I can control the speed, but it scrolled the text up until the first line hits the top of the text box. I would like it to scroll slowly until the last line appears (or disappears for that matter), and then move on the the next Opus page.

I have searched the help, and this forum, but cannot find any speed/time setting for this action. Can't see much point in a scroll action of duration = zero?? which is all I seem able to get.

I can't imagine it's that hard. I must be missing something

The Scroll To ... actions are not animations; they simply change the current scroll position. If you want to achieve a text scrolling efect you either need to modify the scroll position in small increments via a timer loop or scroll the whole text object using the Move animation actions. You can put the text inside a frame and size the text vertically so it is large enough to display the whole text. The frame then acts as a "window" onto the text.

Thanks for that Duncan. I gave it a quick test and it works fine. I'll apply it to the real job when I get back to it later today.

I tried this approach earlier but could not get it to work, apparently because I was trying to move my existing text box into a newly created frame. It was like trying to get a cat into a box.

Based on your suggestion I created a frame, then created a new text box within it, then applied the animation action to the text box.

Thanks again...

If have tried this on the real application and, techically, it works fine. However the scroll is unacceptably jerky. On the basis of other posts to this forum I tried making the whole body of text into a .jpg image and scrolling that but it was no better.

It seems that the only smooth scroll I can use is a transition, but it won't do the job because I want to scroll through quite a bit of text and have the top disappear off the top of the screen.

Any suggestions appreciated on how to achieve a smoooooth scroll. It needs to run for about 2 minutes

Hi johnray,
This should give you what you want, as long as you don't mind scripting .
see attached example.
Put a vertical scrollbar on the text object, and paste the script below in a script object:
when the scrollbar reaches the end of the text, it will go to page 2.
adjust increment and speed variables to suit the scroll time you need.

// start script

i=0
increment = 0.1
speed = 0.01

while(true){
t1.SetScrollPosition(i,-1 )
i += increment
if (i>=100){
i = 100;
wait(1);
GotoPage("Page_2")
}
wait(speed)
}

// end script

cheers
Paul

Thanks Paul,

I haven't used scripting at all so far. This will be an opportunity to explore that learning curve. I'll give it a try when I get back to the project in the next day or so.

A non-script solution would be to insert the text box inside a frame and resize the frame to the required visible area (the rest of the text box will obviously be invisible below the bottom edge of the frame).

You can now apply a Move Vertical action to the text box which moves the text upwards within the frame. This should give the effect of scrolling credits and you simply need to ensure that the text box moves upwards by its height in pixels for all of the text to be displayed. You can then apply a Go To Page action after the Move Vertical so that the next page is displayed once the animation is complete.

Kind regards,

Thanks Robin,

That is what I was doing and it worked OK. It's just that the scrolling was unacceptably jerky. I couldn't find any way to make it smooth. I slowed it right down, but could not schieve a smooth scroll.

I guess the only way for that to happen is for the movement to be one pixel at a time. I am not quite clear if Paul's scripting solution will do that, but I'll give it a try.

Thanks again

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I would recommend downloading the 30-day evaluation version of Opus Pro 04 from http://www.digitalworkshop.com/download ... g_eval.exe and trying to create the same effect. You should find that the new graphics engine in the 04 range offers a massive performance boost and should ensure that the text scrolls smoothly up the page.

Kind regards,

Thanks Robin, I think that will be the solution.

I have had a good play with scripting and I still can't get the scrolling smooth enough. The limitations seem to be in getting a small enough increment and a short enough wait time.

I will be purchasing the upgrade just as soon as I can make this venture "commercial". Nice to know your development priorities anticipate users needs.

Well done! and congratulations on an excellent support forum.