EditChange appearance of an existing actor
Basic Idea: We are still working on completing this feature. In the meantime, you can change appearance of an actor by editing its XAML files, or by using the color swapper.
Details:
The simplest way of editing an actor is to switch the colors that it uses by using the color swapper:
- To access the color swapper, first select the actor you want to edit.
- Click the Appearance button.
- On the right side you will see a list of all colors that are used in the actor. Colors will have varying levels of transparency.
- Select a color to swap from this list, and replace it with a value from the color selector below.
You can also add text to the actor by using the Text button on the right side. You can set the text size, font, and color.
The other buttons for editing an actor (Pencil, Line, Rectangle and Ellipse) have yet to be implemented.
 Using the color swapper (Click the image to view full size) |
The most advanced way to edit an actor is to edit the XAML code directly:
- Click on 'Appearance' and then 'Switch to XAML'
Actor->Appearance->Switch To XAML
 Editing XAML for new actor (Click the image to view full size) |
EditSome Tips for Editing the XAML
Actors are written using XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) - but keep in mind that the Popfly site expects users to only have Silverlight 1.0, not Silverlight 2.0 (beta), so make sure your actor doesn't use Silverlight 2.0 elements.
If you're new to XAML, or even if you aren't, you may find that the Microsoft Expression Blend application to be very useful. You can freely down load the
Expression Blend 2.5 March 2008 Preview.
When you create a new project in Blend, start off with a new Silverlight 1 Site.
Don't forget that you can view the XAML code for any actor - just add the actor to your game's actor list, select the actor, click on the Appearance button, and then click Switch to XAML.
For details on how to use this process, check out the video below.