Attaching several objects to several objects?

[Outcast]

I have an event that creates 8 objects A that all is set to a certain angle to as to create a "flower" type of image when they are attached to another object B. This works very well if I only have 1 of object B. But how do I do it if I want for example 3 copies of object B and I want them to have 8 A objects each? I tried to just continue creating 24 A objects hope that they would split up evenly between the object B, but I guess that was quite naive..

I have an example here with two frames. In frame 1 there is 1 of object B and you can see the "flower" when you start the frame. In frame number 2 however I have 3 of object B and I create 24 object A, and as you can see it does not work..

[Outcast]

5 downloads and no solution?

[Fanotherpg]

wouldn't it be better to use Fast loop instead of group activation? I'm just learning it, so I can't help for time being.

[oasuke]

Yeah fast loops are needed.
(Bunch of angle events. Didn't know if they needed to be specific)

View MFA

[King_Cool]

Like this? ( 3 conditions, 4 actions )

[LB]

Are you able to use the 'Sticky Object' or do you have to export to some exporter?

[Outcast]

Are you able to use the 'Sticky Object' or do you have to export to some exporter?

I prefer no extensions, and definitely not if they are not supported by Flash Thanks for the examples! Oasuke:s one seemed to have an extension that is not supported by Flash though?

About King_Cool:s one. I see it works, but how? I want to understand why it works to so I don't need to ask for help next time again: ) There seems to be no event for dividing the flower leaves up between the objects? How do they know that they should split up evenly? And how did you make one single event for setting them to their right angle? This "Set angle to - LoopIndex("CreateLeaf")*45". (Ah wait i think I get it? its 0*45 for the first one, 1*45 for next one, 2*45 for the one after that and so on right? Do the loopindex always start with 0?)

Also will this work when I try to destroy one of the yellow objects? It should destroy the whole "flower" with all the leaves attached when it gets destroyed. Also the flowers will rotate in the real application. I hope this is no problem?

[oasuke]

I prefer no extensions, and definitely not if they are not supported by Flash Thanks for the examples! Oasuke:s one seemed to have an extension that is not supported by Flash though?

Well it was the function object which is just an alternative to fast loops, which can be substituted for MMF2's default fast loops. (I just prefer the func loop)

As for my example, I'll explain the steps. I used some alterable values for the two objects. they are"

GlassJar Alt.A = Lock
GlassJar Alt.B = fastindex
Ray Alt.A = ID
Ray Alt.B = fixed_v
Ray Alt.C = lock

Lock of ("GlassJar") = 0
--> Activate Petal Create Group
--> Set Lock of ("GlassJar") to 1.
(This event just activates the fast loop group. You should always try to put fast loops in a group and have them deactivated later so they aren't always iterated through mmf2's loop.)

[Petal Create]
+fastindex of ("GlassJar") < 8
--> Start fast loop "create_petals" and run NObjects( "GlassJar" )+8
(I'll explain what the first condition is later. Basically you start the fast loop and run it +8 times since we need 8 rays for each glassjar.)

On loop "create_petals"
+Fastindex of ("GlassJar") < 8
--> Create ("Rays") at (0,0) from ("GlassJar")
--> Set fastindex of ("GlassJar") to LoopIndex("create_petals")
(Okay so about this fast index alt.value. When a fast loop runs, it goes through a loop. Every time it finishes one loop, that fast loop's index goes up. So in this case, we need to have the glassjar record the fast loop index to make sure it stops creating objects for it when it reaches 8. That's the purpose of the first condition.)

On Loop "create_petals"
+("Rays") is overlapping ("GlassJar")
-->Set ("Rays") fixed_v to ("GlassJar") Fixed Value.
(This is used to ID each ray which so you can later destroy the glass jar and all the rays will be destroyed aswell. It's also great if you want to set specific angles or do other things differently for each ray.)

On Loop "create_petals"
+fastindex of ("GlassJar") = 1
+Lock of ("Rays") = 0
+Fixed Value of ("GlassJar") = fixed_v of ("Rays")
-->Set Angle of ("Rays") to 45
-->Set Lock of ("Rays") to 1.
(Here is where we set the angles. When the index of the glass jar reaches 1, we set the angle then lock the condition so that it does not conflict with the other rays. Then when the index of the glass jar reaches 2, we do it again for the next ray and so on until it reaches 8 in total.)

Only one action when event loops
-->Deactivate Petals Create Group
(Again when possible, always deactivate any group that has a fast loop in it)

Mouse pointer is over ("GlassJar")
+Fixed_v of ("Rays") = Fixed Value of ("GlassJar")
-->Destroy GlassJar
-->Destroy Rays
(This event is only for destroying. When the mouse is over the glass jar, and the ray's ID match with the fixed value of the glass jar, both are destroyed.)

Here's the example without the function loop object.
View MFA

==================
Just to explain some of those other questions

how did you make one single event for setting them to their right angle?

"Set angle to - LoopIndex("CreateLeaf")*45" just means that for each index loop the angle for the next leaf is multiplied by 45. So for example,
index = 1, angle = 45
index = 2, angle = 90
index = 3, angle = 135
And so on. It's good if things are done in multiplies. However it will be an issue when you want individualized angles.

Do the loopindex always start with 0?

no they are 1-based. 0*45 = 0. So it'll be 1*45 = 45 :p

[King_Cool]

I made a new example, the Flowers can move and rotate with no problem. You can also destroy a Flower along with all its Leafs by clicking on it.
...
I see your wondering how this is done, i have decided to call it the Magic Condition:

Allways
--> set Leaf position to Flower position

Leafs will systematically divide themselves among the Flowers and reposition to them.
However if all Flowers dont have the same number of leafs, the system breaks and you can expect some funky results ( there are workarounds however, like making Leaf invissible instead of destroying it ).
Leafs are also able to read its "Parrents" data if told to do so in the same Magic Condition:

Allways
--> set Leaf position to Flower position
--> Leaf set Health_ to Flower Health_
--> Leaf set Angle to Flower Angle

This Magic Condition is very powerfull imo, and ideal for pinning Sprite Objects to Collision Mask Objects, or Line Of Sight objects to Sprite Objects.

[King_Cool]

Hmmm, my last example was kinda faulty ( leafs didnt attach correctly depending on how many Flower were in the frame, in short i set the angle for each flower wrong ), my new example should work and supports any number of Flowers correctly.
Its possible to easily rotate the flower along witht its leafs by changing the Angle of the Flower. Flower can also move using any kind of movement.

Actually explaining how this Magic Condition works is very hard, as i dont fully understand it myself.
It is much easier to attach and pair up pairs off objects, like a Collisionmask and a Sprite, or a Sprite and a LineOfSight, than a Flower with multiple Leafs.
...
I will however try to explain how the Magic Condition works:

- Lets say you create, lets say, 5 Flowers ( yellow circles ). The Flowers are numbered in the order they were created, where first created object is number 1.
- Then you create 10 Leafts ( purple ), 2 for each Flower. The Leafs are numbered in the order they were created, where first created object is number 1.
- We then have the Magic Condition 'Allways --> Leaf set position to Flower'.

What happens is,
the Last Created Leaf will position to the Last Created Flower,
the Secound Last Created Leaf will position to Second Last Created Flower
the Third Last Created Leaf will position to the Third Last Created Flower
the Forth Last Created Leaf will position to the Forth Last Created Flower
the Fift Last Created Leaf will position to the Fift Last Created Flower
the Sixt Last Created Leaf will position to the Last Created Flower
And so the system goes on ( see illustration below )...


As long as you are able to equally divide the number of Leaf amongst the number of Flowers, you have complete controll over this system.
But lets see what happens if the Leafs are not equally dividable amongst the number of Flowers. Lets say we destroy Leaf number 8 and 10 ( wich belongs to Flower 3 and 5 ).

Now what we would expect to happen is that Flowers 3 and 5 only have 1 Leaf instead of 2, but what happens is something different.

The Leafs rearange themseves as people rearange themselves standing in a supermarket queue ( where the last created Leaf is standing infront of the counter ).
So the results we see is that Flowe number 1 and 2 are missing a Leaf, when what we really did was destroy the Leafs for Flower 3 and 5.

And this is why i say that you have to be able to equally divide the number of Leafs amongst the number of Flowers for this kind of attachment system to work.