GradientBevelFilter  - AS3

An array of alpha transparency values for the corresponding colors in the colors array. Valid values for each element in the array are 0 to 1. For example, .25 sets a transparency value of 25%.

The alphas property cannot be changed by directly modifying its values. Instead, you must get a reference to alphas, make the change to the reference, and then set alphas to the reference.

The colors, alphas, and ratios properties are related. The first element in the colors array corresponds to the first element in the alphas array and in the ratios array, and so on.

Related API Elements

The angle, in degrees. Valid values are 0 to 360. The default is 45.

The angle value represents the angle of the theoretical light source falling on the object. The value determines the angle at which the gradient colors are applied to the object: where the highlight and the shadow appear, or where the first color in the array appears. The colors are then applied in the order in which they appear in the array.

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The amount of horizontal blur. Valid values are 0 to 255. A blur of 1 or less means that the original image is copied as is. The default value is 4. Values that are a power of 2 (such as 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32) are optimized to render more quickly than other values.

The amount of vertical blur. Valid values are 0 to 255. A blur of 1 or less means that the original image is copied as is. The default value is 4. Values that are a power of 2 (such as 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32) are optimized to render more quickly than other values.

An array of RGB hexadecimal color values to use in the gradient. For example, red is 0xFF0000, blue is 0x0000FF, and so on.

The colors property cannot be changed by directly modifying its values. Instead, you must get a reference to colors, make the change to the reference, and then set colors to the reference.

The colors, alphas, and ratios properties are related. The first element in the colors array corresponds to the first element in the alphas array and in the ratios array, and so on.

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The offset distance. Valid values are 0 to 8. The default value is 4.0.

Specifies whether the object has a knockout effect. A knockout effect makes the object's fill transparent and reveals the background color of the document. The value true specifies a knockout effect; the default is false (no knockout effect).

The number of times to apply the filter. The default value is BitmapFilterQuality.LOW, which is equivalent to applying the filter once. The value BitmapFilterQuality.MEDIUM applies the filter twice; the value BitmapFilterQuality.HIGH applies it three times. Filters with lower values are rendered more quickly.

For most applications, a quality value of low, medium, or high is sufficient. Although you can use additional numeric values up to 15 to achieve different effects, higher values are rendered more slowly. Instead of increasing the value of quality, you can often get a similar effect, and with faster rendering, by simply increasing the values of the blurX and blurY properties.

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An array of color distribution ratios for the corresponding colors in the colors array. Valid values for each element in the array are 0 to 255.

The ratios property cannot be changed by directly modifying its values. Instead, you must get a reference to ratios, make the change to the reference, and then set ratios to the reference.

The colors, alphas, and ratios properties are related. The first element in the colors array corresponds to the first element in the alphas array and in the ratios array, and so on.

To understand how the colors in a gradient bevel are distributed, think first of the colors that you want in your gradient bevel. Consider that a simple bevel has a highlight color and shadow color; a gradient bevel has a highlight gradient and a shadow gradient. Assume that the highlight appears on the top-left corner, and the shadow appears on the bottom-right corner. Assume that one possible usage of the filter has four colors in the highlight and four in the shadow. In addition to the highlight and shadow, the filter uses a base fill color that appears where the edges of the highlight and shadow meet. Therefore the total number of colors is nine, and the corresponding number of elements in the ratios array is nine.

If you think of a gradient as composed of stripes of various colors, blending into each other, each ratio value sets the position of the color on the radius of the gradient, where 0 represents the outermost point of the gradient and 255 represents the innermost point of the gradient. For a typical usage, the middle value is 128, and that is the base fill value. To get the bevel effect shown in the image below, assign the ratio values as follows, using the example of nine colors:

• The first four colors range from 0-127, increasing in value so that each value is greater than or equal to the previous one. This is the highlight bevel edge.
• The fifth color (the middle color) is the base fill, set to 128. The pixel value of 128 sets the base fill, which appears either outside the shape (and around the bevel edges) if the type is set to outer; or inside the shape, effectively covering the object's own fill, if the type is set to inner.
• The last four colors range from 129-255, increasing in value so that each value is greater than or equal to the previous one. This is the shadow bevel edge.

If you want an equal distribution of colors for each edge, use an odd number of colors, where the middle color is the base fill. Distribute the values between 0-127 and 129-255 equally among your colors, then adjust the value to change the width of each stripe of color in the gradient. For a gradient bevel with nine colors, a possible array is [16, 32, 64, 96, 128, 160, 192, 224, 235]. The following image depicts the gradient bevel as described:

Keep in mind that the spread of the colors in the gradient varies based on the values of the blurX, blurY, strength, and quality properties, as well as the ratios values.

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The strength of the imprint or spread. The higher the value, the more color is imprinted and the stronger the contrast between the bevel and the background. Valid values are 0 to 255. A value of 0 means that the filter is not applied. The default value is 1.

Related API Elements

The placement of the bevel effect. Possible values are BitmapFilterType constants:

• BitmapFilterType.OUTER — Bevel on the outer edge of the object
• BitmapFilterType.INNER — Bevel on the inner edge of the object
• BitmapFilterType.FULL — Bevel on top of the object

Initializes the filter with the specified parameters.

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Returns a copy of this filter object.

1. Import the required classes.
2. Declare global variables to define the square and the filter.
3. Create the constructor functions, which does the following:
   • Calls the draw() method, which uses methods of the Graphics class accessed through the graphics property of Sprite to draw a gray square.
   • Creates a BitmapFilter object named filter and assigns it the return value of a call to getBitmapFilter(), which creates the filter.
   • Creates a new array named myFilters and adds filter to it.
   • Assigns myFilters to the filters property of the GradientBevelFilterExample object. This applies all filters found in myFilters, which in this case is only filter.

package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.filters.BitmapFilter;
    import flash.filters.BitmapFilterQuality;
    import flash.filters.BitmapFilterType;
    import flash.filters.GradientBevelFilter;

    public class GradientBevelFilterExample extends Sprite {
        private var bgColor:uint     = 0xCCCCCC;
        private var size:uint        = 80;
        private var offset:uint      = 50;
        private var distance:Number  = 5;
        private var angleInDegrees:Number = 225; // opposite 45 degrees
        private var colors:Array     = [0xFFFFFF, 0xCCCCCC, 0x000000];
        private var alphas:Array     = [1, 0, 1];
        private var ratios:Array     = [0, 128, 255];
        private var blurX:Number     = 8;
        private var blurY:Number     = 8;
        private var strength:Number  = 2;
        private var quality:Number   = BitmapFilterQuality.HIGH
        private var type:String      = BitmapFilterType.INNER;
        private var knockout:Boolean = true;

        public function GradientBevelFilterExample() {
            draw();
            var filter:BitmapFilter = getBitmapFilter();
            var myFilters:Array = new Array();
            myFilters.push(filter);
            filters = myFilters;
        }

        private function getBitmapFilter():BitmapFilter {
            return new GradientBevelFilter(distance,
                                           angleInDegrees,
                                           colors,
                                           alphas,
                                           ratios,
                                           blurX,
                                           blurY,
                                           strength,
                                           quality,
                                           type,
                                           knockout);
        }

        private function draw():void {
            graphics.beginFill(bgColor);
            graphics.drawRect(offset, offset, size, size);
            graphics.endFill();
        }
    }
}