ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Name

MovieClip._ yscale Property — height of a clip or movie, as a percentage

Availability

Flash 4 and later

Synopsis

mc._yscale

Access

Read/write

Description

The floating-point _ yscale property specifies the height of mc relative to its original height, expressed as a percentage. If mc is an instance, its “original height” is the height of the instance’s symbol in the Library. If mc is a main movie, the “original height” is the height of the movie at authoring time.

When the current height of mc is the same as its original height, _ yscale is 100. A _ yscale of 200 doubles mc’s height relative to its original height. A _ yscale of 50 halves mc’s height relative to its original height.

The _ yscale property scales a clip about its registration point (proportionately above and below the clip’s registration point). To size a clip from above or below only, place all of the clip’s content above or below the registration point in the clip’s symbol (this is a useful technique for creating vertical preloader bars). When a clip’s _ yscale is set to a negative value, the clip is flipped vertically as if across a horizontal mirror running through its registration point (i.e., it becomes a vertical mirror image of itself), after which the negative value is treated as a positive. To flip a clip vertically without resizing it, set the clip’s _ yscale to -100.

Example

// Double the height of ball (the width remains unchanged)
ball._yscale *= 2;
// Flip ball vertically
ball._yscale = -100;

See Also

MovieClip ...