METER

Meters can be used to display data such as power level, EUs, lives, and so on. Meters always display integer information.

• Object This is the object whose mailbox is being queried for its meter information.
• Mailbox to Display The value read from this mailbox will be the numeric value that will appear on-screen when this meter is displayed.
• Mailbox Type
  • Qscalar This is used when the Mailbox to Display value is being stored as fixed point information.
  • Integer This is used when the Mailbox to Display value is being stored as integer information.
• Path X Start This is the path starting position in pixels. 0,0 is the center of the screen. ''What are the edges of the screen? (50, 100?)''
• Path Y Start This is the path starting position in pixels. 0,0 is the center of the screen.
• Increment Before Display Meter paths are played based on changes in the information contained in the Object's Mailbox to Display. This value determines the amount that the mailbox value changes before the path is activated. This allows implementation "drop down" informational displays to be implemented.
• Pause at Keyframe In order to slide on-screen the meter is given a path which slides it in and the off again. This is the frame of that path where the meter will pause (typically on-screen).
• Display Pause Duration This is the amount of time that the Meter will pause at the keyframe defined above before continuing on the path.
• Text X Offset
• Text Y Offset

Example The Devious Designer needs to put in a meter that displays Playman's amount of life points. Since he is so devious he's decided that the meter will only drop down and display the amount of life that remains when the meter changes.

• • Object In this case the object we want to check on is Playman himself.
  • Mailbox to Display Since this is an important mailbox the Designer has set it to number 5. That will always be Playman's life value.
  • Mailbox type Since the numbers will all be whole values we'll use integer.
  • Path X | Y Start He wants to the Meter off the edge of the screen so the Designer sets the values to what?
  • Increment Before Display He wants the meter to appear every time it changes so this value is set to 1.
  • Pause at Keyframe The total path that was created for this object has seven frames. Since it needs to stop at the halfway point the pause keyframe is 7.
  • Display Pause Duration Each time the Meter drops it will stay down for 2 seconds.
  • Text X | Y Offset This is the distance from the top left corner (is this right?) where the numbers will appear.