Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference
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flash.filters 
ShaderFilter 
Packageflash.filters
Classpublic class ShaderFilter
InheritanceShaderFilter Inheritance BitmapFilter Inheritance Object

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The ShaderFilter class applies a filter by executing a shader on the object being filtered. The filtered object is used as an input to the shader, and the shader output becomes the filter result.

To create a new filter, use the constructor new ShaderFilter(). The use of filters depends on the object to which you apply the filter:

  • To apply filters to movie clips, text fields, buttons, and video, use the filters property (inherited from DisplayObject). Setting the filters property of an object does not modify the object, and you can remove the filter by clearing the filters property.
  • To apply filters to BitmapData objects, use the BitmapData.applyFilter() method. Calling applyFilter() on a BitmapData object takes the source BitmapData object and the filter object and generates a filtered image as a result.

If you apply a filter to a display object, the value of the cacheAsBitmap property of the object is set to true. If you remove all filters, the original value of cacheAsBitmap is restored.

This filter supports stage scaling. However, it does not support general scaling, rotation, and skewing. If the object itself is scaled (if the scaleX and scaleY properties are not set to 100%), the filter is not scaled. It is scaled only when the user zooms in on the stage.

A filter is not applied if the resulting image exceeds the maximum dimensions. In AIR 1.5 and Flash Player 10, the maximum is 8,191 pixels in width or height, and the total number of pixels cannot exceed 16,777,215 pixels. (So, if an image is 8,191 pixels wide, it can only be 2,048 pixels high.) In Flash Player 9 and earlier and AIR 1.1 and earlier, the limitation is 2,880 pixels in height and 2,880 pixels in width. If, for example, you zoom in on a large movie clip with a filter applied, the filter is turned off if the resulting image exceeds the maximum dimensions.

To specify the Shader instance to use with the filter, pass the Shader instance as an argument to the ShaderFilter() constructor, or set it as the value of the shader property.

To allow the shader output to extend beyond the bounds of the filtered object, use the leftExtension, rightExtension, topExtension, and bottomExtension properties.

View the examples

See also



Public Properties
 PropertyDefined By
  bottomExtension : int
The growth in pixels on the bottom side of the target object.
ShaderFilter
 Inheritedconstructor : Object
A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.
Object
  leftExtension : int
The growth in pixels on the left side of the target object.
ShaderFilter
 Inheritedprototype : Object
[static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.
Object
  rightExtension : int
The growth in pixels on the right side of the target object.
ShaderFilter
  shader : Shader
The shader to use for this filter.
ShaderFilter
  topExtension : int
The growth in pixels on the top side of the target object.
ShaderFilter
Public Methods
 MethodDefined By
  
ShaderFilter(shader:Shader = null)
Creates a new shader filter.
ShaderFilter
 Inherited
Returns a BitmapFilter object that is an exact copy of the original BitmapFilter object.
BitmapFilter
 Inherited
Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.
Object
 Inherited
Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of the specified object.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the primitive value of the specified object.
Object
Property Detail

bottomExtension

property
bottomExtension:int

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The growth in pixels on the bottom side of the target object.

The growth is the area beyond the bounds of the target object that is passed to the shader during execution. At execution time Flash Player or AIR computes the normal bounds of a movie clip and extends the bounds based on the leftExtension, rightExtension, topExtension, and bottomExtension values.

The default value is 0.



Implementation
    public function get bottomExtension():int
    public function set bottomExtension(value:int):void

leftExtension

property 
leftExtension:int

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The growth in pixels on the left side of the target object.

The growth is the area beyond the bounds of the target object that is passed to the shader during execution. At execution time Flash Player or AIR computes the normal bounds of a movie clip and extends the bounds based on the leftExtension, rightExtension, topExtension, and bottomExtension values.

The default value is 0.



Implementation
    public function get leftExtension():int
    public function set leftExtension(value:int):void

rightExtension

property 
rightExtension:int

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The growth in pixels on the right side of the target object.

The growth is the area beyond the bounds of the target object that is passed to the shader during execution. At execution time Flash Player or AIR computes the normal bounds of a movie clip and extends the bounds based on the leftExtension, rightExtension, topExtension, and bottomExtension values.

The default value is 0.



Implementation
    public function get rightExtension():int
    public function set rightExtension(value:int):void

shader

property 
shader:Shader

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The shader to use for this filter.

The Shader assigned to the shader property must specify at least one image4 input. The input does not need to be specified in code using the associated ShaderInput object's input property. Instead, the object to which the filter is applied is automatically used as the first input (the input with index 0). A shader used as a filter can specify more than one input, in which case any additional input must be specified by setting its ShaderInput instance's input property.

When you assign a Shader instance to this property the shader is copied internally and the filter operation uses that internal copy, not a reference to the original shader. Any changes made to the shader, such as changing a parameter value, input, or bytecode, are not applied to the copied shader that's used for the filter. To make it so that shader changes are taken into account in the filter output, you must reassign the Shader instance to the shader property. As with all filters, you must also reassign the ShaderFilter instance to the display object's filters property in order to apply filter changes.



Implementation
    public function get shader():Shader
    public function set shader(value:Shader):void

topExtension

property 
topExtension:int

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The growth in pixels on the top side of the target object.

The growth is the area beyond the bounds of the target object that is passed to the shader during execution. At execution time Flash Player or AIR computes the normal bounds of a movie clip and extends the bounds based on the leftExtension, rightExtension, topExtension, and bottomExtension values.

The default value is 0.



Implementation
    public function get topExtension():int
    public function set topExtension(value:int):void
Constructor Detail

ShaderFilter

()Constructor
public function ShaderFilter(shader:Shader = null)

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Creates a new shader filter.

Parameters
shader:Shader (default = null) — The Shader to use for this filter. For details and limitations that the shader must conform to, see the description for the shader property.

See also

ShaderFilterExample.1.as

The following example loads a shader and uses it as the shader property of a ShaderFilter. The code draws a circle in a Sprite instance and adds it to the stage. When the shader loads, the shader filter is applied to that Sprite.

Note that this example assumes there's a shader bytecode file named "gradient.pbj" in the same directory as the output directory for the application.


//
// Source code for the shader:
//
<languageVersion : 1.0;>

kernel RedGradientFilter
<
    namespace: "Adobe::Example";
    vendor: "Adobe examples";
    version: 1;
    description: "Applies a gradient across the red channel of the input image.";
>
{
    input image4 src;
    output pixel4 dst;
    
    parameter float width
    <
        description: "The width of the image to which the shader is applied.";
        minValue: 0.0;
    >;

    void evaluatePixel()
    {
        pixel4 temp = sampleNearest(src, outCoord());
        temp.r = 1.0 - (outCoord().x * (1.0 / width));
        dst = temp;
    }
}

//
// ActionScript source code:
//
package {
    import flash.display.Shader;
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.events.Event;
    import flash.filters.ShaderFilter;
    import flash.net.URLLoader;
    import flash.net.URLLoaderDataFormat;
    import flash.net.URLRequest;

    public class ShaderFilterExample extends Sprite {
        
        private var loader:URLLoader;
        private var s:Sprite;
        
        public function ShaderFilterExample() {
            loader = new URLLoader();
            loader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.BINARY;
            loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loadCompleteHandler);
            loader.load(new URLRequest("gradient.pbj"));
            
            s = new Sprite();
            s.graphics.beginFill(0x009900);
            s.graphics.drawCircle(100, 100, 100);
            addChild(s);
        }
        
        private function loadCompleteHandler(event:Event):void {
            var shader:Shader = new Shader(loader.data);
            shader.data.width.value = [s.width];
            
            var gradientFilter:ShaderFilter = new ShaderFilter(shader);
            s.filters = [gradientFilter];
        }
    }
}