Layer masks and actionscript

[DHornsey]

Is it possible to "switch off" a layer mask using ActionScript. Most of what I am doing at the moment is using ActionScript rather than the main timeline, and I want this particular layer to be masked only until the animation on that layer has finished. Can anyone help?

[Tink]

can u not just remove it on the main timeline!

[DHornsey]

Thanks for your reply. In a word No. All the animation that is happening is using seperate movie clips controlled by ActionScript. The main timline is only 3 frames long and everything happens using script. I have a movie clip which moves from a masked area to an area which is in view. I then want to "turn off" the mask so that I can move the movie clip to the area which was previously masked but still have it visible. I hope this explains things a bit better.

[Billy T]

using Flash 5 or MX?

[DHornsey]

I was using Flash 5, but I installed MX yesterday.

[Billy T]

have a read of the MX manual regarding masks - MX gives you much more power over masks (allows you to manipulate them via actionscript)

cheers

[miiiriam]

I just noticed that you can't use the _visible property of a mc used as mask in flash mx.

Can anyone confirm this or point me to a work around?

[miiiriam]

I just found a way to end a mask on macromedia's site:

To cancel a mask created with ActionScript, pass the value null to the setMask method. The following code cancels the mask without affecting the mask layer in the Timeline.

UIMask.setMask(null)