Published on December 31, 1969

Lesson 1 : Following Mouse W/O Ease.

Creating a movie clip :
Create new flash document.

Draw a circle using the oval tool.

Select the circle using double click. Press F8 to convert to symbol.

    Part 1 :

       Click on the circle and Press F9. Actionscript Panel will open. Insert the following actionscript.

[as]
onClipEvent(enterFrame){
    diffx = _root._xmouse - this._x ;
    diffy = _root._ymouse - this._y ;
    _x += diffx ;
    _y += diffy ;
}
[/as]

    Explanation about the code

_xmouse :   returns the x coordinate of the mouse.
_ymouse :   returns the y coordinate of the mouse.
_x            :   An integer that sets / stores the x coordinate of an object.
_y            :   An integer that sets / stores the y coordinate of an object.

    variable diffx & diffy is used to store the distance between mouse's x & y cordinate and object's x & y cordinate respectively.
     _x += diffx ;
    Assigns _x , the value of _x + diffx .
    _y += diffy ;
    Assigns _y , the value of _y + diffy .

    Part 2 :

replace

[as]
_x += diffx ;
_y += diffy ;
[/as]

with

[as]
_x += diffx / 5 ;
_y += diffy / 5 ;
[/as]

Explanation of code :

_x += diffx / 5 ;
    Assign _x , the value of _x + diffx / 5 ;( dividing the diffrence with a number decreases the speed of movment. Higher the number lower the speed. )
_y += diffy / 5 ;
    Assign _y , the value of _y + diffy / 5 ;( dividing the diffrence with a number decreases the speed of movment. Higher the number lower the speed. )

Lesson 2 : Following with a trail effect

    Create a movie clip ( you can refer to step 1 on page 1 of this tutorial ).
Click on circle and press F9 , to open actionscript panel , insert the following code :

[as]
onClipEvent(load){
    _root.createEmptyMovieClip("line_mc" , -19000) ;
    _root.line_mc.lineStyle(5, 0x0066CC , 100) ;
    _root.line_mc.moveTo(this._x , this._y) ;
}
onClipEvent(enterFrame){
    diffx = _root._xmouse - this._x ;
    diffy = _root._ymouse - this._y ;
    _x += diffx / 5 ;
    _y += diffy / 5 ;
    _root.line_mc.lineTo(this._x , this._y) ;

}
onClipEvent(mouseDown){
    _root.line_mc.clear() ;
    _root.line_mc.linestyle(5, 0x0066CC , 100) ;
    _root.line_mc.moveTo(this._x , this._y) ;
}
[/as]

    Explanation of code :

_root.createEmptyMovieClip("line_mc", -19000) ;
       Creates an empty movie clip at the root level , with the instance name line_mc at -19000 depth .

_root.line_mc.linestyle(5, 0x0066CC , 100) ;
       Assigns a linestyle to movie clip line_mc , with the following parameters.
       Thickness - 5 ;
       RBG          - 0x0066CC ;
       Alpha        - 100 ;

_root.line_mc.moveTo(this._x , this._y) ;
       Moves the current drawing position to ball_mc's x & y coordinates .

_root.line_mc.lineTo(this._x , this._y) ;
       Draws a line using the linestyle assigned , from the current drawing position to the coordinates mentioned .

_root.line_mc.clear() ;
       Removes all the graphics created during runtime by using the movie clip draw methods , including the linestyles specified .

Lesson 3 : Following other objects .

Create two movie clips ( refer to step 1 on page for creating movie clips ).

Change the instance name of first movie to ball_mc and instance of second movie to ball2_mc .
Click on the first movie clip and press F9 and insert the following code;

Code on first movie clip
[as]
onClipEvent(enterFrame){
    diffx = _root._xmouse - this._x ;
    diffy = _root._ymouse - this._y ;
    _x += diffx/5 ;
    _y += diffy/5 ;
}
[/as]

Code on second movie clip
[as]
onClipEvent(enterFrame){
    diffx = _root.ball_mc._x - this._x ;
    diffy = _root.ball_mc._y - this._y ;
    _x += diffx/5 ;
    _y += diffy/5 ;
}
[/as]

Explanation of second movie clip actionscript code :
    diffx = _root.ball_mc._x - this._x ;
    diffy = _root.ball_mc._y - this._y ;
       Assigns diffx & diffy , the diffrence of ball_mc's and ball2_mc's x & y coordinates respectively .

Final :
You can freely experiment and create ur own effects .....