Command Reference List

Select the Command event you wish to recieve help on:

This command pauses the execution of events. In the box labeled 'seconds' you can specify the waiting time. There is also a pull-down box that allows you to select that actor to be affected. E.g. You have an actor with a path, if you place a two second 'wait' command on its birth event the actor will pause for two seconds before moving along its path.

The hide command will make the selected actor disappear. This can be useful for things like hiding an actor when the presentation is first started (by placing this command in the birth event).

If an actor has been hidden using the 'hide' command it can be made visible again at any time using 'actor:show'. To illustrate, we could make an actor visible when the 'enter key' is pressed. To do this you would select your event (in this case it would be 'actor:key') then add an action and select 'actor:show' from the command pull-down menu. Using the show command on an actor that is already visible will have no effect.

Upon execution of this command, the selected actor's path will be reset to the starting point. It will not effect whether the path is playing, paused or stopped. So if a path is reset while it's playing, it will restart and continue to play. This can be useful for making an actors path have a continuous loop (by placing a restart command on the end point of its path).

Actor:Effect is one of the most useful and exciting commands in Liquid Media. Effects are animated designs that can be applied to any actor. They can be particularly useful on background images or company logos. Scatter these effects throughout your presentation and your audience will be amazed. When selecting the 'effect' command new menu options will be available - Create, Speed, Loop, Mode, Play, Pause, Change, Stop and Destroy.

You can only configure one option per action. The 'create' command must come before any configuring commands. For example, if you wanted to create an effect on your background image that would take 5 seconds to complete, you would first add an action to 'create' the effect, and then insert another action for 'speed' - where you would enter 5 into the box.

• Create: When configuring this option you will be prompted to select the type of effect you want. Create will apply that effect to the selected actor.
  
  
• Speed: The duration of the effect (in seconds). You may need to increase the 'path' time of the selected actor so you can see the whole effect.
  
  
• Loop: Defines how many times the animation will play.
  • Ease In: move from being transparent to solid.
  • Ease out: move from being solid to transparent.
  
  
• Mode: By default this is set to 'simple' mode. This creates a solid blocking effect. However smooth option will go through various levels of transparency, displaying a fluid animation.

Actor : ChangeText

This Command will change the text of the actor you select from the 'actor' pulldown menu. You can set the text by typing it into the 'new text' box; or choose a variable. You must be selected on a text actor for this command to be available.

Actor : ChangeImage

'Change Image' will swap the selected image actor for another image that you specify. Clicking the browse button will help you locate your image file. You must be selected on an image actor for this command to be available.

Actor : Edit Text

Lets you change text in realtime (while the presentation is playing). You can set rules for what type of characters the text actor will accept, its alignment, and the maximum number of characters. Setting a 'Target Variable' will tell LiquidMedia to store the data that is entered into a variable so that you may use or process that information later. For example, when text is entered into a text actor through the edit text command, you may want to add another command that would update another text actor with the same information. To do that you would simply assign the 'edittext' data to your own custom variable and then add a 'change text' for the other text actor and load the text from your custom variable.

Actor : Move

Actor:Move will move the selected actor across the scene based on three rules that you specify. These are Horizontal(X), Vertical(Y) and LayerOrder(Z) which are the standard positioning values in LiquidMedia. You can find the X,Y and Z values on any actor through the 'Size' property toolbar or looking at the 'Minibar'. The relative tickbox will make the move command apply only to the current control point rather than the whole path of the actor.

Actor : Resize

Actor:Resize will stretch the selected actor based on three rules that you specify. These are Width(w), Height(h) and Depth(d) which are the standard scaling values in LiquidMedia. You can find the w,h and d values on any actor through the 'Size' property toolbar or looking at the 'Minibar'. The relative tickbox will make the move command apply only to the current control point rather than the whole path of the actor.

Actor : Rotate

Actor:Rotate will revolve the selected actor on 3 axis that you specify. These are X, Y and Z - These are the standard 3D Modeling axis. You can find out what the X,Y and Z values are for an actor through the 'Size' property toolbar or looking at the 'Minibar'. The relative tickbox will make the move command apply only to the current control point rather than the whole path of the actor.

Set an actors path to start playing. It will play from the actor's current position on the path and in most cases the actor will be at the starting point, but occasionally you want the actor to play 'from the start'. For that you would have to add two commands 'path:play' and 'restart:path'.

The selected actor will stop when 'pause' is first used, then continue playing when the command is used again.

This command will start playing media content, such as a video.

The selected media will stop playing and must can only be played again from the start using "media:play". If don't want to play it from the start each time you stop, then use "media:pause".

The media will stop when 'pause' is first used, then continue playing when the command is used again.

Switch to the next scene.

Switch to the previous scene

Jump to is useful when you want to switch to a scene that is two or more scenes away from the current scene. There is a pull-down box on the toolbar where you can select the destination scene.

Restarts the current Scene

'Divert to' is like the 'jump' function; except that your previous pages are remembered so that you can easily get back they're using the 'return' command.

The return command acts like the 'back' button on a web-browser, when you have been diverted to a new page the return command will take you straight back. Consider for a moment you have a presentation, and on every scene there is a divert-to button that takes you to the acknowledgements scene at the end. When designing the acknowledgements page... rather than making a separate button for each scene (so that you can get back), all you need is one button with the return command and you will always get sent back to the right page.

Quit the presentation

Restart the presentation from the first scene.

A variable is a function that allows you to create advanced interaction within your presentation. You can have as many variables as you like, but each must have a unique name. When you select to modify a variable (either var:set, var:add or var:subtract) more options will appear on the toolbar (pictured below).

'Variable' is a pull-down menu where you select the variable you would like to edit. 'Value' is the number you wish to modify. The small button with three dots on it will let you configure extra variables or rename existing ones.

Ignores the current value of the selected variable, and sets the new value that you specify.

'Add' will read the selected variable to find out what its current number is, then add the amount you have specified in the 'value' field.

'Subtract' will read the selected variable to find out what its current number is, then subtract the amount you have specified in the 'value' field.

'Multiply' will read the selected variable to find out what its current number is, then multiply it by the amount you have specified in the 'value' field.

'Devide' will read the selected variable to find out what its current number is, then devide it by the amount you have specified in the 'value' field.

The save action saves the variable to a file. Variables usually will be cleared when the presentation is finished, if save allows variables to be stored and rembered over multiple presentations or plays.

The load actions loads a value from a file into the variable that yous specify.

This command will start playing sound in LiquidMedia. But first you need to specify the sound you want by clicking the button under 'file' on the toolbar. You can also adjust the volume at this point or you can modify it later using the command 'sound:volume'.

Stops the selected sound from playing.

Adjusts the volume of a particular sound.

'Nothing' when used in conjunction with conditions, delays any subsequent actions from being executed. For example, you have an actor with 'until variable=5(do nothing)' in its 'actor:birth' event . Liquid Media will stop processing actions on the list at that point. When variable = 5 the condition will become be correct so Liquid Media will continue to process the actions one by one. Notice that we are dealing with a birth event that happens only once at the start of a scene, yet the actions on the list may be executed later on.

Execute

Executes tasks outside of LiquidMedia.
Often during a presentation you will need to leave LiquidMedia for things such as viewing your company website, or companies financials on a spreadsheet. The global execute command was made just for this purpose.

Upon selection of the 'global:execute' command new options will appear on the toolbar, the box labeled 'execute' is the windows directory path to the file you wish to use. To browse your computer for a file simply click the small button with three dots on it. Once you have selected your file you need to configure its behavior. This is done with the two pull-down menus on the toolbar.

• Edit: Edit the document
• Explore: Explore the folder
• Open: Open the document or folder
• Print: Print the document
• Properties: Document properties
  
  
  
• Default: Show the window in default position
• Minimized: Minimize the window before showing
• Normal: Show the window in normal position
• Maximized: Maximize the window before showing
  

Note that you can also enter an Internet or network address into the 'execute' box. For example, entering www.skunkies.com with the properties set to 'open' and 'default', would open up my internet browser and go to the website.

Run Java Script

LiquidMedia allows you to use custom JavaScript to dynamically control every aspect of a presentation, the 'Global:Run Script' command is the action that will execute your scripts. This feature brings a new dimension of customizability into the historically restricted software genre that is presentation software.

Play Presentation

This command will dynamically execute an external LiquidMedia presentation. If you select the tick box 'end this presentation' the current presentation will end when the new external file is loaded. However if you leave this box unchecked the current presentation will pause and wait until the external presentation is finished before continuing. You can also select the filename to come from a variable and select to display or hide the loading progress bar.

Sends a snapshot of what is currently visible on the screen to the printer

Using this command you can easily switch the mouse cursor to a different style.

Shows the visual keyboard

Hides the visual keyboard

Triggers are a set of actions that are independent of actors. They are great for when you find yourself repeating actions more than once throughout your presentation. A trigger is a place to consolidate actions. Then each event simply 'fires' that trigger. Its number uniquely identifies each trigger. So when setting up the 'fire' command you will be required to enter a number for the trigger you wish to execute.