I know this might sound completely retarded, but I can’t find out for the life of me, how to make an object rotate on a Z axis. I’ve seen it done a million times, so I know it’s not impossible, but no matter how much I rack my brain on this, I can’t figure it out.
Any suggestions?
Are you sure it’s using flash?
its more than likely a 3D program.
yea
the closest you can get is using swapDepths(x) and having x change… but obviously you will want it to scale so you would also want to play with the mcs ._xscale and ._yscale properties 
Prophet.
Yes, i’m sure it’s using flash, Flash MX actually, which is probably the reason I posted in this forum. Wierd how that works.
I don’t think I was describing my problem properly, so I’ve added a guiding animation for you to watch. I know it’s possible, but whether it’s just a trick or something i’m missing is still beyond me.
[Yes, I realize my methods are newbish and archaic, but i’m still new at this.]
Come on… someone has to know what i’m talking about…
if you are correct in what you mean, and you are sure it is the z-axis, then you just adjust the _rotation property of a movieclip.
if it were the x or y axis, then we would be talking about a more 3d based application. there are programs such as Swift3D, which can be used to create 3D movies that are then importable into flash.
Another option available for use the the Macromedia Director MX approach. Director is the Application that is used to create 3D shockwave movies. i’ve been looking into this a bit myself recently. It users a language other than as, called ‘lingo’ (if i remember correctly) and the 3D stuff is done with this.
hope this helps you.
having now looked at the fla, i understand what you mean.
this is not rotation around the z-axis, but around the y-axis. The z-axis is towards, and away from the camera and therefore if we rotate around it, it spins as if altering the _rotation property.
I think it is more likely that the others are right, and that 3d program has been used in the animations you are talking about. if you give us some links to examples, we might be able to give you more advice as to how it was done (-:
the best way to do that is with a 3D program, like swift or the like… I use adobe dimensions and then export the individual frame shots. (you can see an example at www.intl-importers.com at the splash page)
You could hack it in AS by simply scaling the _x value of an mc down, then flip it and scale back up - this would end up looking distorted, but like I said it would be a hack.
If you are very comfortable with AS you can use a 3d engine to rotate the object in a more realistic manner (but you cannot use this method for any object), do a search on that and you should find some tuts.
All in all BEST way is to use 3d program… and what are you trying to rotate??? Maybe I could help you out.
Peace
I’m just trying to make a spinning disc. Whenever I figure this out, i’ll replace it with a glyph of my design, but it’s a key effect in a series of movies i’m working on.
I’ll try to find a specific example and link it for y’all.
Ok, this is the best I can do to recreate this effect. It was only possible because I just shaped tweened the lines, which doesn’t help at all when trying to apply the effect to a complex disk.
Loop it to make the effect.
I know I shouldn’t bump, but this is kind of a hole in my lungs here.
well you’ve got two options, you may have read these before: [they’re all above]
1: Use a 3D engine [link]
2. Use a 3D program [link]
Hey!
I’ve got an idea… If it’s just a circular disc that you’re trying to rotate…
Use a sine curve movement for it _width property…
I’m pretty sure you’ll get it…
In the meanwhile… I’ll try it n letcha know!
I just edited this message to let you know that I have made the disc to rotate on the Z axis in Flash itself… The attached file is on page#2…
CYA!
Hey! I got it…
Here’s the fla… Just open it and hit Ctrl+Enter to test the movie!
And yeah… It’s a DISC that rotates! A proper DISC!
(And please don’t say I’m a genius… I know that already! Thanx! LOL!) 
i had no intention of doing so.
especially wen u crashed my browser trying to open that .fla.
wen i finally got it open, i was a little disappointed. i was under the impression you wanted something that would rotate along the Z axis, not the Y axis - thats easy to fake… the Z however…
of course by the Z axis, i dont actually mean the true Z axis but the angle which you frequently see , ie. a straight line from origin (0,0) in the first quadrant of a graph of x=y
guess i was wrong huh?
Prophet.
actually, the disc in the fla that fondu attached to one of his posts is rotating on it’s y-axis too, prophet.
Hmm, a bit of an anti climax downloading that file and has proph and cyb say it is rotating on the y axis.
You will still get a much better effect with a 3d program, I think Plasma ( Discreet) offer a free trial and in the tutorials they make something very similar to what you are trying to do.
Hey!
I was just tryin to make somethin while I was workin on somethin else…
Evidently I just bummed with the Y and the Z!
Sorry!
LOL!