Dyn. mc and loaded jpg dimensions / properties

1

Hi all,

My goal is to do various things to a movieclip (zoom out with an alpha change) that has a jpg loaded into it. My thought is that I can load any jpg into the movieclip, and it will follow the commands made to the movieclip (i.e. zoom / alpha change).

I am at the point where I am setting up the movieclip properties. Some of the questions I have are: is it possible to constrain the movieclip to a particular dimension, regardless of the jpg size. The jpg would then, ideally, need to be told to center within the movieclip, and the excess picture be cut off. Here is what I have so far:

this.createEmptyMovieClip ("jpgLoader",1);
jpgLoader._width=500;
jpgLoader._height=500;

groupView.roomOne.onPress = function () {
    loadMovie("rain1.jpg" , jpgLoader);
    trace ("hello");
    trace (jpgLoader._width+" "+jpgLoader.height);
    }

For some reason the mc will no longer show up, and the traces come up as unvalid when I add the width and height dimensions, otherwise the picture will load, but at its original dimension.

I was wondering if there was a tutorial explaining some of the concepts of mc’s and loading images. I know it can all be done, but Im still fussy about the relationships between images being loaded into movieclips.

Thanks for any ideas.