# Scripting Visibility instead of Alpha
**URL:** https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785
**Category:** flash
**Created:** [April 16, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785 "2006-04-16T14:56:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gsxxx600](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Gsxxx600)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/1 "2006-04-16T14:56:52Z")
Hi all,
I’m developing an intro for a site, its 10 seconds long and has streaming sound in the background…I streamed it, because it has an image flash onto the screen in unison with a drumbeat.
I want to get the file size as low as possible, because they are not looking for a loader in the beginning.
[http://www.inthevalley.org/knowthemark/toyotapavilion/docs/Splash.html](http://www.inthevalley.org/knowthemark/toyotapavilion/docs/Splash.html)
I’m using Alpha’s to fade the images in and out, and I know alpha %'s can kill file size.
I understand there is a \_visibility function that can be applied, can you help me out on the syntax for calling it?
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@nathan99](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/nathan99)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/2 "2006-04-16T15:06:33Z")
```auto
mc._visible = /*Boolean: True or False*/;
```
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### Author:  [@Gsxxx600](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Gsxxx600)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/3 "2006-04-16T16:12:33Z")
Can I use that to make a gradual fade, like i already have?
Or is the visibility set to either true or false?
Thanks
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### Author:  [@jerez\_z](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jerez_z)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/4 "2006-04-16T16:20:09Z")
visibility is on or off. Alpha is the only way to do fade.
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### Author:  [@JoshuaJonah](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/JoshuaJonah)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/5 "2006-04-16T16:23:13Z")
also, alpha isnt really hard on filesize. Its hard on clients side cpu.
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### Author:  [@Gsxxx600](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Gsxxx600)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/6 "2006-04-16T19:26:57Z")
My bad, I did mean to say Alpha’s are RAM intensive.
Thanks Jerez for filling me in!
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### Author:  [@TheCanadian](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/TheCanadian)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/7 "2006-04-16T19:33:34Z")
If you have an \_alpha of zero make sure to set \_visible to false. Even though you may not be able to see the movie clip, it is still being drawn to the stage which takes up resources. Setting \_visible to false stops Flash from re-drawing the movie clip 🙂
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### Author:  [@Gsxxx600](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Gsxxx600)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/8 "2006-04-18T02:29:57Z")
ahhh sweet!
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### Author:  [@joran420](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/joran420)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scripting-visibility-instead-of-alpha/185785/9 "2006-04-18T03:05:04Z")
but if \_visible = false …it cant perform any actions(other actions can still affect it) but it cant take any clicks or anything…with alpha 0 if uts on enterframe tells it to move it will keep moving even if alpha is 0
afaik if \_visibility = false it would not move…also cant take clicks or accept focus(i think) i pretty new to this whole AS thing