Question

I noticed that when programming a simple motion in ActionScript (e.g. object.x += 5) that when a keyboard key is held down to cause the motion, a stutter is created in the appearance of the movement. Is there a way to remove this or to make it appear more fluent?

Answer 1

Try something like this:

stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, keyDown);
stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP, keyDown);
someMC.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, enterFrameUpdate);
var isADown:Boolean = false;

function keyDown(e:KeyboardEvent){
   if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.A){
       isADown = true;
   }
}

function keyUP(e:KeyboardEvent){
   if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.A){
       isADown = false;
   }
}

function enterFrameUpdate(e:Event){
    if(isADown){
         myMovieClip.x -= 3;
    }
}

Imports are:

flash.events.KeyboardEvent;
flash.events.Event;
flash.ui.Keyboard;
//and a few more

Also increase the FPS of the swf if it’s still to jerky (but uniform) motion. Click on an empty part of the stage (main screen) and then CTRL-F3 or Properties screen and you should be able to change the FPS there.