actionscript 3 - Resize as a function of distance between mc's -

i hope hasn't been asked before. when search questions pertaining rescaling window size.

now question. got 1 space ship firing beam against ship. want beam show time , want "bridge" 2 ships. in other words, want beam extend width between 2 ships.

i try dot movie clip 1 pixel wide , high (and aligned left edge). try resize following code: (target ship fire @ , owner ship firing)

dist.vx = target.x - owner.x; dist.vy = target.y - owner.y; dist.dist = math.sqrt(dist.vx*dist.vx + dist.vy*dist.vy);  width = dist.dist;  x = owner.x; y = owner.y; rotation = math.atan2(target.y-y, target.x-x)*180/math.pi; 

this doesn't work intended because 1) dot gets alot bigger in other dimension - how can "turn off" behavior? , 2) seems way wide - in angles...

any suggestions on either solving heigh/width scaling or on way achieve same effect?

(i'm new coding , flash.) thanks!

by resizing dot, have rectangle...

you can dynamically create sprite covering both ships , moveto hit point of 1 ship lineto other ship... not need distance calculation @ all. have being careful on placement of sprite. can calculate relative hitting points simple math.

suppose have mc space contining mc ship1 , mc ship2, , hit point coords on ships named hx, hy , use sprite s, calculation follows.

// calculate hit points relative mc space var s1hx:int = ship1.x + ship1.hx,      s1hy:int = ship1.y + ship1.hy,     s2hx:int = ship2.x + ship2.hx,     s2hy:int = ship2.y + ship2.hy, // sprite relative moveto lineto coords these.     mx: int, my: int,     lx: int, ly: int;  // top left of sprite minimum of hit coords.    s.x = (s1hx <= s2hx)? s1hx : s2hx; s.y = (s1hy <= s2hy)? s1hy : s2hy;  // can sprite relative moveto lineto coordinates: mx = s1hx - s.x;   = s1hy - s.y; lx = s2hx - s.x; ly = s2hy - s.y; 

the rest implementation using these fancy line styles etc...

to create new sprite:

var s:sprite = new sprite(); 

adding / removing to/from mc space:

space.addchild(s);  space.removechild(s); 

for graphics use graphics object of sprite.

s.graphics 

for setting line styles can use:

s.graphics.linestyle(...) ,  s.graphics.linebitmapstyle(...), s.graphics.linegradientstyle(...) 

functions, please read manual usage.

after setting line style draw line use:

s.graphics.moveto(mx,my); s.graphics.lineto(lx,ly); 

for pulsating effects have little more complicated things such using tween class can read here: http://help.adobe.com/en_us/flashplatform/reference/actionscript/3/fl/transitions/tween.html

note that: sprites no complicated magic, mc's not have timelines etc.

sprites try scale when width or height change programmatically. not touch them, moveto lineto automatically sets size of sprite...