Simple AS3 Parallax System Engine

A recent project required me to set up a parallax system, of which I’ve done a hundred times probably, starting with AS1. However, I’d never built a class to handle this rather simple functionality. With this project request, I thought that I’d just re-purpose my AS3 Auto-Panning Class. However with my Auto-Panning Class, I realized I’d have to create Auto-Panning instances for each layer of the parallax system which seemed a bit much. I went ahead and moved forward with that, but then realized my Auto-Panning Class is set up to run an ENTER_FRAME event upon mousing over an invisible button. Needless to say, stacking Auto-Panning instances wouldn’t allow lower depths to become mouse-interactive. So, I scrapped that idea and built a rather simple parallax system.

I built the first class which works fine, but knew there were a few other capabilities that I should explore. So, I sub-classed my ParallaxEngine Class and created two additional Classes. One class will allow the parallax plates (any of the layered DisplayObjects within the parallax instance) to return to their predetermined x,y positions if the mouse leaves the designated mouse-active area. Another Class will allow the plates to continue moving slightly and ease to a stop when the mouse leaves the designated mouse-active area.

I’ve provided ASDocs with this set of files along with the FLA and source code – enjoy!