Controlling the Stacking Order of Layers

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Controlling the Stacking Order of Layers

As you add more layers to your document, you may need to rearrange them so that the objects that should appear in the foreground actually cover objects that appear in the background.

Layers make it easy to change the stacking order of numerous elements at the same time. You can, for example, bring all the elements on one layer to the top of the stack simply by dragging that layer to the top of the list in the Timeline. Doing so brings those elements to the front of the Stage (overlapping any items on other layers) in every frame of the movie.

To reorder layers:

1. Create a movie with several layers.

2. In the Timeline, position the mouse pointer over the layer you want to move.

3. Click and drag the layer.

   Flash previews the layer's new location with a thick gray line.

4. Position the preview line in the layer order you want (5.23).

   Figure 5.23. The gray line (top) represents the new location for the Rectangle layer you are dragging. Release the mouse button to drop the layer into its new position. Flash selects the layer and its contents (bottom).

   

5. Release the mouse button.

   Flash moves the layer to the new location and selects it in the Timeline.

Tip

• If you accidentally release the mouse button as you move a layer, and your layer winds up in the wrong location, you can choose Edit > Undo or press -Z (Mac) or Ctrl-Z (Windows) to return to the original layer order. It takes two undo commands to do so, however. The first command undoes the selection of the layer in its new location; the second undoes the dragging action.

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