Section 13.2. Testing on the Stage

13.2. Testing on the Stage

If all you want to do is check out a few simple frames ' worth of action, this is the option to use. It's also the best choice if you want to see your motion path or not see the layers you've marked as hidden. (For the skinny on hiding and showing layers , check out Section 4.3.)

To test your animation on the Stage:

1. Select Window Toolbars Controller .

   The Controller toolbar you see in Figure 13-1 appears.

2. Turn on the checkbox next to one or more of the following options :

   Control Loop Playback . Tells Flash to loop playback over and over again after you click Play on the Controller. Flash keeps looping your animation until you click Stop. If you dont turn on this option, Flash just plays the animation once.

   Figure 13-1. You can reposition the Controller by dragging it to wherever it's most convenient for you. Or, if you prefer, you can skip the Controller altogether and use the button-equivalent menu options: Control Stop, Control Rewind, Control Step Forward One Frame, Control Play, Control Step Backward One Frame, and Control Go to End.

   

   Control Play All Scenes . Tells Flash to play all the scenes in your animation, not just the scene currently visible on the Stage.

   Control Enable Simple Frame Actions . Tells Flash to play the actions youve added to frames on the Timeline. If you don't turn on this option, Flash ignores all frame actions.

   Control Enable Simple Buttons . Tells Flash to make your buttons work on the Stage. (If you dont turn on the checkbox next to this option, neither mousing over a button nor clicking it on the Stage has any effect.)

   Control Enable Live Preview . Tells Flash to display any components youve added to the Stage the way they'll appear in Flash Player. (The components don't work on the Stage, but you see how they're supposed to look.) If you have components on the Stage and you don't choose this option, only the outlines of your components appear.

   Control Mute Sounds . Tells Flash not to play any of the sound clips youve added to your animation.

3. Make sure that what you want to test is at least partially visible on the Timeline .

   If you want to test a particular scene, for example, click the Edit Symbols icon in the Edit bar and then choose a scene to display the Timeline for that scene. If you want to test a movie clip symbol, select Edit Symbols to display the Timeline for that movie clip.

4. Note: You can also drag the playhead back and forth along the Timeline to test your animation on the Stage (a technique called scrubbing ).

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   Flash plays your animation on the Stage based on the options you chose in step 2.