STEP 02 naming the INSTANCES

After these movie clips are created, I give them each an instance name. An instance name becomes the name of the movie clip for all of your programming. That is what is used to identify your clip in paths such as Tell Target and Set Variable. The name of your clip in the library is not important. It can be different from your instance name. In some cases, you might use the same clip over and over again but have a different instance name for each copy.

To create an instance name, follow these steps:

1. Select the Timeline in your main movie and insert a new layer.

2. Name the layer.

   I use the name of the object that will go in the layerfor instance, Dancer.

3. Open the Library.

4. Select the movie clip you want to use. In this case, select "Dancer."

5. Drag the movie clip to the screen.

6. Double-click on the Dancer movie. The Instance Properties dialog will appear (see figure 08:14).

   
   

   Figure 08:14.

   

   
   

7. In the Instance Properties dialog, select the Movie Clip option.

8. In the Instance Name text box, enter the desired Instance Name: Dancer. Then press Enter / Return.

Now you can address this movie clip from anywhere in your movie. For instance, in this example we tell the Dancer object to play from its start label:

  Begin Tell Target ("/dancer")   Go to and Play ("start")   End Tell Target