Using Animated Graphic Symbols

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To put an animated graphic symbol to work, you must place an instance of it in your main movie. The layer containing the movie must have enough frames to display the frames of the symbol. You can use instances of an animated graphic symbol just as you would any other symbolcombine it with other graphics on a layer; motion-tween it; modify its color , size , and rotation; and so on.

To place an instance of an animated graphic symbol:

  1. Using the movie and symbol that you created in the preceding section, from the Insert menu, choose Scene to create a new scene.

    Flash displays the new scene's Timeline a single layer with a blank keyframe in Frame 1. The Stage is empty.

    Adding a new scene gives you a blank Stage to work with and makes it easy to compare the two animations: the original (created directly in the main movie) and the instance of the graphic symbol placed in the movie.

  2. Access the Library window.

    If it's not open , choose Window > Library.

  3. In the Library window for your document, select the Ping-Pong Animation symbol.

    The first frame of the animation appears in the preview window.

  4. Drag a copy of the selected symbol to the Stage.

    Flash places the symbol in Keyframe 1. At this point, you can see only the first frame of the animation (Figure 11.31). The animation is 20 frames long, so you need to add least 20 frames to view the symbol in its entirety.

    Figure 11.31. When you drag an instance of the animated graphic to the Stage, you see the symbol's first frame with its graphics selected. You must add frames to allow the full animation of the symbol to play in the main movie.

    graphics/11fig31.gif

  5. In the Timeline, select Frame 20, and choose Insert > Frame.

    Flash adds in-between frames 2 through 20.

  6. Play the movie.

    Now Flash can display each frame of the animated graphic symbol in a frame of the movie. Frame 2 of the symbol appears in Frame 2 of the movie, Frame 5 of the symbol appears in Frame 5 of the movie, and so on (Figure 11.32). If you place fewer than 20 frames in the movie, Flash truncates the symbol and displays only as many frames of the symbol as there are frames in the movie. If you place more than 20 frames, Flash starts playing the graphic symbol over again in Frame 21.

    Figure 11.32. Frames 1 through 20 have a tweening property of None, but they still display animation. Flash displays the 20 tween frames of the graphic symbol that you placed in Keyframe 1. It's as though the symbol is a tray of slides, and Flash is projecting one image per frame in the main movie. If the main movie is longer than the slide show, Flash just starts the slide show over.

    graphics/11fig32.gif

graphics/01icon02.gif Tip

  • To create complex motion, you can use animated graphic symbols in motion tweens in your main movie. You can create, for example, an animated graphic symbol of a bug whose legs move to simulate walking. Place an instance of the bug symbol in keyframes at frames 1 and 5. You can motion-tween the bug symbol in your main movie and add a motion guide layer to make the wiggly bug follow a path .


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Macromedia Flash MX for Windows and Macintosh. Visual QuickStart Guide
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 for Windows and Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guides)
ISBN: 0582851165
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 243

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