3. Symbols
Types of Symbols • Graphic: used for images or reusable animations.
• Movie Clip: movie within a Flash movie and has its own timeline. Good for interactive
elements and sounds.
• Button: responds to clicks, rollovers, and other actions. Define the graphics for each
of the button states, then assign particular actions to an instance of the button.
Create a Graphic symbol • Select one of the eyes. Select Modify Convert to Symbol. Choose Graphic as the
behavior and give it the name EyeGraphic.
• All symbols in a Flash document appear in the Library panel, which is usually in the Panel Sidebar. If not, select
Window Library.
• Delete the other eye and replace it with the EyeGraphic sym- bol by dragging the symbol from the Library panel to the
stage.
• The benefit of symbols is that you can create instances of elements that repeat.
• Change how the EyeGraphic symbol looks. • You can edit a symbol by double clicking an instance or
double-clicking the symbol in the Library panel. Editing a symbol also changes its instances.
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Create a Button symbol
• Draw a circle and select it. Select Modify Convert to Symbol. Choose Button as the behavior and give it the name RobotButton.
• The RobotButton symbol should now appear in the Library Panel like the Eye- Graphic symbol.
• To edit the RobotButton, double-click an instance of the symbol or double-click the symbol in the Library panel.
• Buttons have frames for each of its states. Each state can have it’s own appear- ance.
• Up: when the button is not pressed, or released.
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• Over: when the button is hovered over. • Down: when the button is pressed.
• Hit: defines the clickable area of the button.
• Leave the Up and Over states as they are. • Insert a keyframe in the Down frame. Change the color of the button’s fill.
• There are two ways to test whether your buttons work. • Choose Control Test Movie to build the Flash movie.
• Choose Control Enable Simple Buttons to make the buttons accept mouse events in edit mode.
Create a Movie symbol • Select Insert New Symbol. Name the Movie
symbol RobotMovie.This creates an empty stage and a new timeline.
• Return to the main timeline named Scene1 by clicking on the “Scene 1” button on the Timeline
panel. Cut the eyes, face, and mouth from the Scene 1.
• Edit the RobotMovie symbol and paste the eyes, face, and mouth.
• Drag the RobotMovie symbol into the Scene1 timeline. • At this point, the RobotMovie symbol doesn’t do anything, since there is only one
frame in our movie.
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4. The Timeline