Re: FLASH: two ways of defining movie clip?

[John Croteau]

Hi Dave,


> >Symbols are not only reusable but their behaviour can also be changed

> >for an Instance. Say you have a Movie Clip and you want to use frame 5

> >of that Movie Clip as a still graphic. There is no need to create a new

> >symbol. Simply drop a new copy (Instance) of the Movie Clip where you

> >want it and change its Behavior to Graphic. In the Instance properties

> >also change First Frame: to 5 and select Single Frame:.

> Could you go into more detail here?  I understand that if I need a still

> graphic I would use an instance with its Behavior set to graphic.  But how

> do I know when I need movie clip behavior?  I have a vague interpretation

> that says when I want it to "be like a movie, with its own actions and lots

> of layers and sound", then it should be a movie clip.  But what about

> relatively minor things such as a pair of moving lips used for lip syncing

> dialog, or a pair of running legs?   Should these be movie clips, or

> symbols with graphic behavior that are animated?

For most animation you will want to use Movie Clips since they are

externally controllable by Tell Target. A Movie Clip only takes one

frame on the timeline it is placed on and all the frames in the Movie

Clip are available from that single frame. Multi-frame Graphic Symbols

(Animated Graphics) are not controllable by Tell Target and only display

their frames on the timeline they are placed on. 


There are good reasons to use Animated Graphics instead of Movie Clips.

One example is in my Clock Tutorial where I use Animated Graphics to

combine and store the numbers used in my digital Flash Clock. All the

numbers for hours, minutes and seconds are derived from a single

Animated Graphic so I can easily change the font of the clock numbers

from one place.  http://www.FlashCentral.com/Tech/Index.htm#Tutorials


-----------                               -----------------------

John Croteau

croteauerols [dot] com (mailto:croteauerols [dot] com)

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