Using Symbols and Instances > Creating symbols > Converting animation on the Stage into a movie clip
Converting animation on the Stage into a movie clipIf you've created an animated sequence on the Stage and want to reuse it elsewhere in the movie, or if you want to manipulate it as an instance, you can select it and save it as a movie clip symbol.
To convert animation on the Stage into a movie clip:
1 | On the main Timeline, select every frame in every layer of the animation on the Stage that you want to use. |
2 | Do one of the following to copy the frames: |
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Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) any selected frame and choose Copy Frames from the context menu. |
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Choose Edit > Copy Frames. |
3 | Deselect your selection and make sure nothing on the Stage is selected. Choose Insert > New Symbol. |
4 | In the Symbol Properties dialog box, name the symbol. For Behavior, choose Movie Clip, then click OK. |
Flash opens a new symbol for editing in symbol-editing mode. | |
5 | On the Timeline, click Frame 1 on Layer 1, and choose Edit > Paste Frames. |
This pastes the frames you copied from the main Timeline to the Timeline of this movie clip symbol. Any animation, buttons, or interactivity from the frames you copied now becomes an independent animation (a movie clip symbol) that you can reuse throughout your movie. | |
6 | Do one of the following to exit symbol-editing mode: |
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Choose Edit > Edit Movie. |
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Click the Scene button in the upper left corner of the document window. |
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Click the Edit Scene button in the upper right corner of the document window and choose a scene from the menu. |
7 | Delete the animation from the main movie Timeline by selecting every frame in every layer of the animation and choosing Insert > Remove Frame. |
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