Flash Research Assignment

Hello Mr. Tedford,
I hope you enjoy my research on Flash Symbols.
(Sorry to bore you bloggers out there, or maybe this might be helpful. In that case, you're very welcome :) )

There are 4 different types of symbols in Flash are:
Movie Clips
Buttons
Graphics
and
Text/Font

Movie Clips
To convert an object into a movie clip symbol, you must first highlight the object. Then you can do three things, right click and click Convert to Symbol, click Modify and then Convert to Symbol, or use the shortcut F8.

They are reusable pieces of flash animation that consist of one or more graphics and or button symbols. So they are flash movies in a flash project. They have their own non-restricted timeline (they can have as many frames and layers as they'd like, just like the actual project you're working on) that plays independent of the main movie's timeline. The benefit to using movieclips is that you can control them from actionscript (the program language in Flash), you can change their dimensions, position, color, alpha, and other properties, you can also duplicate and delete the clips.


Buttons
To convert an object into a button symbol, you must first highlight the object. Then you can do three things, right click and click Convert to Symbol, click Modify and then Convert to Symbol, or use the shortcut F8.

These are used for timeline navigation.They add interactivity to the movie and respond to mouse clicks, key press, rollovers and or rollout, and other actions. You choose which graphics will respond depending on button information (Up, Over, Down, and Hit), and then assign actions to the instance of a button. They have 4 frames in their timeline: one each for the up, over and down function, and one to define the hit area of the button.

Graphics
To convert an object into a graphics symbol, you must first highlight the object. Then you can do three things, right click and click Convert to Symbol, click Modify and then Convert to Symbol, or use the shortcut F8.

They are reusable images that are used mainly to create animations. Any drawn vector, plain text, imported bitmap image, or a combination can be converted into a single controllable object: as a graphic symbol. They are only one frame long.

Text/Font
To create text, simply click and drag where you're working using the text tool. Then click inside the text box to create the text you would like to display in your Flash.

You can have either Static, Input, or Dynamic text. Static text is used for titles, labels, or anything else that will appear in your movie. Input text options are used for user input, like obtaining a username or other information in Flash. The third type of text is a Dynamic text. They're used to display text that changes dynamically when the flash runs.


'Till next time.
~Corky-Lunn

P.S.(I'll have a domain in the near future, I'll post the link as soon as it's up and running)