What are “Symbols”?

Let me first explain what “Symbols” are.

A “Symbol” is a reusable element that we include in animation, interactivity and special effects. This is the definition given by Adobe.

Now coming to my definition:
When we sign forms, or we import pictures in our “Flash” movie, where we will use repeatedly, we make them a “Symbol”.

This is for three reasons.

The first is that your “Flash” movie will increase in file size a little.

The second reason is that when a “Symbol” changes, all the elements (“entities” they call in “Flash”) in your “Flash” movie will change and you do not have to go one by one to adjust.

And the third reason is because, in most cases you need to add animation to your “Flash” movie.

Now that you know what a “Symbol” is, we will make one.

 

To add a “Symbol”

A “Symbol” can be added in two ways.
The first way is to draw a shape on the “Stage”, select the shape, and click “Update” in the menu bar and selecting “Convert to Symbol” in the drop-down menu.  Slightly faster way is to select the shape and click on the F8 key on your keyboard.

A second way is to select anything on the “Stage”, click on the “Insert” in the menu bar and select “New Symbol” in the drop-down menu. Keyboard shortcut for this is Ctrl + F8 on your keyboard.

How you do it, does not matter. This ultimately opens a dialog where you give the “Symbol” a name. It is always good to have something to recognize, isn’t it?

Then click the downward pointing arrow to the type of “Symbol” you want.

Because we have three types of “Symbols”.

We have the “Movie Clip Symbol”, the “Button Symbol”, and “Graphic Symbol”.

“Convert to Symbol”

“Create New Symbol”

If you have chosen the first way “Convert to Symbol”, you have an additional option, namely the “Registration point” set (A). You can choose from 9 different points, top left, top center, top right, and so on.
The “Registration point” serves as the point where you rotate an image, and position the image on the “Stage”. The first seems obvious, for the second I will give an example:

You have the “Registration Point” center” set for a “Symbol”. You have the “Symbol” positioned by means of “ActionScript” on the Y-axis at position 0, and on the X-axis is also set to 0. Then the registration point of the “Symbol”, or in other words, the center of the image will be shown in the extreme left-hand corner of the platform.   Which means that half of your “Symbol” will show when you play back the movie.

Many worry about it but you do not need to. The only thing you should remember is what a “Registration point” of a “Symbol” does. You do not panic, you can always change.

 

“Symbol” Types

The “Graphic Symbol”, in short, is the most simple “Symbol” and can draw shapes or import photos. On this type of “Symbol”, we cannot add “ActionScript” code. It is really only useful to store your drawings or pictures in the library, or to provide drawing / picture animation on the main timeline.

The “Button Symbol” is used to add interactivity to the “Flash” movie. With interactivity, I mean add “ActionScript” code, including movie stop, movie playback, clutch open and all the rest of this “ScriptCode”. The only functionality of a “Button Symbol” is the way to add interactivity to your “Flash” movie.

A “Button Symbol” consists of four frames.

A frame “OMH” (1) that the button displays when it is in the resting state, in other words if nothing happens.

A frame “Up” (2) that the button displays when the mouse pointer is over it.

A frame “Down” (3) that the button displays when you click with the mouse pointer.

And frame “Active” (4) that the area in which the user can click. This frame is invisible in your “Flash” movie and is mainly used when you want to add an invisible button. In other words, when the three previous frames are blank.

And finally we have the “Movie Clip Symbol”

The “Movie Clip Symbol” is the super “Symbol”. This “Symbol” can do anything.

A “Movie Clip Symbol” has its own, and this is important, in an independent “Timeline”.

A “Movie Clip Symbol” can contain “ActionScript” and thus is treated as a button, a graph, a movie, or simply everything.

Each of these “Symbols” have their own “Timeline”. To each of these “Timelines”, we can add or remove “Layers”. On the “Timeline” of a “Symbol” and a “Movie Clip Symbol”, we can also add “Frames” or “Keyframes”.

At first sight, the “Timeline” of a “Graphic Symbol” is not the same as a “Movie Clip Symbol” but nothing less.

The “Timeline” of a “Movie Clip Symbol” is totally independent as I had said but, a “Timeline” of “Graphic Symbol” is not at all independent.

When you’re in a “Graphic Symbol”, we have animation that is distributed over 20 “Frames”, then your main movie should consist of at least 20 frames. Otherwise, just nothing happens when you enter the main movie.

This is not the same with “Movie Clip Symbol”. Regardless of the number of frames that hold in the main movie, the movie clip will always play.

A “Symbol” can consist of something you have signed, something that you’ve imported, but also from one or more other “Symbols”.
For example you have a “Main Symbol”.
In this “Symbol” you have the ” Eye Symbol”, a “Ear Symbol”, a “Word Symbol” and any other such symbols that are needed.

If you know, double-clicking the “Symbol” brings you into the edit mode of that “Symbol”, and you can view all sub-symbols which the “Main Symbol” is composed of.

But more about that when I talk about editing “Symbols” in a later lesson.

 

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