Monday, November 2, 2009
Week 11: November 9 to November 15
BLOG topic Week ELEVEN: The Flash Library holds all of your important files and is saved along with your FLA documents. There are built-in Libraries and Libraries you can link to as well. One element that can be found in these Libraries is called a Symbol. Please discuss what these are, what kind exist and why you should use them or just ignore them entirely?
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7 comments:
Being able to add symbols to the library will be a great time saver. I imagine that once you have a core group of symbols you can then use them over and over - changing and altering and creating new symbols at will.
Adobe really indulged us with the multiple uses that symbols can achieve. There are three differing categories that a symbol can be classified as and worked on from there. The three possible symbols are button, graphic, or a movie clip. It's absolutely vital to choose the rite symbol for the rite application.
So if you don't need a symbol then there is no reason to hassle with making things into symbols and getting them clustered up in the library. It's common sense to ignore wasted time.
Most any work can be converted to a symbol, we just got to select it and press F8, choose the rite option, then manipulate and finalize the selected symbol to our own desires.(dbl clicking the symbol will show its alternate time line to show)
You can add seemingly numerous actions to a symbol for a more heightened experience.
Flash is amazing so far. Just putting in all my time i can and working around my other obligations, i have been inspired and can't stop wanting web design, especially with flash.
There are three types of libraries: Movie, Permanent, and Sample. Symbols are one type of asset stored in the libraries. There are three types of symbols: Button, Movie Clip, and Graphic.
The Movie Library is the library for the current movie. Assets stored here are only available for use in other movies if this current movie file is opened. Assets stored in the Permanent Library and Sample Library are available for use in any movie.
A symbol is the original of the object and is stored in a library. When copied to a stage, the symbol becomes a copy of the symbol (called an instance) and is really a link stored in the file linked to the symbol. By storing a link rather than the instance in the movie, the movie file size is reduced.
Though there are three types of symbols, the basic premise of each is the same: One original object that is reused many times in a movie (each as an instance of the symbol.) The difference between the symbol types is only the task assigned to each type.
- Button Symbols are used for providing interactivity on a web site.
- Movie Clips allow complex animation (with smaller movie files) by creating a movie within a movie.
- Graphic symbol is an image converted to a symbol to be reused many times, possibly modified each time in order to create animation.
Animations and 3D effects in Flash require the use of symbols (stored automatically in the library), so it's tough to see how they could be ignored. Just as with CSS stylesheets, one original symbol can be edited, and the edits carry through to every instance of the symbol. So symbols are a great timesaver.
My classmates have given good descriptions of symbol types, so I won't duplicate that here. I did find an interesting factoid about symbols on the Adobe site, by Adobe Expert Chris Georgenes. He says:
"No matter how many instances of a symbol reside on the Stage, Flash needs to load it only once. This is how Flash delivers streaming animations while maintaining small file sizes."
So symbols are what makes Flash flash!
cheerio,
Ruth
The symbol is used to make buttons, as well as to use a graphic one of the tools. For instance, I discovered a way cool effect in the deco tool. You can changed the symbols by importing your own graphic, converting it to a symbol, importing it into your library and then applying it to the deco tool. I used a heart graphic that I had and converted in into a symbol. Then I put it into the library. In the deco tool, there is a vine/leaf/flower pattern that I customized. I changed the color of the vine leaf, and then swapped the flower symbol for my heart symbol. You can also use it in the other tools as well - to create buttons, etc.
Symbols are all objects stored in your Flash library. Including music, videos, etc...which you can then import into your flash project. It's a great way to store all files in one area, edit them in the library, and have that symbol updated on your flash project.
Symbols are indeed what makes Flash so great with file compression. One thing I like is the ability to import elements stored in other Libraries, just open both files at the same time and both Libraries are available to you for use. I can imagine a day when you put all of your important symbols into one major Library, much like you will do in the sound section coming up soon. Having SWF files available in your hosting server is another cool thing you can do with Flash to share files and symbols.
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