I have copied all the layers from the original FLA file into my new FLA file but not all the animations are working, the flapping cape works, but the up and down movement and the eye moving doesn't work.

First of all I done all the artwork in Illustrator, then I imported the pieces into Flash and set them in position, putting on seperate layers the parts that were to to move, eg. the pupil in the eye moving within the eyeball.

For the cape, I had done what you said not to do, but it's the only thing that's working, ironically. I made the flapping cape animation in a separate flash document using 5 different images and changing to each along the timeline every 1 second. I then exported the flapping cape as a SWF movie and then imported it into the flash file where the body of the character was and positioned it where it should be.

The eyeball moving occasionally was done using a motion tween, as was the gentle moving up and down of the man flying.

Then I exported ALL that as another SWF movie so that it was one animation (which actually included 3 different animations. 2 done in the document, and one imported SWF), but it's only the flapping cape that continues to work even if I copy all the layers across instead of importing the SWF.

I know that all sounds a bit of a mess to people who know how it should be done, but I'm a bit lost at the moment as I'm not sure which steps I should be taking and in which order.

Thanks for your help with this.

How do I build each animation as a movieclip?

If I have something moving on one layer and then highlight that layer and convert to symbol, choosing Movieclip as the type, the clip just stays as one frame, there is no animation when I place that Movieclip file on the timeline.

Also, if I have 2 .fla files open, when I highlight the layers in one document and copy and then paste it into the other document, not all the animations carry over.

What am I doing wrong?

"the empty timeline of the MovieClip"?

Is this just the normal timeline that appears when you begin with any new document?? Where does the movie clip part come in?  is it different than the timeline of a regular layer?

Sorry for the possible silly questions, but I need to learn! :-)

Thank you.