Just a few basic Flash questions?

[NickelBuckle9]

Hey guys!

I just got Flash this week, and I know there are hundreds of great Flash tutorials online, but I dislike how a lot of them are taught.  I have quite a bit of programming experience, as well as plenty of experience in digital media, so I'm not so much concerned with learning AS3 or learning how to use the tools in Flash.

The problem is that I don't understand the very basic core concepts of Flash... and its hard to find a good tutorial that teaches the specific things for which I'm looking.

Does anyone out there understand at least the basics of Flash and would be willing to spend 10 minutes or so answering a few of my questions?

Here are a few of them:

1. Does all the actionscript code go into the same frame's action panel?  Is it nessesary to have a unique layer for code, or are all layers of each frame essentially the same when the program reads it?
2. Symbols have their own unique timelines, correct?  For example, each character in a scene is a symbol within the main scene, and thus has its own timeline of actions... so when zoomed out to the main scene, the character can cycle through its own timeline, but still act as a single frame?  Thus, symbols are used to make sort of a "web" of timelines?  (I apologize if this sounds confusing.)

...and I know I'll have more once I think of them, but this is sufficient for now.

Thank you to anyone who can help!  ❤️

[Ned Murphy]

1.  You can dole out the actionscript as you please, though some folks will recommend keeping actionscript 1) in layers dedicated to actionscript  and/or 2) in the first frame, and/or 3) in separate aActionscript/class files.  I am not one of them, though I do practice these things anyways more often than not.

2.  MovieClip symbols and Graphic symbols have their own timelines.  Sprites do not use timelines.  Button symbols (SimpleButtons) have semi-timelines... actually moreso states defined by frames.  Each of these will function independently within a parent timeline, although a Graphic symbol in a timeline must extend along it for the same number of frames that it has in order for it to play out its timeline... it cannot exist as an animation in a single frame like a MovieClip.

[NickelBuckle9]

Hmm... ok.  So that means that in any given timeline, it doesn't matter which frame you put script in?  You could put ALL the script for the entire scene in any frame, even if some movieclips/buttons are not on every single frame?

...and thanks for the information!  It was helpful 

[Ned Murphy]

If you have code that targets objects, those objects need to be present... so if you target a movieclip in a frame, the movieclip needs to be in the frame where the code is.