Importing child animations into parent FLA

[paul_james123]

Hi All,

I'm learning so let me know if I'm asking the wrong question or if you'd recommend a different workflow.

Inside my main FLA I have multiple layers and only one frame on the timeline. (I'm using AS3 to start and stop tweens and sounds ...so no need for timeline-based animation.) I want many little animations to play on cue at various places on the stage.

I've created these small "child" animations in separate FLA files. I'm thinking I should import those child animations into the main FLA, make movie clips out of them then make them appear and play upon cue with my actionscript. (Or is it best to create them in the main FLA in the first place...or should I not even import them but keep them external and just link to them from the main FLA, if that's even an option, not sure).

If creating the child animations separately and then importing them into my main FLA is the way to go, in what format should I export these child animations?

Thanks much

[kglad · Accepted solution]

there's no reason to create anything in another fla unless you plan to load the swf (published by another fla) into your main fla using the loader class.

[paul_james123]

Kglad,

No I've not considered using the 'loader class'. (Don't know what it is.)

So it sounds like there is no performance (or workflow) advantage to building the child animations in separate FLAs ...and either importing them or linking to them, correct?

Thanks!

[kglad]

usually not.

but i've had large projects where debugging some code would waste time while waiting for 'test' to start or getting to the point in the project where the code would execute would take some extra seconds and i've created a new fla just to test a snippet.

i've never done that to create a movieclip.  but i've moved movieclips (by opening a 2nd library panel) and dragged/dropped from one fla to another.

[Colin Holgate]

They could be movieclips in the library, or from each FLA you could export them as SWC. Then you add them in the main FLA in the ActionScript 3.0 settings, and you add them to the stage in the same way as you would with a movieclip that is shared in the library.

In the other FLAs, make sure there is a library symbol that is everything you need, and has a linkage name. Use that linkage name when making the instance in the main FLA. You can't get away with the main timeline contents of the SWC appearing, they won't. In the other FLAs I would have the whole animation movieclip on the stage, so I could see it working, then I set it as a guide layer when exporting the SWC.

The advantages of SWC are that you wouldn't have to make sure all symbols have unique names across all FLAs, and if you happen to be publish for AIR mobile, the publishing happens a lot faster than if all the movieclips were in the main FLA.

[paul_james123]

Hey Colin,

I don't understand all your terminology but ultimately I'm just asking about the advantages of one workflow/ method over another:

You wrote:

The advantages of SWC are that ....if you happen to be publish for AIR mobile, the publishing happens a lot faster than if all the movieclips were in the main FLA.

Are you saying that the final product will perform better/ faster for users using the SWC approach you describe..or just that the when testing the FLA during development, the publishing step will take less time?

FYI: Even though I created a couple separate FLAs already, I like the idea of including everything in the main FLA because it seems simpler and easier to edit. In case this matters: I'm using an HTML5 and Animate + GSAP approach. The final product needs to be responsive (work well on desktop and in all mobile devices).

Maybe a separate question, not sure: Is there a definite advantage to breaking a project down into separate components, having all your main AS3 scripts and content in the parent FLA (which might be called the 'stub') and linking to the other components/ child animations?

If not, I think it might be better and simpler to just keep everything in one FLA until I understand more.

Thanks!

[ClayUUID]

paul_james123  wrote

I'm using an HTML5 and Animate + GSAP approach.

Have you found the built-in EaselJS tween library inadequate for your needs?

[paul_james123]

ClayUUID asks:

Have you found the built-in EaselJS tween library inadequate for your needs?

Well, I don't know enough to say either way right now, ClayUUID. I've just seen some nice tween functionality on the Greensock site...and read that the GSAP and Animate combo makes a good animation framework.

Thanks

[ClayUUID]

paul_james123  wrote

...read that the GSAP and Animate combo makes a good animation framework.

That's what I figured.

Yes, GSAP is great and can do some very advanced things. But if you don't need to do advanced things — if you just need to move around a few objects — you're including the bloat and load time of a secondary tween library for no good reason. There's already the tween library that Animate itself uses, all integrated and ready to go.

TweenJS | A JavaScript library for tweening and animating HTML5 and JavaScript properties.

[paul_james123]

Thanks ClayUUID.

That's a helpful resource that I hadn't come across.

[Colin Holgate]

All of the options to use SWC or loader class are not available if you're doing HTML5 Canvas. So it's just as well you like them being in one FLA.

For interest, I did mean that publishing would be quicker. The end user performance for all in FLA, SWC, or external SWF, would be about the same.

[paul_james123]

Thanks, Colin.