Duplicate Library Items and Changes made to them 1

[Jimuniguy]

Hi,

I have produced a library item as a movie clip. However, I need to duplicate this and edit them so each one is different (basically they are balls, each one needs to be a different ball)

I have tried to duplicate and then rename the item, but any change i make to it is made on all the different balls.

How can i duplicate this item and change the colours without each one making the other change.

Thank you

James

 

[rgstewart]

Bring up your library panel (CTRL+L), then right-click on the symbol you want to copy. A context menu will appear, with the command "duplicate" in it. Click "duplicate", and a dialogue box will appear asking you for the new name of the duplicated symbol. Give it a new name, press OK and you should see the new symbol in your library.

You now need to edit the new symbol by double-clicking on its ICON in the library panel (double-clicking on its name will only allow you to change the name). Make your changes in the editing environment, then go back to the main scene. You should now have 2 completely different symbold in your library.

 

[Jimuniguy]

Hi,

Unfortuantley, this still changes all the other "duplicate" library items. :-(

I have a feeling its beause when you go and click to change it, it brings upinside it another movie clip, but I have no idea how to change that one.

Any more thoughts?

 

[rgstewart]

I don't think you're following the steps above correctly. Here's the way it works ... you make SYMBOLS in Flash. You do this either by INSERT > NEW SYMBOL, or INSERT > CONVERT TO SYMBOL. You can make INSTANCES (copies) of the same SYMBOL either by dragging the SYMBOL from the library to the stage or by duplicating an INSTANCE already on stage. Either way, everything on the stage is an INSTANCE of the SYMBOL, NOT the SYMBOL itself.

Now, if you edit an INSTANCE, you change the SYMBOL that it was instantiated from. So if you have an instance of a symbol called "redBall" on stage, and you edit the instance to make it blue, the SYMBOL "redBall" becomes blue. Because of this, ALL other instance of that symbol become blue as well.

To create a different coloured ball, you must copy the SYMBOL "redBall", give it a new name, edit the symbol, and then instaniate it on the stage. Duplicating any of the "redBall" INSTANCES and changing them will result in the "redBall" SYMBOL being changed, which is not what you want.

With that in mind, try the steps above again.

 

[Jimuniguy]

Hi,

Yes I have done thoose steps and still have the same problem. I have used flash for quite some time but this problem always eludes me.

This is what I have. A ball, dropping from a hieght, bounces several times and then stops. This is the movie. Inside the movie, there are two other movies, the shadow, and the ball. When you click on the ball, it says "tween1". Tween1 is also a libray item too which is the ball, deleting this removes the ball from all symbols which are an instance of the original symbol.

So no matter what I do, or create, whether I insert a new symbol, or create an instance, or edit it in the libray, whenever i goto into the library ball item, and change the tween1 (the ball), all other libray items change.

So how can i get around that?

Cheers

James

 

[Jimuniguy]

Hi,

I have found the solution. When the movie is edited, you can right click and bring up a menu, at the bottom, there is a "swap symbol button"

Thank you for your help though

James

 

[rgstewart]

Okay, now it makes sense. Any item automatically made by Flash and named "tweenX" where X is a number is NOT an normal symbol. I think it was pretty stupid of Macromedia to use this feature, because it causes confusion such as that you are currently experiencing.

Motion tweens are only supposed to be executed using symbol instances. When you try to create a tween with broken shapes and lines, Flash sometimes creates "tween" symbols. These aren't symbols in any normal sense ... they are just instructions for Flash to remind itself what needs moved and where to. Just for the record, "tween" symbols are BAD.

Here's how you SHOULD create a motion tween of a ball bounce:

1. Draw a circle on stage.
2. Select the circle (and its line if it has one) and press F8 to convert them to a symbol. Call the symbol "ball", and check the "graphic" behaviour. Click OK.
4. Make sure the instance of "ball" on the stage is selected, then press F8 to convert it to another symbol. Call this one "bounce" and check the "movieClip" behaviour. Click OK.
5. Double-click the "bounce" movieClip on stage and put a keyframe (press f6) in frame 20.
6. Right-click in frame 1 and select "create motion tween" from the context menu. All the frames in that layer should go blue, and you should have a solid line with an arrow at the right hand side through them.
7. Click in frame 10 and create a keyframe - this should break up the arrow into 2 arrows.
8. Presuming that your ball is going to start at the top of its bounce, select the ball instance in frame 10 and move it down to the required bottom position (try not to move the ball left or right).
9. Adjust easing as reuired (I normally find 100 in on frames 1 and 20, and 100 out on frame 10 works well).

Then test your movie. If you want to change the colour of the ball by making a new "ball" symbol, you will have to duplicate "ball", make the necessary adjustments, then duplicate "bounce", and within the new "bounce" movieClip, swap all the original "ball" graphics with the new ones.

It's a bit awkward, but it's better to do it this way, trust me. If you see a "tweenX" symbol in your library, one of your tweens is not right, and it will cause you no end of problems.

 

[Jimuniguy]

Hi,

Thank you. Star Awarded

James

 

[rgstewart]

Hey - I'm just here to help, but thanks for the vote of confidence!