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Thread: Understanding Movie Clips

  1. #1
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    Understanding Movie Clips

    This is me trying to get this:
    I am a beginner so take it easy on me. I have been a graphic designer for years but I am trying to learn Flash and the learning curve is killing me.

    OK. I am trying to make a Flash Opening Movie for my portfolio site. Nobody around me knows flash so I have no one to ask stupid questions to. So here goes...
    Movie Clips: It seems to me that they are used to compress the file into smaller size. Now How complicated can these movie clips be? Can I have multiple layers and sounds in one like lets say the background of my movie which opens up and couple of boxes fly in with background sound and frame sounds and make that into a Movie Clip and then use it to build the rest of my movie on top of it?

    When I make it all into one movie clip it only takes one little frame of the movie but I can't see the parts of it. How can I put the movie together this way.... DON'T GET IT! You can't edit that!

    Meanwhile I see these movies that people put together for examples and they are full of one frame layers full of movie clips. How do they all see each other? How do they make the jigsaw puzzle come together? I want to make the files small but the movie clips are driving me crazy. HEELP! I need some simple english explanation. Thanks!!

  2. #2
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    get this... the main stage, the first timeline you see when you create a new flash file.. is like a movieclip itself...

    you can create a new one by hitting ctrl+f8, and then when you start on it, there's a new timeline.. and you can create another one.. INSIDE this newly created movieclip..

    safe to say.. movieclips can be created almost anywhere..

    now, to edit the clips.. you have to hit F11 to open ur library, and then from there, you'll see the list of objects ur flash file is using..

    once you've made ur many, many movieclips, you can instantiate them on the main stage, that's why you see some files with just one frame on the main stage.. they put it all together there on different layers.. and these movieclips.. each one, will have something inside it that occurs at its own rate..

    if you want, attach ur messed up fla.. or attach a sample fla that you want explained a bit.. dnt put one that's too complicated, ait?
    Flash MX + ASP + WinXP Pro
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  3. #3
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    Got it! Now another question

    So if I press F8 and I am in a new movie clip. I can make all the background stuff I want to happen in the background (ie background clr appearing and moving, boxes flying in to place etc...) Finish that mini clip to the time line I want (lets say to frame 40 which is the frame that the music clip ends roughly around 14 secs) Save it as a movie clip and it will be stored in that first frame of that first layer?

    Then go back to my main page and make another layer and add the other items I want to appear (on top of the background I created on that last movie clip) but, my question is... if it is a movie clip and it is stored all in that one frame and I am working on another clip I won't be able to see the first items from the first movie clip to be able to arrange things correctly or can I?

    I mean, I know I can see the movie clip play once i transfer it to play as a swf file but what about when I still need to see what I did to make the new clip?

    I know this is stupid and It should be totally obvious to you but I don't get it yet.

  4. #4
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    How do I attach the file so you can see it? swf file? then how do I attach it??

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    alright.. better if we all get to take a look at ur file... just make sure it's saved as a .FLA file in FLASH MX ONLY FORMAT.. then reply to this message, then below, there are Additional Options.. where you can attach a file...

    alright? i hope ul be able to reply...

    also, it's CTRL+F8..

    and after you make that movie clip.. you'll have to create an 'instance' of it on the stage.. so press F11, then drag the movie clip onto the stage, then there, you have it on ur stage...

    next.. when ur in ur flash mx program.. you can check how it'll look as a swf file by hitting CTRL+ENTER...

    i hope i'm able to help you somehow... i don't think i'm a good teacher through text.. sorry...
    Flash MX + ASP + WinXP Pro
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  6. #6
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    my swf file

    Hi. I tried uploading my flash files to find out they are too big. (the reason I wanted to find out how to make movie clips) one is 5megs the other is 7megs so they are too big for the 2mg max they have on this site.

    HOW FRUSTRATING!!

    Any ideas??
    Michelle

    PS Thanks a lot for all your help. very appreciated.
    Last edited by msm2554; 08-31-2005 at 08:37 AM. Reason: couldn't attach fla files

  7. #7
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    You can add multiple layers also to your movieclip. If you need graphic things to happen at the same time, put them inside the same movieclip in different layers. Then drag your movieclip to frame1 of your main timeline. This way your main timeline would be 1 frame long, which would include the 40 frames long movieclip.

  8. #8
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    it may be helpful to attach the .fla.. not the .swf file.. also, for this purpose, try to remove some of the images you probably imported into the file that are making the file big in size.. what else do you have in that file? what makes the file as big as 7mb or 5 mb?

    also, after you've done that, try to zip the file...
    Flash MX + ASP + WinXP Pro
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  9. #9
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    sound!

    I think the sound i put in the swf is what ismaking it soo big. I put in wav files and one is 14 sec long.

    I will try to strp the thing down and show you. gotta get home to do it. No flash here at work. (no wonder I want to get out of this job!) LOL!!

  10. #10
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    mxgen,
    You have helped me too... thanks so much! These are the q&a's I have been searching for! I am a total newbie. I just started self-teaching less than two weeks ago.
    Now, I have a question to add... I have a couple flash files that have 5 to 10 layers and on those layers are images that I converted to movieclip symbols. So this isn't the correct way to do it in order to create some symbols that loop and others that don't? I am trying to create parts that stop while other parts loop forever. I am hoping that I don't have to go through and re-do my flash animations because I didn't set it up right. Am I making sense? I guess I need help understanding how to make movieclips stop while the background part keeps looping.

  11. #11
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    msm2554, try to do that and post the .fla file..in FLASH MX ONLY FORMAT, alright? i'm not using mx pro...

    csmcgirl, it isn't wrong to turn ur images into movieclip symbols.. what i think you should do is post ur .fla too.. in FLASH MX ONLY FORMAT, and then leave some comments on what you want to have loop infinitely, and those loops that you want done just a number of times, or even just once.. it is tricky at times to find out where to put the play(); and stop(); functions... i hope that's okay with you..

    i find it easier to help when there's a sample to work with.
    Flash MX + ASP + WinXP Pro
    Now Learning PHP & MySQL

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