yahoo, got it to work, thanks,
the underlying clip must be made a graphic, I never would have thought of that.
I thought I was being real clever with this idea and triadis has already done it, ego deflation!
So on to the double mask, which was what I invisaged, now I know it can be done!!
Thanks again, this was the only flash bulletin board where anyone seemed to have a clue about what I was attempting, seemed to go right over heads even at macromedia.
Mark