Monday, November 14, 2011

PART 3 - The 3 types of symbols - Introduction to Flash Symbols

The three types of symbols in Flash are:

Graphic
Use graphic symbols for static artwork and animation that you do not plan on adding any interactive functionality to. The reason for this is that you'll need ActionScript to add interactivity, and graphic symbols are not designed to work with ActionScript.

Button
Use button symbols if you want to add mouse-related interactivity such as clicks and roll overs to your Flash movie. For example, you could create a button that plays a song whenever it is clicked.

Movie Clip
The movie clip symbol is like a combination of graphics, buttons and more. It can be used for static artwork and animation, but it can also be used with ActionScript so that interactive functionality can be added to it. But unlike buttons, movie clips are capable of much more than mouse-related interactivity.


There's a lot more to learn about each type of symbol, but I will be covering them in later tutorials. For now, let's move on to the next part of this series where we will learn how to create a symbol from scratch.

<< PREV: Going inside a symbol's timeline - Introduction to Flash Symbols PART 2

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