MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING FLASH Use Manual page 64

Swapping one instance for another
You can assign a different symbol to an instance to display a different instance on the Stage and
preserve all the original instance properties, such as color effects or button actions.
For example, suppose you're creating a cartoon with a rat symbol for your character, but decide to
change the character to a cat. You could replace the rat symbol with the cat symbol and have the
updated character appear in roughly the same location in all your frames.
To assign a different symbol to an instance:
Select the instance on the Stage and select Window > Properties.
1.
Click the Swap button in the Property inspector.
2.
In the Swap Symbol dialog box, select a symbol to replace the one currently assigned to the
3.
instance. To duplicate a selected symbol, click the Duplicate Symbol button at the bottom of
the dialog box.
Duplicating lets you base a new symbol on an existing one in the library and minimizes
copying if you're making several symbols that differ just slightly.
Click OK.
4.
To replace all instances of a symbol:
Drag a symbol with the same name as the one you are replacing into the Library panel.
1.
In the Resolve Library Item Conflict dialog box, click Replace. For more information, see
2.
"Resolving conflicts between library assets" on page
Changing an instance's type
You can change an instance's type to redefine its behavior in a Flash application. For example, if a
graphic instance contains animation that you want to play independently of the main Timeline,
you could redefine the graphic instance as a movie clip instance.
To change an instance's type:
Select the instance on the Stage and select Window > Properties.
1.
Select Graphic, Button, or Movie Clip from the pop-up menu in the upper left corner of the
2.
Property inspector.
Setting the animation for graphic instances
You can determine how animation sequences inside a graphic instance play in your Flash
application by setting options in the Property inspector.
An animated graphic symbol is tied to the Timeline of the document in which the symbol is
placed. In contrast, a movie clip symbol has its own independent Timeline. Animated graphic
symbols, because they use the same Timeline as the main document, display their animation in
document-editing mode. Movie clip symbols appear as static objects on the Stage and do not
appear as animations in the Flash editing environment.
64 Chapter 3: Using Symbols, Instances, and Library Assets
72.