Adobe Flash Professional CS6 Adobe Flash Professional CS6 Classroom In A Book | Page 91

Flash imports the Illustrator graphics, and all the layers from the Illustrator file
also appear in the Timeline.
 Note: You can select
any object displayed in
your Illustrator file and
choose to import it as
a symbol or a bitmap
image. In this lesson,
you’ll just import the
Illustrator graphic and
take the extra step
of converting it to a
symbol so you can see
the entire process.
about Symbols
A symbol is a reusable asset that you can use for special effects, animation, or
interactivity. There are three kinds of symbols that you can create: the graphic, but-
ton, and movie clip. Symbols can reduce the file size and download time for many
animations because they can be reused. You can use a symbol countless times in a
project, but Flash includes its data only once.
Symbols are stored in the Library panel. When you drag a symbol to the Stage,
Flash creates an instance of the symbol, leaving the original in the Library. An
instance is a copy of a symbol located on the Stage. You can think of the symbol as
an original photographic negative, and the instances on the Stage as prints of the
negative. With just a single negative, you can create multiple prints.
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Lesson 3
Creating and editing symbols