Flash Tutorial: Creating a Movie Clip [Uses and Explanation]

1.Draw a rectangle using the rectangle tool as in the previous tutorials.

2. Use the select tool to select the rectangle and then press F8.

3. The Convert to Symbol popup should appear. Select "Movie Clip."

Image 1

4. You should now see the movie clip "Symbol 1" in your library.

5. Double click on your movie clip symbol with the select tool. This will cause an entirely new timeline to pop up (your timeline is not the same timeline now as your original one. It is the timeline for your movie clip.)

You can tell that you're in movie clip editing mode if you see the symbol right below the timeline. See image 2.

Image 2

You can click the "Scene 1" beside it to go back to the main timeline.

6. Still in your movie clip timeline, create a shape tween to make the rectangle turn into an oval like I showed you in the shape tweening tutorial.

7. Now click on the "Scene 1" to return to the original timeline. Note that you are still on frame 1 and only the movie clip exists. Nothing changed in this timeline. However, if you press ctrl + enter to play the animation, your rectangle will still change into an oval.

That's pretty much your basic movie clip creation. I'm sure you can figure out tons of things you can do with that!