How to Loop Continuously in Flash
Flash animations are often associated with mobile applications, video games and cartoons, but sometimes they contain information so important that you want to make sure your readers see it often enough for the details to sink in. Take advantage of the Flash “loop playback” option for these situations. A loop takes a single timeline construction and turns it into an endless playback – as soon as the animation ends, it starts playing again from the beginning.
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Instructions
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1
Launch Flash. Check the “Open a Recent Document” column on the welcome screen. If the animation that you want to loop appears in the list, click on it. If not, click the “Open…” folder link, browse to the FLA file and double-click on the file.
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2
Scroll the red “timeline” indicator to the last keyframe on the timeline. Click on that keyframe to enable it.
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3
Click the “Control” menu at the top of the work area. Click “Loop Playback.” This will not put an indicator on the timeline and the keyframe’s appearance will not change; however, a check mark will appear to the left of the “Loop Playback” link. Skip this step if a check mark already appears to the left of “Loop Playback” – clicking it again will cancel the loop.
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4
Test the loop by dragging the timeline indicator back to the first keyframe. Click the “Control” menu and select “Play.” Watch as the animation runs a continuous loop.
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Tips & Warnings
Looping isn’t just for existing Flash animations. You can create a new FLA file and add looping in the same manner; just remember to insert the loop on the last frame of the timeline. To create a new Flash file, click the “Flash Document” link under “Create New” instead of the “Open…” link, and begin your timeline construction from there.
