How to Create a Movie Clip Symbol in Flash CS4

This tutorial is very easy and for the beginning user of Adobe's Flash CS4. If you are learning how to do animation using Flash, you won't get very far without knowing how to create a move clip symbol, which is what you need in order to do animation.

In this tutorial I am going to draw a simple object on the screen and change it to a movie clip symbol.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Flash CS4

1. Launch Adobe Flash CS4 and choose new Flash (action script 3).

2. 
   Ibject

   From your tools panel, select the object drawing tool...in my case I am going to draw a rectangle as shown in the picture associated witht this step.

3. 
   Select

   Go ahead and draw the object onto your stage. Once your object is drawn switch to the selection tool in your tools panel as shown in the picture associated with this step.

4. 

   With the selection tool activated, click on the object you just drew on the stage and press the F8 key on your keyboard. That will bring up the "Convert to Symbol" window. Give your symbol a name, then select "Movie Clip" as type and click on the ok button. You are done. Your object is now a movie clip symbol and you are ready to animate it.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to use this symbol with actionscript code do not forget to check the actionscript checkbox on the convert to symbol window.