Paste in Place from Timeline / Off Screen in Movie Clip

[Travis Glodt]

Please help me with this. It is absolutely driving me insane. I don't understand why the stage for a movie clip and a graphic button is not identical to that of the main timeline in a scene. Why are the dimensions so different? And why when I try and "paste in place" between the two they are so drastically off.

I am finished with what I am doing in the movie clip. I am going to the main timeline and adding the actionscrip to load the movie into the right level . . . and the movie clip loads almost completely out of frame. So I go and see what the problem is. And I start trying to repaste in place all the graphics from the main timeline into the movie clip. And it is pasting them out of frame/off stage.

Is it even possible to have the stage in a movie clip or a graphic symbol identical in terms of dimensions and active space as the main timeline. You specify all of this information prior to designing. Why the heck would you want a movie clip or button to be any different?

I have spent hours dealing with this problem.

Would you please tell me how to fix this PLEASE!!

[Sgaspar11]

You can position the object using AS, like this

container._x = 0;
container._y = 0;

That position being the top left corner of your stage.

Other than that I'm not sure how your MC is being loaded in, but that is the AS way of positioning it.

Cheers,

Scott

[Travis Glodt]

I plugged that script in above the load frame action . . . no luck.

stop();
container._x = 0;
container._y = 0;
loadMovieNum("retouching.swf", 50);

no error messages though . . . All I can see when I preview it is the bottom right corner of the _mc.

Any additional help would be appreciated. It may be obvious that I am not following what you are saying . . .

T

[Sgaspar11]

Well you can't just copy and paste my code. what is the reference name of your movieclip? that goes where the word "container" is. And the code would would need to be after the LoadMovieNum.

Scott

[Travis Glodt]

"retouching_mc.swf" . . .

Like this?
stop();
loadMovieNum("retouching_mc.swf", 50);
"retouching_mc.swf"._x=0;
"retouching_mc.swf"._y=0;

[Sgaspar11]

Is that the instance name of the movieclip? You name it in the properties panel bottom left corner.

Usually you load a .swf into an EMPTY movieclip with nothing in it and insert that onto the stage, and give that an instance name of "container" then, on entering the frame would be this code:

Code: Select all

container.loadMovieNum("retouching_mc.swf");
container._x = 0;
container._y = 0;

Adjust the values of _x = and _y = to whereever you want on the stage.

Make sense?

[Travis Glodt]

This is kind of long . . . it may be more than you have time to write on. But I appreciate any help at all. I am a photographer. I just relocated to LA . . . and I am frantically trying to get my site back up.

I follow what you are saying. But I am getting a little lost. To be perfectly honest I have been struggling a bit with instances. I understand how to name and rename them. But I do not completely understand what their significance is. Trust me. It is not due to an absence of reading and research. I can build a really complicated animation and rollovers, etc. But some of this other stuff is just really blocking my moves. I understand the benefit of a symbol as it decreases repetitive loading of graphics. An instance is a version of a symbol. Naming significance is where I am lacking.

So I took my Movieclip titled "retouching_mc" I tested the scene to get the published file. Which ended up as "index_retouching_mc.swf." I imported it all into a new blank movie clip. Thereby loosing all of the interactivity and consolidating everything into one layer of consecutive keyframes and tossing out my rolloverers. I titled the movie clip "container." And when I click on it. The instance name it is giving me is also "container."

I then attempted to drag that onto the main timeline. But I am confused.

The way I was working before I did not have to put any of the clips on the timeline. I was just calling them on demand from a directory. I am a photographer. And I am anal about my site. So I have been struggling through this. But my sites are large and the content is fairly interactive and dynamic going through portfolios.

It is too difficult to load all the content at once. All the backgrounds stay the same throughout the entire ite. So the main timeline has the main background with the stationary background objects on the bottom layer and the buttons that load .swf's. The actions on top call the first .swf file / sections out of the index directory in front of the background. Then the buttons call the rest of the sections over the wall where teh content rotates out. Each has a preloader, etc. The main navigation buttons and the wall stay constant the entire time. And the mc's / published to .swf's are call the different sections into the same level . . . so the clips switch out.

I am on the home stretch. All the sections are complete. But it is murder trying to get things to register across mc's and the main timeline . . .

I still do not exactly understand what the difference is between a movie clip and a scene. They seem like the same thing to me . . .

Any help you could give me would be really appreciated.

Thanks:

Travis

[Sgaspar11]

No, I'll try and go a better job explaining...

Would you like a sample file or a tutorial to visually show you this? Or have you done those things and are still struggling.

A movieClip and a scene are way way different, which is also way different than loading an external .swf which is what you are trying to do.

Think of a Scenes as Acts is a movie, and you know how you can skip scenes or move to new scenes on a DVD menu? You can do the same with scenes. That said, DO NOT use scenes, totally outdated and inefficiant. (rant off)

An external .swf (i.e. index_retouching.swf) is essentially an entirely seperate flash file with all it's own properties.

A Symbol(a Movieclip, Graphic, or Button) are all compenents you place on the stage of your flash file to create the interactivity.

I'll post something up for you to look at a bit later. Time for Dinner and a movie.

Cheers,

Scott