Free Tutorial

Nesting is a fundamental concept when building Flash Movies. For beginners it is a difficult concept to grasp but it is worth the effort as nesting enables you to create Flash Movies that are far more flexible and less linear. That is the user has more options about what is to happen next. In other words nesting enables you to create Movies which are more interactive and less predictable. It is my belief that once a beginner really understands nesting and how nested objects talk to one another (target paths) then you are well on the way to understanding the basic fundamentals of how Flash works.

Cross Ref: If you do not know how to create a Tween on stage or how to attach a ActionScript to a buttons and the timeline you should do the these previous tutorials first:

The aim of the tutorial is to:

Show you how symbols are placed within symbols. This is a fundamental concept in Flash.

My Example: Download the Flash file  Beg 008a

Note: In this example the word web animates independently to the opening animation. Click the play button and watch the word web. It animates irrespective of what the word wasp does. This is little concept enables you to do so much. It means that one object - such as an animated word (or group of objects) react in ways which is not dependant on what other objects are doing. This gives you tremendous flexibility and fluidity when building your Flash Movies.

1. Go to: Modify > Document (Ctrl J)
2. Set your Movie size to: 500 x 120
3. Select a: Background Colour
4. Click: OK
5. Select the Text tool:
6. Click on the Stage and type the word: web
7. Select the text with the selection tool:
8. If the Property Inspector is closed, open it: Window > Properties (Ctrl F3)
9. Select the Font colour and style of your choice: web
   
   Mine looks like this:
   
   
   My Font Style for the word: web
   
   
10. With the word web still selected go to: Modify > Convert to Symbol (F8)
11. In the dialog box type a name: Web
12. Select Graphic.
    
    
    
13. Click: OK
14. On the Main Stage delete the Word: web (Don't worry it is now safely in the Library).

    Note: If you open the Library you will see your symbol: Window > Library (F11)
    
    
    Your first Symbol in the Library.