Create a Graphic Symbol

Creating a Graphic Symbol:Draw something simple on the stage. This may be any object at all, but let's start with a basic object like a rectangle or oval. I'm going to draw an oval, but you may draw whatever you like.

1. To do so, I'll choose first choose the oval tool (O).



2. Next, I will select both a stroke color and a fill color.



3. I also want to change the thickness of my stroke in the properties panel to something thicker than the default, such as 3.



4. Now, I can draw my oval on the stage by clicking & dragging until it's the size I desire.



5. Once I do that, I need to change tools and choose the selection tool (V). I wish to do that because I want to select the oval that I've just drawn. In order to do anything at all with any object in Flash, you must first select it.



6. In order to do this correctly, I must make certain that I select the ENTIRE OBJECT, and not leave any of it out, not any small fragment, and definitely not the stroke outline. To select the entire oval, I simply have to double-click on the center of it. Look closely to make certain that both the fill (the color in the middle) and the stroke (the outline) have little white dots on the. This indicates that they both are selected.



7. If they are not, or if you are not certain, try double-clicking again to make sure.


8. When you are certain that the whole object has been selected, look at the top for the modify menu, click there and select Convert To Symbol.



9. Once you do this, a small window appears. Give your symbol a name in the black. Be descriptive. Oval would be a very good name!


10. After you type a name, make sure you select Graphic for the type (I will have more later on about the other types of symbols).



11. Finally, click OK.



12. When you do this, you will notice that your object, the thing you've drawn on the stage, now has a blue box around it. This simply means that it is now a symbol. If you wish to edit your symbol, you simply have to double-click on the object; but don't forget to exit symbol-edit mode once you are finished editing it by clicking on Scene 1 in the upper-lefthand corner.



13. Symbols reside or remain in the Library, even if you delete them from the stage. To open the library, you simply have to use the keyboard shortcut cmd-L (Mac) or ctrl-L (PC) to open and close it. You will see the list of your symbols there.