185
Working
with Symbols
7
In previous chapters, you learned to create
and edit static graphics. Ultimately, youll
want to animate those graphics, and youll
probably want to use the same graphic over
and over again. You may want an element
to appear several times in one movie, or you
may want to use the same element in several
movies. You can save graphic elements for
reuse by storing them in a library; to do that,
you  rst turn the graphics into symbols.
Every Flash document has its own library;
the library contains the symbols you create
and other assets—reusable elements that you
import for use in your movie (see the sidebar
“Library Terminology”).
In this chapter, you learn to work with libraries
and to create symbols that are static graphics.
In later chapters, you learn about creating
animated symbols and buttons (see Chapters
12 and 14), using bitmapped graphics (see
Chapter 16), and adding sound and video (see
Chapter 17).
Working with Symbols
Library Terminology
e general term for an item stored in a
Flash library is an asset. More speci cally,
graphics created with Flashs drawing
tools and stored in a library are called
symbols; fonts stored in a library are called
font symbols; and imported sounds, video
clips, and bitmaps (which are always
stored in a library) are just called sounds,
video clips, and bitmaps. Flash refers to
each copy of a library asset that you use
in a movie as an instance of that asset.

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