Flash CS5: The Missing Manual

Copying and Pasting Drawn Objects

Copying graphic elements and pasting them—into the same frame, into another frame, or even into another document—is much faster than drawing new objects from scratch. It's also the most familiar. If you've ever copied text in a word processing or spreadsheet document and pasted it somewhere else, then you know the drill.

A simple copy-and-paste is the best way to go when you're experimenting—for example, when you want to see whether the blue-eyed wallaby you drew for one animation looks good in another. But if you're trying to keep your animation's finished file size as small as possible, or if you plan to include more than one copy of that wallaby, copying and pasting isn't the best way to go. Instead, you'll want to look into symbols (Symbols and Instances).

To copy and paste an image:

1. On the stage, select the image you want to copy.

   Selecting Objects on the Stage gives you an overview of the selection tools. In Figure 2-26, Freddy Flash is selected.

2. Choose Edit→Copy (or press Ctrl+C in Windows, ⌘-C on the Mac). Then select the keyframe into which you want to paste the image.

   You can paste the image in the keyframe you're in, or you can select another one. Flash doesn't restrict you to the document you currently have open; you can open another document to paste the image into.

3. Choose one of the Paste commands. Here are your options:

   • Edit→Paste in Center. Tells Flash to paste the image in the center of the viewing area.

   • Edit→Paste in Place. Tells Flash ...