Preload
Animations in Flash
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> Software > Flash
by Don Herion
(1)
(2)
Step 4
Now double click the
'goto' action. Enter '3' in the field. These two statements check to see that
the last frame loaded into the Flash player equals the total frames in the movie
file. You can replace the '_totalframes' property with a frame number. For example
you could select 'Frame Number' under 'Type' and enter 500 in the 'Frame' text
field. After the 500th frame has been preloaded, the animation will play.
Step 5
Select 'frame 2' in Layer 1 ('Preload Action).
Double click the 'goto' action. Do not change the default settings. This 'action'
will send the animation back to frame 1, creating a loop if the last frame of
the Shockwave file has not yet loaded.
Step 6
The last step was to place the 'movie' clip
you created. Insert a new layer and name it 'load movie.' Drag an instance of
the movie clip from the library onto the stage.
Step 7
Insert a 'blank keyframe' (F7) at frame '3' of that layer. This means the animation
will only be visible while the rest of the animation loads.
Save
the file as - preload_test.fla.
Testing
To test
the preload action, you have to use the 'bandwidth profiler' and 'show streaming'
capabilities in Flash. Go - Control - Test Movie (Ctrl - Enter). Now go - Debug
- and choose a download speed - say 14.4. Go - Control - Rewind - to return to
frame 1. Now press - Ctrl - Enter - to start the animation. The preloading animation
should play while the remaining animation loads.
Here is the
final Flash (.fla) file.
