When can I change a graphic symbol's propeties (such as Play Once, Single Frame, Loop, and First) during a tween?

there are mainly 3 kind of symbols in Flash,
Graphic, MovieClip & Button.

you will get these options with only "Graphic" type of symbols.

Secondly,
you need to first select a Graphic type of symbols on stage only then only you will see these options for the selected instnace only.

If you are not getting these options, its mean either you have not selected a Graphic symbol on stage or the selected symbol is not  a Graphic type.

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Aneesh Chopra
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That's not what I meant. When I have a graphic tween, it doesn't let me edit those properties. For example, if I change "single frame" to "loop" or "first" from 1 to 4, sometimes they revert to the original value ("loop" goes back to "single frame", 4 goes back to 1). If I remove the tweens around the keyframe, I can edit them. Also sometimesIf I add excessive keyframes around it I can sometimes edit it them. I just want to know what I am doing to cause this, what's the rule with editing those properties with a tween. Or is this some random bug that they've failed to fix? I've had this problem with previous versions of flash, so I didn't assume it was a bug.

Hi,

I've run into this problem before. Without having a clear definition of what you have done in your project, I can give you a general rule:

You cannot easily change "animation type" (loop / first / single frame) if there is a tween before the current keyframe.

That means that if you wish to change animation type, you'll need to "modify" somewhat. I'll try to explain.

Let's assume that you wish to have the graphic symbol set to "Single frame" from frame 1 to 10. Then, you wish to change it to "play once", and at the same time add a Motion Tween to the object, from frame 10 to 20. And at last, you wish to change back to single frame.

The setup
1. Add the graphics clip to the timeline, creating the "setup" discussed (keyframes at 10 and 20, with a motion tween between 10 and 20, and add a couple of frames after frame 20).
2. Change the animation type at frame 10 to "play once".
3. Try to change animation type on frame 20 to "single frame". Cannot do it.

The workaround
4. Add an extra keyframe at frame 19. Go to frame 20, and take a look at the graphic symbol properties. There should be a frame number after "Play once - First" - It should be 11 in this example.
5. Copy keyframe 1 (right-click, copy frame), and paste it in at frame 20. It will now have the property "Single frame". Set it to 11, and there you go.

You will now have the possibility to change the animation type on frame 20 to whatever you need :-)

This is probably not the best procedure, there might be better ways. But this method works at least, so try it out :)

Kindly,
Samuel

Here is rules:

Each tween has two keyframes
you can change "animation type" (loop / first / single frame) at the starting keyframe
you can also change "animation type" (loop / first / single frame) at the end keyframe if it is not being tweened further.

Flash does not allow to change "animation type" (loop / first / single frame) of the keyframe which is the ending keyframe of a tween and also starting keyframe of another tween.

aneesh: I see your point, but nonetheless, what you're saying is almost allways impossible. I'm actually sitting with an example right now, and cannot change "animation type" at the last keyframe in the tween. I can even add a new keyframe 20 frames later, and still can't change type.

That's why I came up with the "hack".

Heh, nice, thanx :) Useful for me as well that solution!