Do you use the library? (In flash)

[JordanD]

This is just a random thought for the day, whenver i read tutorials or w/e ppl are like "oh and you'll need to save that with this specific name so you can find it later in the library"

but does anybody really actually do that? or am i the only animator that doesn't really care? Unless im making a game, in all of my flash movies if i want to edit something, i'll find it on the timeline and double click on it, voila inside the movie clip/button/graphic. I mean i still name things most of the time when converting to movie clip but its not because i have intentions of hunting it down later.

Am i lazy or is everyone like this?

[Re2deemer]

Well, considering that the time sent on finding the symbol in (a well-organized!) library is much faster than on the timeline...Yes, I use the timeline alot. Besides, I tend to shove old layers into folders and then lock them and finding the right layer with the symbol is quite slow.

[Patcoola]

even in animation i use the library alot
this is because i keep a library of objects like tree's and texture files that is reused throughout the entire movie. some graphic symbols are reused up to 200 times over a 3 minute movie.

[JordanD]

At 4/20/09 05:20 PM, Patcoola wrote: even in animation i use the library alot
this is because i keep a library of objects like tree's and texture files that is reused throughout the entire movie. some graphic symbols are reused up to 200 times over a 3 minute movie.

Makes sense, see with me though i do that too, but instead of finding it and dragging it on, i just find the old one, CTRL-C, go to where i am, CTRL-P.

Epic win XD

[NukeTheWhales]

I'm probably as lazy as you. I try to name all my symbols nicely and organize things correctly, but I just get distracted, too lazy to name everything, and am eager to keep working. Orguneyesashon is key.

[JordanD]

At 4/20/09 05:57 PM, Smartdog wrote: I'm probably as lazy as you. I try to name all my symbols nicely and organize things correctly, but I just get distracted, too lazy to name everything, and am eager to keep working. Orguneyesashon is key.

Yay for laziness! Yeah i just never got into a habit and now naming objects is a chore :P

[farfenwaffle]

I useually name my symbols something like "m_guy_left" or something UNLESS its a throwaway symbol that im only going to use for on tween. then i name is "Z_1" so it will be at the bottom of the library :P always name your symbols, kids.

[doctormario]

I use the library quite a bit. It has all sorts of fun uses that go beyond organizational skills. I can't imagine putting together a collab without merging libraries, if only for the purpose of error checking peoples' ability to uniquely name symbols. Also, skinning existing Macromedia assets involves using shared libraries.

But, as you say, if you're doing solo animation on the main timeline, I could see it being a tedious step. Still, I can't tell you how many times I've screwed myself over by just letting Flash name a movieClip "Symbol 1". After your hundredth sequentially numerically named clip, they all start looking the same.

[Zyphonee]

I use the library a lot, specially because I love having everything well organized so instead of going FBF at the root timeline, I just do it inside a symbol.

Also helps when you want to reuse normal actions like a walk cycle and don't want to remake the whole rough, shhhh...

[matrix5565]

At 4/20/09 05:36 PM, Duchednier wrote: Makes sense, see with me though i do that too, but instead of finding it and dragging it on, i just find the old one, CTRL-C, go to where i am, CTRL-P.

So you copy, and then print?

[Kwing]

I'm not an animator. Obviously, I use the library a lot. I categorize everything by Misc/Audio/Graphics/Gameplay and at the end, put it all into one folder "Library."

[dragonjet]

I frequently use the library, I open it here and there.
I even organize it into folders and subfolders.
ie: logos, sound effects, music, animation, preloader clips, etc..

When dealing with movie clips, rather than doing "copy-paste",
I just drag the clip from the library to the stage.
Saves me time from searching for that MC in the timeline
(especially when dealing with many Scenes)

Organizing your library also helps this way:
when you leave your flash project for a long time,
when you go back to it, it's hard to edit movie clips,
you forget the places in the timeline.
but the Library will save the day.

When doing collabs, this is important.
sometimes people name their clips the same way.
you need to organize MC names and folders to separate each one's work.

You don't just "right click > convert to symbol" or F8 everytime you make an MC.
this is not efficient. you sometimes do it twice, a duplicate MC in library.

[LegolaSS]

Library!?.... rarely use it... i name all my symbols nicely like (Chunlibody1) (Chunlibody2) (hand2) (hand2.5)... you get the idea where the main body of the text is what it is and the number to what type... i tend to put .5 after things if they are the same symbol but changed for a different bit... but when i do use it i tend to scroll down click and drag and duplicate symbol and rename it so if i change it i dont overwrite anything else... i use the timeline to copy n paste stuff to the next frame... i tend to remove/hide the library as i like it less clutered with just the colors/tools and AS bar at the bottom to work with... thats what i do anway... ciao

-LegolaSS