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gwyneth_c
Known Participant
November 18, 2016
Question

Animate multiple symbols at once?

  • November 18, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 3851 views

I'm new to the program, so thank you for bearing with me with this question. I've tried to find the answer, but have had no luck.

I have multiple symbols, each with their own animations. I now want to animate all of the symbols positions to the left, all at once. How would I go about doing this? I know that in After Effects you would parent the layers to a null object and then animate the null. Does anyone know the equivalent in Animate CC?

Thank you very much!

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

_keyframer
Community Expert
_keyframerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 13, 2021

In addition to the other answers - you could parent them to an object off-screen or an invisible object and treat that like a peg or null.

Animator and content creator for Animate CC
D
DavidacrossAmerica
Inspiring
May 13, 2021

The other solutions are not working for me with how this is setup. I looked at what I could do with parenting, but the parenting icon is greyed out with the message that parenting is not available in this document type (HTML5 Canvas).

Myra Ferguson
Community Expert
Myra FergusonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 18, 2016

If you're moving them all to the left at once as if to simulate a camera move, you could use the new virtual camera. Click the new camera tool in Tools (or C for the keyboard shortcut). Insert a keyframe on the Camera layer and move it where you want it to start and insert one where you want it to stop. Then add a Classic Tween.

    Colin Holgate
    Colin Holgate
    Inspiring
    November 18, 2016

    If you put the symbols into their own layers you can then apply a tween to the symbol in each layer. If the symbols are always in the same relative position you could select the symbols and use Modify/Convert to Symbol... to put them all into a Graphic or a MovieClip (Graphic would make sense unless you intend to move the object using code). Then you could just tween that single symbol, that contains all of the other symbols. That approach would be much the same as parenting to a null object, if you want to think of it that way.

      D
      DavidacrossAmerica
      Inspiring
      May 13, 2021

      I have a similar question to this rather old post but haven't found an answer that works for me. 

       

      The object has mutliple pieces that when combined form a whole. Each piece is it's own symbol, and each piece has its own animation on its own timeline. What I need to do now is move the entire object with combined pieces onto the stage as a whole. They have to be combined in a certain way in order for the object to be the object it is. So I cannot use the same tween for each. 

       

      Each piece is on its own layer within a folder on the main timeline. I tried "convert layers to symbol" and then dragging it onto the stage in hopes I could then animate the combined symbol and retain the individual symbol animations as well. But when I do this, the combined symbol has an X and Y size of 0, and I cannot change it. So it doesn't exist on the stage in other words. 

       

      If I am on the right track here, any idea why the combined symbol is forced to be 0? If this isn't the best way to do this, what is?

       

       

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