How to view armature animation (Bone Tool/symbol) at the same time as symbol animation (scene view)

Question

I am having some difficulty that I hope you all can help with! I can't seem to view my bone tool armature animation at the same time as being in the scene view. So when I click on my symbol name under symbols next to "center stage" I can see only my bone tool animation. When I click on the scene in the button next to it, I can only see the movement of the whole symbol. The timeline changes to reflect this and I cannot see the armature layer with the scene or the scene with the armature animation. Thank you for your help!

n. tilcheff · Answer

Hi Rebecca,

From your message I get the impression that you are quite new to Flash/Animate.

Symbol containers have their own timelines and nesting of symbols is one of the most powerful features of Flash.

Graphic Symbols can be synced to external timelines and you will be able to see them playing from an external timeline.

To be able to successfully use Animate for animation, it is crucial to understand nesting and symbols.

Armature and bones are there only to make you suffer. It's a feature that is so poorly implemented that no one really uses it and Adobe only keep it so that they can tick boxes in comparison lists with other programs. The sooner you abandon that, the less time of your only life you would have wasted.

Another such feature are the Motion Tweens.

I realise this is not the answer you were looking for, but this is the answer I can give.

Hare are a bunch of links that you may (or may not) find useful:

http://flash-powertools.com/workflow/

http://flash-powertools.com/keeping-cycles-flexible-for-easy-re-timing-by-using-service-frame-and-working-two-levels-deep/

http://flash-powertools.com/character-rigging-for-flash-animation/

http://flash-powertools.com/using-duplicate-window-to-always-work-in-context/

Good luck!