Can I apply transparency to a symbol as a whole – not to each of its components?

[KlausKi]

When I change the Alpha value of a symbol on the timeline, transparency is getting applied to each of the symbol's components:

That's not what I want. … I want the symbol to blend as a monolithic, single object – as a whole.

How can I do that?

Currently, the only way I would know of is to cover the symbol with a solid filled square object that's having Alpha applied. But that doesn't work if the background isn't a solid color.

[kglad]

select the symbol > in the properties panel > color effects > alpha

[JoãoCésar]

Hi.

Set the blend mode of the instance to Layer.

But it seems that in the current version of Animate you won't be able to preview it in the design time. You're gonna have to test/run the movie to see the effect in action.

Regards,

JC

[KlausKi]

Thanks for your helpful reply, João  👍👍👍

Gee, that's quite a hidden feature …

[JoãoCésar]

Great! You're welcome!

[KlausKi]

I just tried. Changing the blend mode to Layer doesn't work as expected.

[JoãoCésar]

Did you test the movie to check if it's working?

[n. tilcheff]

@JoãoCésar 

After the introduction of Advanced Layers, a way around this bug is to use a frame effect, combined with a dummy filter:

[JoãoCésar]

Thanks, Nick!

[n. tilcheff]

Just to add, João.

Same technique works applied to a Movie Clip symbol as well the way it should work with Layer blending mode; doesn't need to be applied to the frame.

(In Flash Layer blending mode works as expected and most likely that is why it also works in Flash Player. The bug must be in the IDE rendering. Won't write speculations about the reasons, but have theories :))