I want it to behave like a graphic AND a movie clip.

[Jon Chambers]

I'm using the bone tool to animate, so the parts must be movie clips. However, I also have 5 different possible hand gestures, so a graphic and frame picker would be perfect for cycling through them and choosing the correct one as required.

How do I get the functionality of both?

[_keyframer · Accepted solution]

You can use Graphic type symbols with the Bone tool and have your alternate hands on different frames nested inside the Graphic symbol's timelines. Then you can control what frame is visible on the parent timeline using keyframes and the Frame Picker.

[Jon Chambers]

That's what I thought, but I get an error message. It says it MUST be a movie clip.

I could have a graphic symbol inside the movie clip, but then I can't control it from the timeline.

Maybe I've misunderstood you. Could you mock up a quick *.fla?

[_keyframer]

Try this:
Bones_NestedGraphicSymbols.fla - Google Drive

What version of Animate are you using?

[Jon Chambers]

the latest CC version.

Odd, that's exactly what I wanted to do, yet I couldn't do it. I'll sleep on this one and try again tomorrow.

[_keyframer]

What kind of document did you create? I suspect it might be an HTML5 or other. I use ActionScript documents.

[_keyframer]

I take that back. Just tested it and it works in other document types.