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n. tilcheff
Brainiac
April 8, 2019
Question

Understanding symbol registration in Flash and Animate

  • April 8, 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 2062 views

Symbol registration and its importance for the flawless functioning of Tweens seems to remain not well-understood within the Flash animation community, even among many industry professionals with decades of experience.

Our newly-published article on the topic is an attempt to clarify symbol registration and its importance for cutout character animation.

http://flash-powertools.com/understanding-symbol-registration/

Hopefully this information will be beneficial to the Flash animation community and bring more enjoyment and less frustration to the animation process!

In an ideal world all symbols would be properly registered and noone will suffer from transformation distortions or 'broken' tweens.

NT

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5 replies

_keyframer
Community Expert
April 9, 2019

Definitely has value. Many times while nesting, certain assets are just easier to manipulate if at 0 or 90 degree angles.

Animator and content creator for Animate CC
Community Expert
April 8, 2019

Well done with this. I think it will help a ton of users that are new to the program are, don't pick it up as quick as others.

Brainiac
April 8, 2019

I was unaware there was any confusion on this subject.

1) Put the transformation point where you want the symbol's center of transformation.

2) Keep that point exactly the same across any linked tweens.

Pretty simple.

n. tilcheff
Brainiac
April 8, 2019

ClayUUID said:

I was unaware there was any confusion on this subject.

1) Put the transformation point where you want the symbol's center of transformation.

2) Keep that point exactly the same across any linked tweens.

Pretty simple.

Yeah, mate, that's exactly what I meant with the second half of the first sentence: "... not well-understood within the Flash animation community, even among many industry professionals with decades of experience."

The robot on the right illustrates the results of this 'pretty simple' approach.

Nick - Character Designer and Animator, Flash user since 1998 | Member of the Flanimate Power Tools team - extensions for character animation
avid_body16B8
Brainiac
April 8, 2019

Thanks, Mate!

JoãoCésar17023019
Community Expert
April 8, 2019

Excellent.

This is certainly a topic that needs a special attention and as you mentioned causes a lot of confusion.

Regards,

JC