How do I make changes across all keyframes in Flash?

March 23, 2009 4:34 PM

FlashFilter: I'm dumb at this whole Flash thing! How can I change something (i.e. text) across all keyframes?

I'm constantly adding things to the first keyframe in my movie, but can't seem to figure out how to carry that change over to all subsequent keyframes. The only solution my dense self can come up with is to copy and paste in place in each individual keyframe. Obviously, this is very time consuming. Is there a way I can just make the change across all frames?

posted by kmtiszen to computers & internet (3 answers total)

If you're simply trying to get the same content to extend across a portion of the timeline (i.e., across multiple frames), you only need one keyframe, at the beginning of the span. Just select the empty frame at the end of the span you want to cover and hit F5.

If you actually want to edit multiple keyframes at once, you can do that by toggling the "Edit Multiple Frames" button at the bottom of the timeline pane (looks like two overlapping blue squares) and then selecting all the frames you want to edit. This would work for changing color, shapes, etc., but it won't work for text, since you have to select inside a text field in order to edit it, which means you're only editing the text in that specific frame.

Also, if you want to copy and paste frames, as opposed to copying and pasting the *content* of those frames, you can use Ctrl-Alt-C to copy and Ctrl-Alt-V to paste frames. (Look in the Edit > Timeline menu). You can also Alt+Drag frames to a new spot to copy them. Select the frame(s), then Alt+Click, drag to a new point in the timeline, and release.
posted by crookedgrin at 4:47 PM on March 23, 2009

If you have keyframes in the middle of your timeline for some objects you are not required to have keyframes for all of them. You only put keyframes for the ones that need them.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:52 PM on March 23, 2009

It sounds like you're not making use of Graphic/Movieclips; if the text is inside one of those then you can animate it on the main timeline then go into the Graphic/Movieclip if the text needs to change across all frames.
posted by malevolent at 3:04 AM on March 24, 2009