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Part 3: Layers

Layers are a vital part of all graphics programs, If you have ever used photoshop then you will have already experienced layers. Layers are a way of creating images with muliple items/pictures/background colours/text in them. Basically you have one item per layer. A good example for flash would be if you want a blue background, with some snow on the ground and a snowball that moves around. The blue background would be on one layer, the snow would be another layer and the snowball would be on a third layer. The main difference with macromedia flash is that would have the timeline which was mentioned in part one, and you get a completely new/seperate timeline for every layer within flash.

Having seperate layers all with there own timeline means that you are able to create a moving or active object on each seperate layer and you only need to worry about the timeline for that object within its own layer.

This again is one of the major areas within flash and should be learn sooner rather than later as otherwise you will get stuck when trying to create slightly more complex items.

Added by David on 12th December 2006

More Flash hints and tips, like:

• Understanding Flash Part 1
• Part 5: Keyframes
• Copy to Grid