<<< Go back to About See Inside Symbol
Installation
- Adobe Extension Manager
General Use
- Opening the See Inside
Symbol panel
- Loading a Symbol Instance
- Symbol information
Graphic symbol
application and options
- Applying First Frame
- Loop modes
- Strict application
- Setting keyframes
- Undo/Redo application
Thumbnail display
options
- Choosing which internal
frames to display
- Thumbnail content: proportional
vs. scaled to fit
- Setting the thumbnail
background color
- Manipulating thumbnail
content
- Resizing the thumbnails
- Setting the default thumbnail size
Miscellaneous
- Info Messages
1. To install SIS you will first need to install Adobe
Extension Manager. You can download it from Adobe's web site here:
http://www.adobe.com/exchange/em_download/
Depending on what version
of Flash you are using, you may need a prior version of Adobe Extension Manager.
Examine the table below to see which version you need.
| If the latsest version of Flash installed on your system is... |
...then install this version of Adobe Extension Manager: |
|---|---|
| Flash CS5 | Click here to download |
| Flash CS4 | Click here to download version 2.0 |
| Flash CS3 | Click here to download version 1.8 |
| Flash 8 | Click here to download version 1.7 |
| Flash MX | Click here to download version 1.6 |
2. Once Adobe Extension Manager is installed, unzip the seeInsideSymbol_v132.zip
file, navigate to the directory you unzipped to and double-click the sis_v132.mxp
file. Adobe Extension Manager should open automatically.
3. Accept the disclaimer and End User License Agreement and the installation should then be complete.
4. If you have multiple versions of Flash installed and would like to enable SIS for all versions, click on the dropdown list to choose other versions of Flash and then click the checkbox beside See Inside Symbol.
5. Once you're done, close Adobe Extension Manager and restart any versions of Flash you may have open.
Opening the See Inside Symbol panel
In all versions of Flash, the way to open the SIS panel is to go to the file menu and click on Window > Other Panels > see_Inside_Symbol.
Loading a symbol into the SIS panel is easy. Simply click
on any symbol instance on the Flash stage and then click the SIS load button.
( 
)
NOTE: If more than one symbol is selected, SIS simply chooses the first one in Flash's selection array and loads it.
When you load a symbol into SIS, what information is displayed
depends on the symbol type. See the images below for a breakdown.
If the symbol is a Graphic symbol:
If the symbol is a Movie Clip or Button:
Graphic symbol application and options
The biggest advantage of having the See Inside Symbol panel is the ability to easily apply any of the internal frames
of a Graphic symbol to it's "First Frame" value. This can make tasks like lip-syncing much easier.
To easily switch a Graphic symbol's frame after loading it into the SIS panel,
simply make sure the loaded symbol is selected and click on the thumbnail
of the internal frame you wish to switch to.
When you switch a Graphic's frame using the SIS panel, it will also apply one of the three Graphic symbol Loop modes (Single Frame, Play Once, Loop).
Here's how too set which Loop mode is applied when interacting with Graphic
symbols:
- To apply using Single Frame mode, toggle the Loop Mode button until
it is set on Single Frame ( 
).
- To apply using Play Once mode, toggle the Loop Mode button until
it is set on Play Once ( 
).
- To apply using Loop mode, toggle the Loop Mode button until it is set on Loop ( 
).
You can choose how flexible the SIS panel is when applying frame changes to a Graphic Symbol.
If you enable the Strict Application option, the SIS panel will check to make sure the instance(s) selected match the symbol that is loaded. Only if it matches does it apply the thumbnail you click to the selection. With Strict Application disabled, this check is not performed and thumbnail frame numbers can be applied to any Graphic Symbol instance.
To toggle Strict Application ON/OFF:
- Click on the Strict Application button ( 
). The button's check mark will display as red if Strict Application is enabled ( 
).
Note: By default Strict Application is turned off.
When applying frame changes to a Graphic Symbol, you can choose whether SIS automatically sets a keyframe at the timeline's current frame. The selected symbol's layer is the layer the keyframe is added to.
To toggle automatic keyframing ON/OFF:
- Click on the Add Key button ( 
). The button's plus sign will display as red if automatic keyframing is enabled ( 
).
Note: Strict Application also applies to the Add Key functionality.
When you switch a Graphic Symbol's frame by clicking on a thumbnail, you can undo the changes by clicking on the Undo button ( 
). You are also free to redo the changes by clicking the Redo button ( 
).
Note: There is no need to use the Undo/Redo buttons if Add Keys is enabled.
Just use the traditional methods such as Ctrl-Z or Edit > Undo.
Choosing which internal frames to display
When a symbol is loaded into See Inside Symbol, it's possible to isolate which internal frames are displayed as thumbnails.
To only display keyframes which contain something:
Toggle the Frame Chooser button to Full Keyframes mode ( 
).
To display all keyframes:
Toggle the Frame Chooser button to All Keyframes mode ( 
).
To only display frames which contain something:
Toggle the Frame Chooser button to Full Frames mode ( 
).
To display all frames:
Toggle the Frame Chooser button to All Frames mode ( 
).
Here's an example of how the different modes work:
Note: The default mode is Full Keyframes only.
Thumbnail content: proportional vs. scaled to fit
The Content Placement button allows you to change the way
the contents of thumbnails are displayed.
Content is either Scaled
to fit ( 
)
or Proportional ( 
).
Scaled To Fit mode mode will fit each frame's contents into the thumbnail
window. Proportional mode maintains the size and placement relationships of
frames.
Here's an example of how this works:
Setting the thumbnail background color
Sometimes the content you load into the thumbnails may need
a different color behind it in order to be easily seen. For example, if you
load a completely white symbol into the SIS panel you won't be able to see
it because of the white background. You can change the backgound of the thumbnails
by clicking on the Set Thumbnail Background Color button ( 
).
Then click on the color picker ( 
)
to choose a color.
Manipulating thumbnail content
You can manipulate thumbnail content so that it more closely matches the loaded symbol's current state on the stage. This can help make interaction with the SIS panel and Graphic symbols more intuitive.
To flip the thumbnails horizontally:
Click on the Flip Horizontal button ( 
).
To flip the thumbnails vertically:
Click on the Flip Vertical button ( 
).
To rotate the thumbnails clockwise:
Click on the Rotate Clockwise button ( 
).
To rotate the thumbnails counter-clockwise:
Click on the Rotate Counter-Clockwise button ( 
).
To change the size of the thumbnails, use the Scale buttons ( 
).
To set the thumbnails back to the default size, click on the Reset Scale button ( 
).
Setting the default thumbnail size
You can customize the default thumbnail size. The size you choose will be applied to the thumbnails each time you load a symbol into the panel and each time you reset the scale of the thumbnails.
To set the default thumbnail size:
1. Use the Scale buttons ( ) to resize the thumbnails to the desired size.
2. Click on the Set Default Size button ( 
).
The information displayed in the lower left-hand corner of
the SIS panel when you roll over the different buttons or apply settings,
can be disabled. Simply click on the Turn Messages ON/OFF button ( 
)
to toggle them off. To turn them back on just click the button again.