Macromedia flash mx 2004-getting started with flash User Manual

Using frames and keyframes

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The order in which frames and keyframes appear in the Timeline determines the order in which 
they are displayed in a Flash application. You can arrange keyframes in the Timeline to edit the 
sequence of events in an animation.

Working with frames in the Timeline 

In the Timeline, you work with frames and keyframes, placing them in the order you want the 
objects in the frames to appear. You can change the length of a tweened animation by dragging a 
keyframe in the Timeline.

You can perform the following modifications on frames or keyframes:

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Insert, select, delete, and move frames or keyframes 

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Drag frames and keyframes to a new location on the same layer or on a different layer 

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Copy and paste frames and keyframes

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Convert keyframes to frames 

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Drag an item from the Library panel onto the Stage to add the item to the current keyframe 

The Timeline provides a view of tweened frames in an animation. For information on editing 
tweened frames, see “Editing animation” in Using Flash.

Flash offers two different methods for selecting frames in the Timeline. In frame-based selection 
(the default) you select individual frames in the Timeline. In span-based selection, the entire 
frame sequence, from one keyframe to the next, is selected when you click any frame in the 
sequence. You can specify span-based selection in Flash preferences. See 

To insert frames in the Timeline, do one of the following:

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To insert a new frame, select Insert > Timeline > Frame. 

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To create a new keyframe, select Insert > Timeline > Keyframe, or right-click (Windows) or 
Control-click (Macintosh) the frame where you want to place a keyframe, and select Insert 
Keyframe from the context menu. 

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To create a new blank keyframe, select Insert > Timeline > Blank Keyframe, or right-click 
(Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the frame where you want to place the keyframe, and 
select Insert Blank Keyframe from the context menu.

To select one or more frames in the Timeline:

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To select one frame, click on the frame. If you have Span Based Selection turned on in 
Preferences, clicking one frame selects the entire frame sequence between two keyframes. See 

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To select multiple contiguous frames, Shift-click additional frames.

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To select multiple discontiguous frames, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click 
(Macintosh) additional frames.

To select all frames in the Timeline:

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Select Edit > Timeline > Select All Frames.