Tweening - Mac vs PC

Question

When I learned Flash I was taught that you must always
convert your graphic to a symbol before you can do a Motion Tween.
I work on a Mac, and I have found that that is the case. If I don't
make a symbol first, it doesn't work. Today I was teaching some
kids beginning Flash. We were working on PCs. I told them the rule
I had learned, that they must convert their graphic to a symbol.
One kid said, "no you don't. I can make a motion tween without
making it a symbol." And in fact, he could. I tried it too, and it
worked.
Now I'm confused. I came home to my Mac, and tried to make a
motion tween without making a symbol, and I got the little dotted
lines instead of the arrow. Do the Mac and PC behave differently? I
found on the PC if I didn't make a symbol first sometimes I had
problems, but sometimes it worked. I also noticed that on the PC
graphics had a box around them, like they were grouped. To edit
them you had to double-click. That's not the case on a Mac. Maybe
the motion tween worked because they start out grouped. But then,
why didn't it always work?
As I said, I am teaching Flash to kids. Sometimes when they
make a tween they get the little dots instead of the arrow, but it
appears to still work. When I say to them, "there's something wrong
if it has the little dots," they reply, "but it still works." What
can I say to that? What reason can I give that they should do it
over, even if it works?

Answer 1

I agree with Thomas - just because you can does not make it
good practice - if you allow flash to
auto-generate symbols for you (by applying a motion tween
before converting to a symbol) then you
start to lose control over the organization of your symbols
and library. Soon your library will be
filled with "Tween 1", "Tween 2", "Tween 3", etc......
Chris Georgenes
Animator
http://www.mudbubble.com
http://www.keyframer.com
Adobe Community Expert
*\^^/*
(OO)
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ElianaB wrote:
> When I learned Flash I was taught that you must always
convert your graphic to
> a symbol before you can do a Motion Tween. I work on a
Mac, and I have found
> that that is the case. If I don't make a symbol first,
it doesn't work. Today I
> was teaching some kids beginning Flash. We were working
on PCs. I told them the
> rule I had learned, that they must convert their graphic
to a symbol. One kid
> said, "no you don't. I can make a motion tween without
making it a symbol." And
> in fact, he could. I tried it too, and it worked.
>
> Now I'm confused. I came home to my Mac, and tried to
make a motion tween
> without making a symbol, and I got the little dotted
lines instead of the
> arrow. Do the Mac and PC behave differently? I found on
the PC if I didn't make
> a symbol first sometimes I had problems, but sometimes
it worked. I also
> noticed that on the PC graphics had a box around them,
like they were grouped.
> To edit them you had to double-click. That's not the
case on a Mac. Maybe the
> motion tween worked because they start out grouped. But
then, why didn't it
> always work?
>
> As I said, I am teaching Flash to kids. Sometimes when
they make a tween they
> get the little dots instead of the arrow, but it appears
to still work. When I
> say to them, "there's something wrong if it has the
little dots," they reply,
> "but it still works." What can I say to that? What
reason can I give that they
> should do it over, even if it works?
>