Scenes provide a simple way to organize your work for your homework submissions. From now through Lesson 7, you can use Scenes to submit multiple homework assignments in ONE .swf file. After Lesson 7, you will organize your work using frame labels and simple action scripts for navigation and interactivity. As you become a more advanced user of Flash, you won't be using scenes. You'll use other means of organizing and structuring your projects including loading movies, loading .swf files, attaching movies, loading variables, etc.
Using Scenes to Submit Multiple assignments as ONE single .swf file
When you open a new movie you will automatically be in Scene 1. Scene 1 is written to the right of the clapboard above the stage and below the timeline in the default layout of Flash. Look at the top left area of your stage below the timeline to find the clapboard icon and words Scene 1. To open the Scene Panel, go to the Window Menu - Window>Scene or Shift + F2.
The Scene Panel is displayed with Scene 1 selected. Scene 1 is the default scene. To Add a new scene, click on the plus sign + at the lower right of the Scene Panel to the left of the scene trash can.
By default, Flash names your added scene in consecutive order Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, etc. To rename a scene, click on the Scene name to select it and type in a new descriptive scene name. You can rename Scene 1 even if your movie only has one scene.
Here the name Scene 2 is selected so it can be renamed.
Let's rename Scenes 1, 2, and 3:
scene 1 marcia's intro,
scene 2 blue
scene 3 red
Scene 3 red is the selected scene in the Scene Panel AND in the Flash movie. Each scene has its own timeline. The timelines will play in the order of the scenes you've opted for in the Scene Panel. Right now, scene1 marcia's intro will play its timeline and then automatically proceed to scene 2 blue and then to scene 3 red. I can change the order of the scenes by click-hold-dragging on the scene name to move it to a new location. Flash plays the scenes from top down in the list in the Scene Panel.
Here I have returned to scene 1 marcia's intro and added content to the timeline for the scene. I have a motion tween on Layer 3 and text description on the bottom layer. I will rename Layer 3 to be more descriptive so that it can help me with the organization of my file.
After completing the assignment for the first scene, click on another scene in the Scene Panel to select that scene on the stage. The stage and timeline will reflect the changes as you can see from the scene 2 blue text to the right of the clapboard icon below the timeline. Add content to this scene. I have some static objects on layers and a motion tween on layer 2.
Continue to select each scene and create content on the stage and timeline for that scene.
You can select scenes from the Scene Panel or from the Scene drop-down menu on the Toolbar above the stage. You can see from the image below that I am in scene 3 red. When I click on the clapboard icon of the Scene drop-down menu, it will show scene 3 red as the selected scene by a checkmark to the left of the scene name. The Scene drop-down menu is on the right of the breadcrumbing (location) toolbar to the left of the Edit Symbol drop-down menu which is to the left of the Magnification drop-down menu.
After you create all the content in all of your scenes, hit Control + Enter or Command + Return or go to Control Menu - Control>Test Movie to create your .swf file and view your file.
LINEAR Flash DEMO
For your assignments that require multiple assignments, create only ONE .fla file and use the appropriate number of scenes as there are assignments. Name each scene descriptively.
After you complete an assignment in one scene, add 15 frames to the end of all layers in each scene. You can do this by selecting all the frames of all layers at once by dragging the cursor through all layers and then going to the Insert Menu - Insert Frames or F5.
Do NOT insert keyframes or blank keyframes. Just insert frames. This will stretch your scene out for almost 6 seconds before moving on to the next scene.
In the illustration below, I have inserted 15 frames. The illustration below shows how to select all frames at once and insert the frames on all layers at once.
Flash will flatten all the scene timelines when it creates a .swf file and automatically play all the content in the order in which you have the scenes listed in your Scene Panel. You can change the playing order of your scenes in the Scene Panel. When Flash reaches the end of the last scene, the movie will default to the first scene and replay all the timelines from all the scenes. Flash movies loop by default.
To learn more about scenes: Launch Flash. Go to the Help Menu - Help>Using Flash (F1). Use the Index tab and type in Scenes:
These are the categories for Scenes in the Help Menu:
scenes
changing order of
creating
deleting
duplicating
pasting into
previewing
renaming
selecting everything on every layer of
viewing
There are some disadvantages of using scenes so I require that you use frame labels and NOT scenes for your final project. Maintaining background sound across scenes is problematic. There are other issues as well. You will learn to use frame labels and actions in Lesson 7.
This is the last section of this lesson. Please proceed to the Assignments area.
You can select scenes from the Scene Panel or from the 
