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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-13T05:07:36+00:00

I’m new to Actionscript. There’s probably a better way to do this, and if

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I’m new to Actionscript. There’s probably a better way to do this, and if there is, I’m all ears.

What I’m trying to do is have a background layer run for, say 150 seconds in a loop. Then have another layer (we’ll call it Layer 1) with a single object on it loop for 50 seconds. Is there a way to have Layer 1 loop 3 times inside of that 150 seconds that the background layer is looping?

Here’s the reason I want Layer 1 to be shorter:
When a certain combination is entered (for example, A1), an item will pop out of and in front of the object on Layer 1.

I haven’t written any code for it yet, but my hopeful plan is to have the background layer run continuously then have different scene sections on Layer 1 for each of the items coming out of the object on Layer 1. That way when A1 is entered, Layer1 can goToAndPlay(51) without messing up the background layer.

If it helps you understand it at all, it’s a vending machine project. My group’s vending machine is the TARDIS. The TARDIS is flying through space while you’re entering what you want out of the vending machine and stuff is popping out of it.

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  1. Editorial Team

    If I understand correctly, the background is a MovieClip that loops within its own timeline. When Flash plays through a timeline, the timing is dependent on the performance of the computer and how complex the animation is. You can add an audio track set to ‘streaming’ to lock the timing down, which will then drop frames if the CPU is overloaded. I have used a silent sound set to loop infinitely and play mode ‘streaming’ to do this when there is no audio to be used.

    Instead of using timeline animations I would recommend using TweenMax http://www.greensock.com/tweenmax/ as it allows tween chaining, that is creating a chain of sequential and parallel tweens. When you use a tween you define the timing in seconds and can use values like 1.25 seconds. It will be accurate to the timing you define. You can also run methods on complete, use easing and all sorts of goodies. If you get comfortable using this you will be able to create much more complex interactions in your Flash projects and also be able to change animations and timing much easier than messing with the timeline.

    In fact when hiring Flash developers we always screen candidates by asking if they prefer to do animations on the timeline or programmatically. Although Flash is on its way out, still good to learn as the ideas will apply to javascript and whatever new technology comes about.

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