Adobe Flash —

Delete a layer

Because you don't really need the guide layer in your document, you'll delete it.

  • In the Timeline, with the Notes layer selected, click the Delete Layer button.

Add a guide layer

So far you've learned about regular layers and mask layers. The third type of layer is a guide layer. You use guide layers to hold content that you don't want to appear in your published or exported file. For example, you could place instructions to others working on your document on a guide layer. As you take lessons in Flash, you'll notice that many of the lesson FLA files contain placeholders, which indicate where to place a Stage object, on guide layers. You'll create a guide layer now.

  1. In the Timeline, select the Background layer and click Insert Layer to create a layer.

  2. Name the new layer Notes, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh).

  3. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the Notes layer and select Guide from the context menu.
    An icon next to the layer name indicates that the layer is a guide layer.

  4. With the Notes layer still selected, click the Text tool in the Tools panel. Then, in the area of the Stage above the car and road, enter Production note: Animation with no stop (); actions loop by default.

  5. Save your document and select Control > Test Movie.
    No content that you added to the guide layer appears in the SWF file window.

  6. When you finish viewing the SWF file, close the window to return to the document.

Summary

Congratulations on learning how to work with layers in Flash. In just a few minutes, you learned how to accomplish the following tasks:

  • Select a layer.

  • Hide and show layers.

  • Lock a layer.

  • Add and name a layer.

  • Change the order of layers.

  • Organize layers in a folder.

  • Add a mask layer.

  • Add a guide layer.

  • Delete a layer.

To learn more about Flash, take another lesson.