So the Frames-to-Symbol Flash Extension is ready. I put a demo video up because I find myself downloading and installing software all the time just to figure out what it does, when often it isn’t even what I was looking for. So if you’re like me, and ya just want to take a look instead of installing it, you can. To see it in action, just check out the flash demo I made for this tool:

And if you want a quick description, well then, read on…The Frames-To-Symbol Flash tool allows you to select a range of consecutive frames on multiple consecutive layers, and convert all of those selected frames into a single symbol. How many times have you animated something on your main timeline, only to look at it and think “I should have made this a symbol.” As it stands, it’s not too big a deal to turn it into a symbol… or is it?! Think about this. Heres the steps:

1. select the layers
2. copy the frames
3. create a new symbol
4. select the first frame of the new symbol
5. paste the frames
6. return to the original timeline that your animation was on
7. add a new layer
8. drag the new symbol onto the timeline
9. place the symbol exactly where the original animation content was
10. select the original frames or layers
11. delete the original frames or layers

A fast-and-focused Flash designer, a top notch Adobe trooper could do this in just over a minute. But humans don’t work like that. I don’t! My mind is full of ways to distract me. So let’s say 2 minutes. And let’s say I do this 3 or 4 times a day. It adds up.

But forget about that for a second, because there’s hidden problem with this method. In Flash, if you select a number of frames to copy and one of those frames falls between the keyframes of a tween… when you paste the frames, your tween will be broken. Flash doesn’t think to itself that it should insert a keyframe at the last position of your frame selection. So the process I indicated above suddenly gets a lot stickier and more time consuming.

And that’s where the FlashWhip Frames-to-Symbol command comes in. This extension takes care of all of those problems. Instantly. On a full production day, I think this thing saves me anywhere between 3-15 minutes. Maybe I’m obsessed with the minutes and seconds, but I find that the more of these little tools I have at my disposal, the better.

So enough talking about it, right? Go to my free flash tools download page and you can download this little software gem. It’s free!

Oh — one last thing before I send you to the Frames-to-Symbols page. I’d love to get your feedback. So consider joining my free Flash tools notifications list. I’ve got about a dozen of these tools on the way, and its just about the only way you will know about em — and another thing! If you have thoughts about other stuff you want, leave a post and let me know. I might just build it for you!