Introduction to Flash MX Tutorial > Analyze the stiletto.fla file > Analyze the movie structure with the Movie Explorer |  |

Analyze the movie structure with the Movie Explorer

The Movie Explorer helps you arrange, locate, and edit media. With its hierarchical tree structure, the Movie Explorer provides information about the organization and flow of a movie, especially useful when you analyze a movie authored by someone else.

1 | If the Movie Explorer is not already open, choose Window > Movie Explorer.
2 | If necessary, enlarge the Movie Explorer to view the tree structure within the pane.
| The Movie Explorer filtering buttons display or hide information.
3 | Click the pop-up menu in the title bar of the Movie Explorer, and verify that Show Movie Elements and Show Symbol Definitions are selected.
4 | Deselect the Show Frames and Layers button along the top of the Movie Explorer. Verify that the only filtering buttons selected are Show Text; Show Buttons, Movie Clips, and Graphics; Show ActionScripts; and Show Video, Sounds, and Bitmaps.
5 | Examine the list to view some of the assets included in the movie and to see their relationship to other assets.
6 | To expand an object or category, click the Plus (+) button to the left of the name
7 | Select the Show Frames and Layers filtering button. Scroll down to the Symbol Definitions category. With the category expanded, double-click the Car Animation movie clip.
| You're now in symbol-editing mode for the movie clip.
8 | In the Movie Explorer, with the Car Animation category selected and expanded, expand the View 3 Fade icon, then double-click Frame 60.
| In the Timeline for the movie clip, the playhead moves to Frame 60 of the View 3 Fade layer.
| To view an item listed in the hierarchical tree, click the corresponding icon. If you click a frame icon, the playhead moves to that frame in the Timeline. If you click an asset, such as a bitmap image, the Property inspector displays the image settings. Double-clicking an icon that represents a symbol opens symbol-editing mode.
9 | Close the Movie Explorer. To close the document, choose File > Close.
| If you've made changes to the file, do not save them.