Sorry for all the posts… Just trying to get a bunch of answers/opinions before deciding on whether to commit to this software!
If I create a symbol, and inside it have (say) an animated ball (5 frames)…
I’ve managed to successfully do that, put it in the root timeline/stage, extend the exposure so it is now there for 60 frames… Cool.
But, the animation of the ball bounce only happens once, and then it just sits on the last frame.
Is there any way to have it loop it’s internal frames?
(Is it by using the Past Special function?.. or is there a way to just have it loop infinitely?)
You can press loop button to loop it. Also, you can set to run on certain frame by resizing the little triangle indicator in the Time line or add a frame number in Start and Stop option in the playback toolbar. Also you can move the frame let say 10 with the red bar in the time line and then you can press stop letter (it is a button actually) to set 10 as a trick.
The concept of symbol is a bit different than in Flash and I think your way of thinking seems to suggest that.
When you have a symbol and want to repeat the action inside you have to repeat the frames of the symbol. For example in your case the symbol has 5 “internal” frame I assume. These are reflected at the top level of the symbol as frame #1,#2,#3, etc. So what you have to do is select the whole range of frames then use Sequence Fill in there put Start value =1, Increment = 1, Hold = 1, Cycle = 5.
You could also use the Paste Cycle. You would expose the symbol frames the way you want for example, 1,3,2,4,5. Then copy and Paste Cycle. You can put a higher number of cycles it doesn’t matter in will not go past the end of your scene.
I think having to figure out how many cycles you need for some stuff (like a flickering candle light, or a burning flame) is just annoying, specially for props. There should be a “loop indefinitely” checkbox or something like that.
Just put 500 and it should be long enough for most scenes.