# Sprites

A sprite (known also as MovieClip) is a sub movie inside the main movie. Sprites can be nested to any depth. Each sprite has own frames and plays the same way as the main movie, but in its own timeline.

The "Sprite" tool

## Creating a Blank Sprite

Choose the tool and draw a rectangle enclosing the sprite. Alligator Flash Designer will show the first frame of the sprite thread so you can add new frames, objects and animations.

To exit sprite thread choose "Movie" > "Go to Main Movie" command or hit Esc. To enter sprite thread double-click the sprite.

### To start the sprite The sprite will start playing once it appears on the screen.

### To play the sprite through entire movie To play a sprite through several frames place the sprite on a master frame. Choose Movie > Add Master Frame and draw or insert the sprite on this frame.

## Inserting Flash or GIF movies

Choose "Insert" > "Flash" to load a sprite in SWF format. The clip will appear when the frame is displayed. You can use this command to split larger Flash files into smaller pieces. The movie will load when the frame is about to show. External clip can not be edited and it appears as a blank rectangle. You can see it in Flash preview only. Press F9 to preview the animation.

### Embeding SWF File

Choose "Insert" > "Embeded SWF File" to insert data of Flash file. The file will be loaded and placed inside the main Flash file.

### Inserting GIF Animation

Choose "Insert" > "GIF Animation" to create a sprite from animated gif.

### Loading Existing Flash Designer Clip

Choose "Movie" > "Insert Flash Designer Clip" to create a sprite from existing Flash Designer file.

### Loading Cliparts

Choose "Insert" > "Clipart" to load one of the predefined animations.

## Sprite Example

In the following example 3 sprites are defined - the bird, shaking egg and blinking question mark.

bird-egg.sfd