Flash - Create a simple preloader

A very basic flash preloader. This type does not require advanced knowledge of actionscript. Just 3 lines of code with explanation. The only objective here is to show some basic animation till the actual movie loads.

Open an existing movie OR create a new one. Add a new scene by going to Insert >> Scene. Rename this newly added scene to "loader" or any name you fancy. Change the order the scenes by click - dragging the loader scene above scene 1. This can be done via the panels window ( Windows >> Other Panels >> Scene ).

In frame 1 of loader scene press F9 and add the following actionscript.

ifFrameLoaded ("Scene 1", 1){
gotoAndPlay ("Scene 1", 1);
}

Add text "Loading ..." using the text tool. Convert this into a movie clip. ( Select the text >>modify >> convert to symbol >> movie clip ). On frame 5 of the same layer insert a keyframe. Right click anywhere between frame 1 and frame 5 and create a motion tween. Now is the tricky part. For every alternate frame delete the text. For example your sequence should be text >> blank >> text >> blank and finally text. In frame 5 add the follwing actionscript.

gotoAndPlay ("loader", 1);

Here is the Explanation.

The Explanation.

ifFrameLoaded ("Scene 1", 1) .... 1 stands for the number of frames the actual movie is utilising. This can vary from movie to movie. In my case it is one big image on a single frame.Now, we have to loop this animation over and over till the main movie ( Scene 1 is full loaded ). This is done by the the following actionscript

gotoAndPlay ("loader", 1);

Finally when the movie is fully loaded, start and play from frame 1 , Scene 1 [ gotoAndPlay ("Scene 1, 1); ].

Hope you enjoyed this small tutorial on how create a simple preloader in FLASH.