Duplicate Symbol Recursive

16 May, 2018

by vlad

Functionality

Creates a complete 'deep copy' / 'clone' of a symbol. All nested symbols are also duplicated. The container and all its content become completely independent of the original.

Suggested use

Clones can be used as a starting point for different color variations or in the case of character rigs to create variants of characters with slightly different design.

Where does it work?

One selected symbol in Library

Video demonstration

All our videos are 1080p. If for some reason full HD is not available here, try watching them on YouTube.

This command is part of the Flanimate Power Tools package. Get the latest version from Downloads.

Mick

23 April, 2020 at 9:16 am

Looks super helpful. How do I download these tools?? I'm not seeing an option to DL on your site. Do I need to click Donate first?

nick

23 April, 2020 at 9:21 am

Hi Mick!

How do you not see the Downloads button, mate 🙂
Just go there and grab a copy http://flash-powertools.com/downloads/
The tools are free and are distributed as a package.

Check out the Project and the FAQ pages for answers to some common questions.

Enjoy!

Isaac

2 December, 2023 at 12:44 pm

Hi Nick,

Just wondering if there is a way to block or stop certain nested symbols from duplicating with the 'Duplicate Symbol Recursive' command? For example, if I deep clone a character I would probably want the head symbol duplicated (as it has it's own internal timeline) but may not need other 'Single frame' symbols.

Cheers,
Isaac

nick

2 December, 2023 at 12:57 pm

Hi Isaac,
Unfortunately, there is no way to exclude certain elements.

The fastest way to achieve what you want would probably be to remove the head layer from your character container, execute Duplicate Symbol Recursive, then paste the original head layer and use the default Duplicate Symbol. This new head container will share all nested bits with the original, while the rest will be separate.

Hope this helps!

Isaac

2 December, 2023 at 1:02 pm

Thanks Nick. Good solution – that's very helpful. Cheers 🙂

nick

2 December, 2023 at 1:16 pm

Good luck with your projects, Isaac!

Leave a Reply

Nina Paley

I’m finally using your Flash Power Tools, and they’re fantastic. Just one suggestion – put a “donate” button on your site! Or a Flattr button, or something. I like to support Free software, even if it’s with just a few bucks.

Justin Kupka

The Electric Dog Flash Animation Power Tools (EDAPT for short) is a new technique for rigging character within Flash that dramatically speeds up animation workflow. ... With the old way of animating in Flash you would have to select each individual piece and move it into position on every frame. This gets even more messy if you were to add a tween to those objects. With the old method, if the arm was hanging beside the character, and he raised it up into the air, all of the pieces would move in a straight line from point A to B. ... With the Magnet rig setup all you have to do is go to one of those in between frames. Set a keyframe, and hit the ~ key and it will snap all of the objects back into place! Read More...

David Shumway

Amazing tools. Changed the way I use Flash from fun but frustrating, to just pure fun

Sebastian Zegers Risopatron

This looks very thorough, thanks a lot! it's very hard to find articles that are as in-depth and professional as this, great work!

Raven

I found this site by accident but I'm glad I did. Thanks a ton this will really help me. I'll be coming back!

Andre Guindi

A gift from the heavens! Next Frame in Symbol/Prev Frame in Symbol shaved eons off from the animation process!

Daniel K.

This is one of the most useful tools for flash animation. Makes character animations a breeze. The learning curve is pretty small, and once you get used to it – you can’t live without it…at least in Flash Very good work gents, thank you!

Waqar Rasool

I am an artist and a 2d animator and have been using Aftereffects and Flash for my character animations. Your toolset and this help article is AWESOME! Thanks a lot

Lucas Gonzaga

You’re the best! Perfect Tools. Thanks!

Charlie

Wow, EDAP tools is an incredible find! So many scripts that speed up my animation workflow! It allows me to focus more on my animations, and less on the technical side of character rigs! Also, the developers respond to feedback/bugs immediately! Thank you so much for creating this package! I’ll be sure to spread the word!

Brian NS

Great job on the Electric Dog Flash Animation Power Tools – this is one complete set of tools that I use a lot for my flash animations. I’ve tried a lot of individual plugins and they work well on their own but it’s so good to have a solid base of components in one package.

Chris Dean

Thank you so much for this insightful compilation! I normally do 3d animation, but had to transition into 2d for a project I’m working on. This lesson probably improved my upcoming project 10-fold, and made the subsequent projects infinitely easier. Wonderful work!

David Jablonski

Electric Dog Flash power tools really make Flash work so much friendlier than Adobe thought it should. It really solves so many of Flash's symbol short comings. Smart transform and the magnet rigs really speed up the animation process, and I know for a fact I couldn't have hit a few deadlines without these swell tools. It wasn't too hard to learn and the personal help I got when I couldn't get things to work was amazing. I just updated to Flash CC on a new computer without the EDAPT plug in and I only made it about an hour using plain old Flash before I had to stop, and get these power tools set up. Once you use these tools, you will not want to go back. And they're Free! Stop swearing at Flash and use it the way it was meant to be used. I'm a total cheapwad and even I had to donate a couple bucks because of all this product has done for me. Check it out!

Ryan

Just wanted to say thanks for such a comprehensive run down of an efficient Flash workflow. It was a huge help.

deek

Massive help to my Flash work in UNI. Thanks so much for this brilliant learning resource, there’s nothing like this out there.

Ajit Pratap Singh Rajput

is this EDAPT tool supporting in flash cs6? if yes then how?

Jesse Cunningham

Nothing but crashing for me. Animate CC 2017. Im not even able to make a magnets work lol. Need a clearly more introductory level tutorial. I would pay to get this to work as smooth as you guys do in the videos. This sucks hard!

←→

Duplicate Symbol Recursive

Functionality

Suggested use

Where does it work?

Video demonstration

Fundamentals

Smart Magnet Rigs

Advanced