Enter Or Punch Current Frame

Functionality

  • Enter only. Symbol is entered for editing at the currently displayed (key)frame.
  • Punch only. Symbol is 'punched' from the outside without entering. i.e. the current frame of a Symbol's entire Timeline is converted to keys from the outside. If users need to exclude some layers from being punched they can add __nopunch (two underscores and then 'nopunch' without spaces) to their layer name.
  • Punch and Enter. Symbol is 'punched' and automatically entered for editing.

Suggested use

Enter only is useful for all versions of Flash prior to CS5.5.
Example: If Symbol properties in Looping Section is set to First frame: 6, upon execution F2 the Symbol will be entered at frame 6.
Default Flash 8‑CS5 behavior is to always enter the internal Timeline for editing at frame 1.
Enter can be executed from a Timeline selection of a single frame and will work even if the layer is locked.

Punch is useful to mark a specific frame inside a Symbol, for example where you need a blink or a change of facial expression while you are outside of the head and then go inside and do it without losing the context of body action.

Where does it work?

Stage, Selected Symbol, Single frame selected in the Timeline

EDAP Tools shortcut

F2 (enter only); Ctrl+F2 (punch only); Alt+F2 (punch and enter)

Notes

Protecting specific layers. To exclude a layer from being 'punched' add __nopunch (two underscores and then 'nopunch' without spaces) to its layer name or choose a different suffix in EDAPT Control Panel or Quick Settings F12.

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.
 
Comments

Hi there,

I love these tools, great work!

I was wondering: is there any way I could set up the punch tool so it doesn't label the frames by default (apart from adding a suffix to every symbol seperately)? Or is there a quick way to remove all the labels?

Thanks in advance!
Kris

Hi Kris,

Great to hear that you're enjoying the tools!

Presently there is no way to configure Enter Or Punch Current Frame to not mark the key with a comment label.

You can do two things:

1. Create a key first by pressing [X] and then do the punch operation. If the key is already present, it will not be labelled.

2. To remove all the comment labels:
– Click on the layer name to select all frames in your layer
– In Property Inspector, find Label > Name and into the field type // (two forward slashes). Hit Enter.
All labels should disappear.

Hope this helps!

PS. I'm not too sure about this bit in your question "(apart from adding a suffix to every symbol separately)", so if something in my reply is missing, could you, please, elaborate on that.

Do you think I could like suggest some plugins in the future that might improve of the flash animation community?

Yes, certainly.
Please, check the FAQ page as to what are the requirements for such suggestions to be taken into consideration.

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