In the last tutorial, we discussed Flash^R symbols, instances and the Library Panel and how to use them together to keep your project assets organized and the size of your project to a minimum. In this tutorial, we will do the following.

1. Create a Flash symbol
2. Add instances of this symbol to the Stage
3. Edit the symbol

To create a symbol for our tutorial, let's draw a simple white circle that will represent a snowflake. We will then convert this circle to a symbol in preparation for animation.

1. To start a new project, choose Create New, Flash File (ActionScript 3.0) from the Welcome Screen.
   
   
2. We need a dark colored background to represent the sky in order to see the white snowflakes. Go to the Properties Inspector and click on the Size/Document Properties button. Set the Background Color to a dark blue in the Document Properties dialog box.
   
   Oval Tool
   
3. Now we will set up to draw our snowflake. Select the Oval tool from the Tools panel and set the Stroke Color to Null and the Fill Color to white. Click anywhere on the Stage and draw a small oval.
   
   Selection Tool
   
4. Double-click on the snowflake with the Selection tool. From the Menu Bar, click Modify, Convert to Symbol. In the Convert to Symbol dialog box, name the symbol Flake and set the Type of symbol to Movie Clip. Keep the default Registration setting. You will see our new symbol displayed in the Library Preview window. You will also see the icon, Name of our symbol and Type of symbol listed in the Library.
   
   
5. If our symbol is now in the Library, what is left on the Stage? The oval has been changed into the first instance of our symbol. Click on the instance of our symbol on the Stage and you can see the information about the instance displayed in the Properties Inspector.
   
   Instance of: Flake
   Instance behavior: Movie Clip
   
   
6. To add another instance of the symbol to the Stage, simply drag it from the Library.
   
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