Understanding multiple Timelines

When a movie plays back in the Flash Player, multiple Timelines may be present. Every Flash movie has a main Timeline. Each movie clip instance within a movie represents another Timeline. Additional Timelines may be present by loading movies with the Load Movie statement.

For example, the following outline shows seven Timelines present within the Flash Player:

MovieX.swf (in level 0)
	ClipA (Instance name: Jack)
		ClipA1 (Instance name: Bert)
		ClipA2(Instance name: Ernie)
	ClipB (Instance name: Jill) 
MovieY.swf (in level 1)
	ClipC (Instance name: Smith)

Each Timeline runs independently, and can control any of the other Timelines. For example, a button in the main Timeline of MovieX can start and stop ClipC in MovieY. Likewise, a frame action in ClipC can make the playhead in MovieX jump to another scene or frame.