In Flash you can hide the standard cursor (Mouse pointer icon) and create custom cursors. The Mouse object in Flash has a hide method which can be used to hide the normal mouse pointer and then we can define a Movieclip as our custom cursor. In this tutorial you'll learn how to create and use Movieclips as Custom Cursors using simple actionscript.

Compatible Versions of Flash for this Tutorial

Flash MX 2004 & below | Flash 8 | Flash CS3 | Flash CS4
Note: For uses of lower versions of Flash some visual interface images would differ.
Recommended Version: Adobe Flash CS4 Professional

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Follow the steps below:

Creating a Custom Cursor

Create a Movieclip for the custom cursor, say a small circle and name the instance say, 'cust_cursor'. The instance name of a symbol is used to control it using Actionscript commands (Refer to Flash Photo Masking for this example).
Select the Movieclip instance 'cust_cursor' on the stage and reduce the Alpha value to 40 and write the following Actionscript code for it as given below:

onClipEvent(load)
{
Mouse.hide();
this.startDrag();
}

Fig: Simple Custom Cursor in Flash

The 'hide' method of the predefined object 'Mouse' is used to hide the standard cursor. The keyword 'this' is used to reference the Movieclip instance 'cust_cursor'.
We use the 'startDrag' action of the Movieclip to use the movieclip as a custom cursor.
The Custom Cursor Movieclip can also be Animated and used as a Mask as shown in the example below.
Save your work and test the Movie (Ctrl + Enter). That's it you have learnt how to create a movieclip as a custom cursor in Flash.

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