weird swf playback — flying off screen

[this-justin]

hi folks. i'm having a little "issue" with an exported swf file and the way it plays back on the web.

flash cs5. as2. mac os 10.6.4

within the movie/animation itself, there is a small black "x" centered on the stage that expands until it totally fills the screen, giving the impression that you are moving closer to it. simple, basic. as the x grows in size, it of course bleeds off the stage, while staying centered on it.

so i either export or publish the swf, upload it to a client's flash-based CMS, and as it starts to play back, the entire video suddenly flies up and off the screen (toward the upper left corner). as if i programmed it to animate this way.

when i don't have the expanding x in the animation, everything plays back fine.

any idea what might be causing this? any add'l info i can provide to help with clarification?

i was thinking that it might have something to do with the portions of the X that extend beyond the stage—as if they are still being recognized as part of the composition—even though they are not on the stage—and so the swf keeps them "on screen" without being visible.

 

[this-justin]

i now know for certain that this issue pertains to the small "x", centered on the stage, that grows in size, eventually filling the whole stage… but i'm still trying to figure out how to correct it. the problem begins as soon as the legs of the x leave the stage area. when they dip below the stage, it gives the impression that the image within the stage is getting pushed up. (for some reason it seems to be anchored to the bottom of the x.) then, as soon as the x (which continues to grow) extends past the sides of the stage, the stage image gets pushed to the left, ultimately giving the effect that the image is flying up and off the screen to the left. so even though parts of the x are leaving the stage and are not visible, they are treated as if something is still there and so something is compensating by sending the visible parts up and off the screen. (i'm not sure what that something is—flash itself, the swf playing back, the cms it's uploaded to.)

i have tried masking the x so that nothing is extending beyond the stage in flash, but that doesn't help anything.