Can 'taget' things outside of a movie clip?

hi out there,

new to the forum and new to this flash thang - getting there but this one is buggin me. hope someone can help…

this is what i’m working on:
http://www.28design.co.uk/jake/flash/

dead simple ‘fade between pictures when buttons are clicked’ thing. i’ve uploaded the fla as well as the swf as it’s easier to look at than explain.

my problem is i cant seem to put the buttons outside of the fade move clip - and i need too! this is the code i’ve been using to dig through:

_root.images.newPic = “picOne”;

thing is, it seems to loose the variables. if i move the same button inside the movie clip and just have:

newPic = “picOne”;

all works cool??!

if anyone has the time to have a quick look, i’d greatly appreciate it.

cheers out there,

jake

hi lostinbeta,

had a follow up to this thread - i’ve hit on a problem and the number seems to be twelve!

i’ve been adding pic’s to the code and adapting it into my site - but something very strange happens when i add a twelfth picture…

i’ve uploaded the amended fla’s and swf’s (i haven’t added the twelve buttons but it does the same thing) - in the 11 pic version the transition is cool:

http://www.28design.co.uk/jake/flash/fader_11_pic_version.swf

the transition is smooth and works fine.

the 12 version however:

http://www.28design.co.uk/jake/flash/fader_12_pic_version.swf

the only difference between the two is the fact that one has a twelfth image in a layer and one doesn’t!

i’ve chucked the fla up here:

http://www.28design.co.uk/jake/flash/fader_12_pic_version.fla

if you could have a look (or point me in the right direction!) i’d really appreciate it…

thanks again,

jake