Once a graphic symbol has been dragged onto the main movie stage, bring up the Instance Properties window through Modify - Instance. Click on the Color tab in which you will find the Color Effect drop down menu.

We'll discuss each of these in brief.
The brightness of the object can be changed by dragging the slider to the right or left or by typing a value in the text field. Evidently, a negative value will decrease the brightness while a positive value increases it.
Lets you change the color of the symbol. You can either use the TintAmount and the color sliders or type the RGB value in their respective text fields.
Alpha determines the transparency of the symbol. At 100%, the object is fully visible, decreasing this value causes the symbol to fade progressively.
Lets you apply both Alpha and Tint effect to the Symbol Instance.
This was a brief introduction to the color effects; for details, refer to the Advanced Flash Tutorial.
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