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Flash Reference Guide

Aug 22, 2003

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Flash MX comes with three different drawing tools that enable you to create shapes:

Line tool
Pencil tool
Oval/Rectangle tool

Each of these tools is located on the Tools panel (Windows, Tools). I find that I use these tools a lot and that it's quicker to access these tools using the keyboard shortcuts in Flash.

TIP

Keyboard shortcuts are great—you can access a great deal of functionality directly from the keyboard. If you do not like the keyboard shortcuts preprogrammed by Macromedia into Flash, you can change them. To do so, you need to go to Edit, Keyboard shortcuts (PC) and Flash MX, Keyboard Shortcuts (Mac). The Keyboard shortcut window opens, in which you can access all the tools that are enabled to support keyboard shortcuts. You can then change the shortcut with your own custom command. The only caveat is that the new keyboard shortcut you create cannot be the same any other shortcut.

Using the Line Tool (Press N)

As you might expect, the Line tool allows you to draw straight lines across the Stage. This tool is useful for adding borders and connecting objects together. The Line tool has several parameters that allow you to control color, line thickness, and line design. The following exercise demonstrates how you can draw with the line.

Open a new document in Flash MX.
Press N on the keyboard. The cursor changes to the line control.
On the Stage, click, hold, and drag the line. You see that the Property Inspector has changed to reflect the controls that can be managed through the Line tool.
Select the line and go to the Color Picker tool in the Property Inspector. Change the color to #FF6600 (it is a dark orange color). Press Enter for the color to take effect on the Stage. The line is now orange.
On the right of the Color Picker is a text field you can enter in a number from 1–10. This is the thickness, or stroke, of the line. The line cannot be more than 10 pixels thick. Change the setting to 5. The line of the Stage becomes thicker.
To the right of the stroke is the Stroke Style drop-down menu, which is where you can apply a custom design to the line on the Stage. From the menu, choose the dashed style. The effect is reflected on the Stage: The line is now dashed instead of solid.

Additional stroke styles, colors, and stroke sizes can be applied to lines. Experiment with them to see what kind of effects you come up with.

Using the Pencil (Press Y)

If the function of the Line tool is to create straight lines, the function of the Pencil tool is to create irregularly shaped lines on the Stage. This can be a fun tool to play with. Although the Pencil tool has the same controls in the Property Inspector as the Line tool, it also comes with a couple of extras. In the following exercise, you learn how to use the Pencil tool.

Create a new document in Flash. Save this file as Pencil.fla.
Select the Pencil tool: Press Y on the keyboard.
Draw on the Stage. You can make the drawing irregular. Notice that you can draw any shape you like.
Change the Color Picker in the Property Inspector for the line to #996666. You can also change the stroke thickness and stroke style as you do with the Line tool. Change the stroke thickness to 2 and the stroke style to Solid.

On the Stage, you now have an irregular shaped line. You can control the roundness of the curves and the straightness of the lines.

Select Edit, Select All to highlight the Pencil line on the Stage. At the bottom of the Tools bar, select the Smooth button, which smoothes the line. Select the Straighten button to straighten the outline of the line.

Using the Oval Tool (Press O)/Rectangle Tool (Press R)

The two final shape tools are the Oval and Rectangle shapes. These shapes form the foundation for almost every graphic drawn and are very powerful in their simplicity.

As with the Line and Pencil tools, the Oval and Rectangle shapes are located on the Tools bar. The only difference between them and the Line and Pencil tools is that when you draw an oval or rectangle, the area within the shape is colored. This internal color is called a fill color.

If you hold the Shift key down, you constrain the edges of the rectangle or oval to create a perfect square or circle.

The edge of a rectangle can be modified with the Rectangle Options. You can change the roundness of the rectangle's edges from 0–999 points.

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