- Setting Selection Preferences
- Making Selections
- Resizing Graphic Elements
- Positioning Graphic Elements
- Flipping, Rotating, and Skewing
- Distorting Graphic Elements
- Modifying Fills and Strokes
- Modifying Shapes: Natural Drawing Tools
- Modifying Shapes: Bzier Tools
- Modifying Primitive-Shape Paths
- Converting Shape Types
- Practice Session
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Modifying Shapes: Bézier Tools
The subselection tool lets you see and manipulate the anchor points of a path. You can reposition anchor points to change the path, and you can manipulate a point’s Bézier handles to modify the slope and depth of the curve. You can add and delete points and convert existing curve points to corner points, or vice versa, with the three anchor-point tools or the pen tool. Flash has two styles for displaying anchor points: hollow (the default) and solid. To pick a style, from the Flash menu (Mac) or the Edit menu (Windows), choose Preferences. In the dialog that appears, from the Category list, choose Drawing. In the Pen Tool section, select/deselect the Show Solid Points checkbox; click OK.
The tasks in this book assume that Show Solid Points is active.
To view a path and anchor points:
- In the Tools panel, choose the subselection tool
, or press A.
The pointer changes to a hollow arrow.
- On the Stage, click the line or curve you want to modify.
Flash selects and highlights the path and anchor points. To manipulate a particular point, you must select it directly.
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The Mystery of Fill Paths
Although a fill shape without a stroke has no outline, it does have a path that defines its shape. The selection, pen, and
subselection tools all work to reshape fill paths just as they do to reshape strokes, as outlined in the tasks in this chapter
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To select an anchor point:
- In the Tools panel, select the subselection tool.
- Move the subselection pointer over the path you want to modify.
A small solid square appears next to the hollow arrow when the pointer is above a curve or line segment; a small hollow square appears next to the hollow arrow when the pointer is directly above an anchor point
.
- Click an anchor point.
Flash highlights the selected point and displays its Bézier handles.
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To move a corner point:
- Use the subselection tool to highlight the path and anchor points of the element you want to modify.
- Position the pointer over a corner point.
- Click and drag the desired corner point to a new location.
Flash redraws the path
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)
To move a curve point:
- Use the subselection tool to highlight the path and anchor points of the element.
- Position the pointer over a curve point.
The anchor-point modifier icon appears.
- Click and drag the point to a new location
.
Flash previews the new curve as you drag.
After you move a curve point, the path remains selected, and the Bézier control handles become active so that you can further manipulate the curve.
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To reshape a curve with the Bézier handles:
- With the subselection tool, click the curve you want to modify.
- Click one of the anchor points that define the curve you want to modify.
Bézier handles appear.
- Click and drag one of the Bézier handles.
The pointer changes to a solid arrow-head as you drag.
- To modify the curve, do one or more of the following:
- To make the curve bulge in the opposite direction, move the Bézier handle past the existing curve, in the opposite direction from the current bulge.
- To make the curve deeper, position the Bézier handle farther from the anchor point.
- To make the curve shallower, position the Bézier handle closer to the anchor point.
Flash previews the new curve as you manipulate the Bézier handle
.
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The Mysterious Modes of the Pen Tool
Flash CS5 has three Bézier tools: add anchor point, delete anchor point, and convert anchor point. The pen tool can perform
many of those functions. As you position the pen pointer over the Stage and existing paths, various modifier icons appear
next to the pen icon, indicating the tool’s current function 
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)
Create initial anchor point A small x indicates the pen is ready to place the first point in a path. Click any empty spot on the Stage to start your path.
Create sequential points The pen tool has no modifier icon when you are in the middle of placing a series of anchor points. Clicking the Stage adds points and segments to the path you are creating.
Add anchor point A plus sign appears when you position the pointer over a selected path, between anchor points. In this mode, double-clicking the path between two corner points adds a new corner point; double-clicking between two curve points (or between a curve and a corner point) adds a curve point. Single-clicking the path starts a new branching path; click away from the existing path to complete the first segment of the branch.
Convert curve point to corner point A caret appears when you position the pen pointer over a curve point in a selected path. Click the curve point and it changes to a corner point.
Delete corner point A minus sign appears when you position the pen pointer over a corner point in a selected path. Click the corner point and Flash removes it.
Extend path A slash appears when you position the pen pointer over a terminal anchor point (the first or last point in an open path). Clicking the point links the pen tool to that path; now clicking on the Stage creates a new point that extends the existing path.
Close path A circle modifier icon appears when you position the pen pointer over the initial anchor point of the path you are currently creating. (The circle also appears if you are using the pen tool to create a merge-shape path and you position the pointer over a terminal anchor point in a different merge-shape path.)
Join drawing-object path A chain-link modifier icon appears when you are creating a new path, and you position the pen pointer over one of the terminal anchor points in an existing drawing-object path.
To convert a corner point to a curve point:
- Use the subselection tool to highlight the path and anchor points of the path you want to modify.
- In the Tools panel, click the current Bézier tool and from the submenu that opens, choose Convert Anchor Point Tool
.
The pointer changes to an upward-pointing caret.
- Position the caret pointer over a corner point.
- To activate Bézier handles, click the point, then drag away.
Flash converts the corner point to a curve point that has Bézier handles
. As you drag, the handles extend and move, modifying the curve.
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)
To convert a curve point to a corner point:
- Using the subselection tool, select the path you want to modify.
- In the Tools panel, from the Bézier-tools submenu, select the convert– anchor-point tool.
- Position the caret pointer over a curve point.
- Click the curve point.
Flash converts the curve point to a corner point, removing the Bézier handles and flattening the curved path
.
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To delete an anchor point:
- Using the subselection tool, select the path you want to modify.
- In the Tools panel, click the current Bézier tool, and from the submenu that opens, choose the delete– anchor-point tool.
The pointer changes to a pen icon with a remove-point modifier icon (a minus sign).
- Position the pointer over an anchor point and click.
Flash removes the anchor point and reshapes the path to connect the remaining points
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To add a point within a path:
- Use the subselection tool to select the path you want to modify.
- In the Tools panel, from the Bézier-tool menu, select the add–anchor-point tool.
The pointer changes to a pen with a plus-sign modifier icon.
- Position the pointer over the path and do any of the following:
- Click between two corner points to create a new corner point.
- Click between two curve points to create a new curve point.
- Click between a corner point and a curve point to create a new curve point.
Flash adds a new point
.
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To extend an existing path:
- In the Tools panel, from the Bézier-tool submenu, select the pen tool.
- Position the pointer over the anchor point at either end of the path (a terminal anchor point).
The continue-path modifier icon—a small slash—appears next to the pen icon.
- Click the terminal anchor point.
The pen links to that point as if you’d just placed it.
- Click to add points as you learned to do in Chapter 2.
Note that to create a single unified path, the pen tool and the existing path must be in the same drawing mode. If the existing path is a drawing-object and the pen is set to Merge Drawing mode (or vice versa), Flash places the points, but the segments remain separate.