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Modifying Simple Graphics in Adobe Flash Professional CS6

Oct 1, 2012

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Converting Shape Types

Flash offers a variety of shape types: fills, strokes, merge-shapes, drawing-objects, primitives, and text. You can convert some shape types into others. For example, you can convert strokes to fills, merge-shapes to drawing-objects (and vice versa), and primitive-shapes to merge-shapes and drawing-objects. You can also convert text, a special type of fill, to a regular drawing-object fill (for TLF text) or merge-shape fill (for Classic text). You cannot, however, convert merge-shapes or drawing-objects to primitive-shapes.

To convert a stroke to a fill

Select a stroke on the Stage.
Choose Modify > Shape > Convert Lines to Fills.

Flash converts the stroke to a fill shape that looks exactly like the stroke. You can now edit the path of the “stroke’s” outline as though you were working with a fill created with the brush tool .

You can convert a stroke, such as this line drawn with the pencil tool (top), to a fill. The fill’s outline then has its own editable path (middle and bottom).

To convert a merge-shape or a primitive to a drawing-object

On the Stage, select a single merge-shape or primitive-shape.
Choose Modify > Combine Objects > Union. Flash converts the selected shape to a drawing-object, and it remains selected .

To convert the shape currently selected on the Stage into a drawing-object, choose Modify > Combine Objects > Union.

TIP

The Modify > Combine Objects commands (Union, Intersect, Punch, and Crop) work on multiple selected drawing-objects and primitives. The last three commands work on overlapping drawing-objects or primitives. In effect, these commands convert the drawing-objects or primitives to merge-shapes (so they will interact) and then convert the resulting shape (or shapes) back into a drawing-object. Note that primitives lose their status as primitives when you combine them. (You’ll learn more about combining shapes in Chapter 5.)

Converting Vector Shapes to Bitmaps

When creating Flash content, you may use images containing dozens, even hundreds, of shapes. Each one is a vector object that must be rendered for display. As a result, complex vector images may slow playback (especially on hardware with lower processing power, such as Android devices). They also can slow playback when you test a movie during authoring.

To address slowdown for static vector images at runtime, you can export them as bitmaps when you publish your movie (see Chapter 17).

To avoid slowdown during authoring, you can convert complex vector art on the Stage to bitmaps. Select the vector shapes that won’t need to animate (a complex background image, for example), and then choose Modify > Convert to Bitmap. Flash encloses the selection in a bounding box, converts it to a bitmap, and places a copy of the bitmap in the library. Just be sure to wait until your vector image is complete before converting, or save a copy of it to modify and use later. For even better practice, create your artwork in a symbol. You can then convert an instance of the symbol to a bitmap. (You’ll learn about creating symbols in Chapter 7.)

To convert a drawing-object or a primitive to a merge-shape

On the Stage, select a drawing-object or primitive-shape.
Choose Modify > Break Apart, or press Command-B (OS X) or Ctrl-B (Win). Flash converts the selected drawing-object or primitive-shape to a merge-shape; it remains selected.

To convert a block of TLF text into individual drawing-objects

Select a TLF text field on the Stage. If the selected field links to other TLF text fields with threaded text, Flash selects all of the linked fields.
Choose Modify > Break Apart, or press Command-B (OS X) or Ctrl-B (Win). Flash transforms each letter in the selection into a drawing-object and selects it .

With TLF text fields selected (top), you can transform each letter into a separate drawing object (bottom) by choosing Modify > Break Apart.

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