This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Editing shapes
When drawing in Animate, you’ll often start with simple shapes such as rectangles, ovals, and lines. But to create more complex graphics, you’ll use other tools to modify those base shapes. The Free Transform tool, the Copy and Paste commands, and the Selection tool can help speed up your workflow.
Using Copy and Paste
Use the Copy and Paste commands to easily duplicate shapes on the Stage. Your octopus needs two eyes, so copying and pasting will come in handy.
Select the Selection tool, and drag it around the entire drawing of your eye.
Choose Edit > Copy (Command+C/Ctrl+C).
The eye is copied.
Choose Edit > Paste (Command+V/Ctrl+V).
A duplicate eye appears on the Stage. The duplicate remains selected.
Move the duplicate eye close to your original eye.
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Using Free Transform
The duplicate eye needs to be flipped to make it look right. You’ll use the Free Transform tool to make it a mirror image of itself. You can also use the Free Transform tool to change an object’s scale, rotation, or skew (the way it is slanted), or to distort an object by dragging control points around a bounding box.
Choose Modify > Transform > Flip Horizontal.
The object flips, and you now have a right eye and a left eye.
Choose the Free Transform tool from the Tools panel.
Transformation handles appear on the eye.
Drag a corner point inward to make the left eye a little smaller. Hold down the Shift key while dragging to constrain the proportions so that the eye maintains the same aspect ratio.
Have fun making the second eye a little crazy. You can drag the corner points to squash or stretch an object or to rotate the object. You can also drag the sides of the bounding box to skew the object so that it appears slanted.
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Changing shape contours
With the Selection tool, you can push and pull lines and corners to change the overall contours of any shape. It’s a fast and intuitive way of working with shapes. You’ll use this technique to create the organic shape of the octopus head and body.
Insert a new layer on the timeline and name it body. Drag it so that it is below the octopus layer, which currently contains the eyes.
In the Tools panel, select the Oval tool. Choose a green color for the fill (#33CCCC) and black for the stroke.
Create three overlapping ovals, similar to the following figure, off to the side of the eyes. You don’t have to be exact here since you’ll edit these shapes.
Select the black outlines and press the Delete key.
The black strokes are deleted.
Move your mouse cursor close to the side of one of the ovals.
A curved line appears near your cursor, indicating that you can change the curvature of the stroke.
Drag the stroke outward.
The side of the oval bends, giving the octopus head a slight bulge. Push and pull on the contours of the three ovals to create a more organic, bulbous head and natural-looking brow ridge for your octopus.
If you want to create a new corner point so that you can change the directions of a curve, hold down the Option/Alt key while you drag on the curve.
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Changing strokes and fills
If you want to change the properties of any stroke or fill, you can use the Ink Bottle tool or the Paint Bucket tool. The Ink Bottle tool changes stroke colors; the Paint Bucket tool changes fill colors. The check mark next to the quick key indicates the currently selected tool that is displayed in the Tool panel.
Select the Paint Bucket tool and choose a new fill color in the Properties panel. Click a fill to change its color.
Select the Ink Bottle tool (hidden under the Paint Bucket tool) and choose a new stroke color in the Properties panel. You can also choose the thickness and style of the stroke. Click a stroke to change its properties.
You can also simply select a stroke or a fill on the Stage and change its properties by using the Properties panel.