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USING FLASH CS4 PROFESSIONAL
Creating and Editing Artwork
Drawing settings
1
Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Flash
> Preferences (Macintosh) and select Drawing.
2
Under the Drawing category, select from the following options:
Pen tool
Lets you set options for the Pen tool. Select Show Pen Preview to display a preview line from the last clicked
point to the current location of the pointer. Select Show Solid Points to display control points as small filled squares
instead of unfilled squares. Select Show Precise Cursors to display a crosshair cursor instead of the Pen tool icon when
using the Pen tool. This option lets you see the exact target of clicks more easily.
Connect Lines
Determines how close the end of a line being drawn must be to an existing line segment before the end
point snaps to the nearest point on the other line. This setting also controls horizontal and vertical line recognition—
that is, how nearly horizontal or vertical a line must be drawn before Flash makes it exactly horizontal or vertical.
When Snap To Objects is turned on, this setting controls how close objects must be to snap to one another.
Smooth Curves
Specifies the amount of smoothing applied to curved lines drawn with the Pencil tool when the
drawing mode is set to Straighten or Smooth. (Smoother curves are easier to reshape, whereas rougher curves match
the original line strokes more closely.)
Note:
To further smooth existing curved segments, use Modify > Shape > Smooth and Modify > Shape > Optimize.
Recognize Lines
Defines how nearly straight a line segment drawn with the Pencil tool must be before Flash recognizes
it as a straight line and makes it perfectly straight. If Recognize Lines is off while you draw, straighten lines later by
selecting one or more line segments and selecting Modify > Shape > Straighten.
Recognize Shapes
Controls how precisely to draw circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, and 90° and 180° arcs for them to
be recognized as geometric shapes and redrawn accurately. The options are Off, Strict, Normal, and Tolerant. Strict
requires that the shape be drawn very close to straight; Tolerant specifies that the shape can be somewhat rough, and
Flash redraws the shape. If Recognize Shapes is off while you draw, straighten lines later by selecting one or more
shapes (for example, connected line segments) and selecting Modify > Shape > Straighten.
Click Accuracy
Specifies how close to an item the pointer must be before Flash recognizes the item.
Specify the Selection, Subselection, and Lasso tool contact-sensitivity options when you create shapes using Object
Drawing mode. By default, objects are only selected when the tool’s marquee rectangle completely surrounds the
object. Deselecting this option selects entire objects when they are only partially enclosed by the selection marquee of
the Selection, Subselection, or Lasso tools.
Selection, Subselection, and Lasso tool contact options
1
Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Flash
> Preferences (Macintosh).
2
In the General category, do one of the following:
•
To select only objects and points that are completely enclosed by the selection marquee, deselect Contact-Sensitive
Selection and Lasso tools. Points that lie within the selection area are still selected.
•
To select objects or groups that are only partially enclosed by the selection marquee, select Contact-Sensitive
Selection and Lasso tools.
Note:
The Subselection tools use the same contact-sensitive setting.
Updated 5 March 2009
