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USING FLASH CS4 PROFESSIONAL
Creating and Editing Artwork
Moving and resizing direction lines changes the slope of curves.
Drawing modes and graphic objects
In Flash, you can create several different kinds of graphic objects by using different drawing modes and drawing tools.
Each kind has its own advantages and disadvantages. By understanding the capabilities of the different graphic object
types, you can make good decisions about which types of objects to use in your work.
Note:
In Flash, graphic objects are items on the Stage. Flash lets you move, copy, delete, transform, stack, align, and group
graphic objects. “Graphic objects” in Flash are different from “ActionScript objects,” which are part of the ActionScript
®
programming language. Do not confuse the two uses of the term “objects.” For more information on objects in the
programming language, see About Data Types in
Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Adobe Flash
, or Data types in
Programming ActionScript 3.0.
Merge Drawing mode
The default drawing mode automatically merges shapes that you draw when you overlap them. When you draw shapes
that overlap each other in the same layer, the top-most shape cuts away the part of the shape underneath it that it
overlaps. In this way, drawing shapes is a destructive drawing mode. For example, if you draw a circle and overlay a
smaller circle on top of it, and then select the smaller circle and move it, the portion of the second circle that overlaid
the first circle is removed.
When a shape has both a stroke and a fill, they are considered separate graphic elements that can be selected and moved
independently.
Shapes created with the Merge Drawing mode merge together when they overlap. Selecting a shape and moving it results in the overlaid shape
being altered.
Enter Merge Drawing mode
1
Select the Merge Drawing option in the Tools panel.
Updated 5 March 2009