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Flash Drawing

Contributed by Benz on August 9th, 2008 Categories: Flash

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The drawing tools in Flash let you create and modify shapes for the artwork in your movies. For an interactive introduction to drawing in Flash, choose Help > Lessons > Drawing in your Flash program.

The tools for painting are kept in the “Tools” bar, usually positioned at the left top of your Flash Screen.

On the following pages we will guide you through the use of each of these tools, starting with the simplest.

But before going through the different tools, we will look at the way Flash handle drawings.

The most important thing to understand is the distinction between outlines and fills.

When you draw a line there is no fill - only the outline.

When you draw a rectangle (or a circle) you actually draw two things: The outline (border) and the fill. Unlike most other programs, Flash doesn’t automatically combine these two into one object.

PENCIL TOOL

The Pencil tool is used in much the same way that you would use a real pencil to draw. Simply select the tool and drag on the Stage to draw with the Pencil tool.

SHIFT key : Constrain directions

You can press the Shift key while dragging to constrain lines to vertical or horizontal directions.

Colors

You can specify the color with the Stroke Color Tool.

Smoothing and Straightening

You can apply smoothing or straightening to the lines by setting a Pencil mode.

Stroke panel : Window > Panels > Stroke

Finally, you can specify line style (solid, dotted etc.), line width in pixels and color using the Stroke panel.

BRUSH TOOL

The Brush tool draws brushlike strokes, as if you were painting. It lets you create special effects, including calligraphic effects.

Unlike the Pencil tool, the Brush tool draws both a fill and an outline.

SHIFT key : Constrain directions

You can press the Shift key while dragging to constrain drawing to vertical or horizontal directions.

Colors

You can specify the color with the Stroke and Fill Color tools.

Brush Modes

You can specify the Brush Mode in order to define the way the tool works:

Paint Normal - paints over lines and fills on the same layer.
Paint Behind - paints in blank areas of the Stage on the same layer, leaving lines and fills unaffected.
Paint Selection - applies a new fill to the selection when you select a fill in the Fill modifier or the Fill panel. (This option is the same as simply selecting a filled area and applying a new fill.)
Paint Fills - paints fills and empty areas, leaving lines unaffected.
Paint Inside - paints the fill in which you start a brush stroke and never paints lines. This works much like a smart coloring book that never allows you to paint outside the lines. If you start painting in an empty area, the fill doesn’t affect any existing filled areas.

Brush Shape

Finally, the Brush options lets you select the shape of the brush. Try experimenting with the different shapes and see what effect each offers.

Lock Fill

The last option listed under Brush options, is the Lock Fill option. The explanation for this is a bit tricky.

When you use the brush tool in it’s default state this option is not turned on. Let’s assume that you selected a gradient fill and painted something using the brush tool. In this case the brush tool would use the center of your painting as the center for the gradient fill.

Now, if you paint yet another drawing next to the first one, Flash will use the new drawing’s center as center for the gradient fill.

However, had you pressed the “Lock Fill” option before drawing the second painting, Flash will maintain the gradient center from the first painting.

The best way to understand this option is trial and error, so if you don’t get the above explanation, then try painting with and without the “Lock Fill” option set. While doing so, make sure that you use a gradient fill for the drawing or you won’t see any effect at all (because plain colored fills have no center).

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