Overview

In This Chapter

Sampling and swapping fills and line styles

Applying the Gradient Transform tool to control gradient and bitmap fills

Using Modify Shape options

Working with the Free Transform tool and the Info panel: Skewing and rotating

Stacking, grouping, and arranging item types

Combining Drawing Objects

Creating and managing compound shapes

Using Break apart and Trace bitmap

Autopilot editing with Find and Replace

Using the History panel to create custom commands

After becoming familiar with the Flash authoring environment and learning to use the Drawing tools, you are now ready to move on to the fun part: messing with the basic shapes and text elements you have made to achieve custom results.

In this chapter, we revisit some of the core tools to show you new ways to apply them. We also introduce some specialized tools that exist only to transform your artwork. Following a look at how the Eyedropper, Paint Bucket, and Ink Bottle work together to modify strokes and fills, we'll show you how to use the Gradient Transform tool to create custom fills.

The Modify Shape submenu offers some special commands you can apply to alter lines and fills, whereas the Modify Transform submenu includes various options for skewing, stretching, rotating, flipping, and rotating shapes.

Before explaining the Flash stacking order and how to create compound shapes, we introduce the powerful Free Transform tool and the Envelope modifier that enables you to warp and distort multiple shapes simultaneously. Other features worth exploring include the stepped Break apart command on text and the indispensable Distribute to Layers command — these two features combined make animating text infinitely easier than it was in early versions of Flash.

Last but not least, we'll cover the Find and Replace command and the History panel. We'll introduce the options for these flexible features and demonstrate some ways you can use them to modify your graphics, without even using any tools!

As we introduce various techniques and tools, we show you how to apply them for modifying artwork and adding the illusion of depth and texture to your 2D graphics.