Flash: Building Blocks - The Tools Pane
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Back in the Stone Age, primitive man drew with his hands and with clay or dyes squeezed from plants. Maybe he used a stick. Whatever tools he used, there were definitely none available to allow him to animate the world he saw around him. The were no prehistoric versions of Flash. And if there were, you could be certain they would have eaten it. I mean come on...they were caveman after all.
Although the Tools Pane sounds like it would hurt (haha wordplay!), it offers the user a variety of ways to make drawing in flash simple. I'll walk you through what each tool's function is and how it is used.
The Selection and Subselection Tools
The first two buttons on the Toolbars Pane look like the typical pointer you see when you move your mouse around. The one on the left side is your Selection Tool. I know -- you are sitting there scratching your head wondering what in the world this button could possibly be used for. Well don't hurt yourself Einstein; it's used to Select objects. Below is a list of how to select different objects.
Note: In addition to clicking on the Selection Button, you can also press the V button.
Select fill, group, instance, text block, or a stroke: Click the object.
Select a filled shape and its outline: Double-click the filled space.
Select lines that are connected: Double-click one of the lines.
Select objects within an area: Drag the marquee over the object(s) you wish to select.
Select more than one object without marquee: Hold shift and click each object.
You can also use the selection tool to reshape a line or an object. To do this, select the Selection Tool and click on a line, holding your mouse button down. Then simply drag the line in whichever direction you wish to change the shape to. In addition, if you wish to create a new corner point, simply hold down the CTRL button, click and hold the line, and drag it in whichever direction you choose.
The Lasso Tool
Well pardner, there comes a time when simply pointing at an object isn't good enough. Sometimes you gotta hop on yer horse, grab that old lasso, and rustle 'em up. And that's where the Lasso Tool comes in handy. For those of you that have never been on a farm or watched a western movie, or have never seen a rope before, the Lasso Tool looks like a Q written backwards. It is the fourth button on the Tools Pane (the second down on the right). It is used when you only wish to select a specific part of an object.
Say you just put a photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the stage. Now you want to remove Brad Pitt's head and put your own over his body. First you would click the Lasso Tool, then drag it around the part of the object you wish to select (in this case Brad's head). Once selected, you could drag the head around for a while, maybe place it beneath Angelina's feet. Or you could hit the delete button and say so long Brad, hello Jolie.
Note: You can also press the L key to select the Lasso Tool.
The Free Transform Tool
Unlike the Summer Blockbuster Transformers, the Free Transform tool is useful and good. Its function is to transform objects by allowing you to rotate, move, adjust the scale, skew, and distort them.
The Pen Tool
The Pen tool allows you to draw a straight (or curved) line even if you have no artistic ability whatsoever. It does this by allowing you to select where each point of the line goes, and then filling the space in between.
For straight lines: Choose the Pen Tool, click the starting point, then continue clicking for additional points. For example, if you wanted to draw a square, you would click where the four corners of the square will be. On the last corner, or when you are through with the object, you simply double-click on the last segment, and Flash will fill in the lines for you. To think of it in simple terms, it is like a game of connect the dots, where flash does all the connecting for you.
For Curved Lines: Click where you wish the curve to begin, then drag to create the curve. Release the mouse button and Flash creates the curved line.
The Text Tool
The Text tool is probably my favorite tool, partly because it reminds me of the baddest mama jama to come rolling out of the eighties, Mr. T. Mostly though, it's my favorite because it lets me insert text onto the stage, and I am all about the text. I pity the fool that doesn't like the Text Tool!
The Text Tool allows you to create three types of text: Dynamic text (text that updates), Input Text (allows users to enter text), and Static Text (allows you to enter text). To use the tool, simply click the giant T in the tool pane and click an area on the stage you would like the text to appear. You can change the properties of the text by using the Property Inspector, which will be discussed later on.
The Line Tool
Sometimes you need to draw a line in the sand. For that you would use a stick. To draw a line in flash however, you would use the Line Tool. To do so, simply click the Line Tool (or press N on your keyboard) click a spot on the stage, drag your cursor to draw the line, and release your mouse button. You can adjust the stroke of the pen by using the Property Inspector.
Next: The Tools Pane continued >>
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