Once you've got your work space settled comfortably, let's try drawing something. Under the top section of the Tools panel, click on the button depicting a white circle outlined in black; this is the Oval Tool. You can use this to draw any circular shape. Below the rest of the tools are two color-picker windows: one for the "Stroke" (represented by a graphic of a pencil) and the other for the "Fill" (represented by a graphic of a paint bucket). The stroke is the color of the shape's outline, while the fill is the color inside the shape. I'm going to set my stroke to black and my fill to a dark blue, and then draw a small circle in the upper left corner of my canvas by clicking and then dragging until the shape is at the desired size before releasing.
Creating Your First Flash Animation
By Adrien-Luc Sanders, About.com Guide
Introduction to the Primary Toolbar and Drawing a Shape
Creating a Shape Using Flash's Tools
Positioned to the left side of the window, you'll see the Tools panel, with icons giving you access to the primary functions you'll need to start drawing and animating in Flash. To start with, you can click the icon that looks like a hand, in the left-hand column about halfway down under the "View" heading. This is the (aptly and amusingly named) Hand Tool; if you click and drag your mouse in your work area with this tool selected, you can literally drag your canvas about until it's positioned where you please.
Prev
- Opening a New Movie File in Flash
- Adjusting Document Settings
- Introduction to the Primary Toolbar and Drawing a Shape
- Viewing the Timeline
- Converting Your Shape to a Symbol
- Creating a New Key Frame
- Moving Your Symbol on a New Frame
- Adding a Motion Tween to Your Animation
- Conclusion
Explore Animation
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