Flash Tip: Program Tools: Pencil Tool

Using The Pencil Tool, you can draw lines (remember, lines and fills aren't the same) on your stage the same way that you would with a pencil on paper. This can be a little difficult with your mouse, but if you have a graphics tablet it can afford you a great deal of freedom.

Even if you're using a mouse, however, you can use the Pencil Tool's options to smooth your drawings out a bit. By selecting any of the following options, you can:

• Ink: draw freeform with no corrections/adjustments (From left to right, the first in the set of...ah....green squiggles, for lack of a better term.)
• Smooth: have Flash take your freeform lines as you draw them and smooth them into less "wrinkly" flows and curves. (The second in the image depicted above.)
• Straighten: have Flash take your freeform lines as you draw them and adjust them into interconnected straight lines of any length, for a bit of a "jagged" look. (The third in the depicted "squiggles".)