Drawing Tools

Pencil, Brush and Pen tools

Those tools are used to draw free lines. The difference is that Pencil drawing is considered as the line, but Brush drawing is treated like Fill without contour. So if you try to bend the straight line drawn with the pencil it simply makes the arc from it. But if you bend the straight line made with Brush you will change it’s thickness – the Arrow tool will affect only one side of the brush line.

Pencil has one option (again at the lower part in the Tools panel) – to change a mode. Flash may automatically straighten or smooth the line you have drawn. It will optimize line and can make your drawing more “correct”. Also you may choose “freehand” option and line will reflect mouse movement exactly (in contrary if you use “smooth” or “straighten” option) drawings are “set” slightly when you release the drawing mouse button. You also may “smooth” or “straighten” existing line if you select it and then click the appropriate option button. Of course you may also change line thickness and color.

Brush tool is more versatile than Pencil. You may change not only thickness but also a shape of the brush (like round, rectangular). One of the important brush options is a “paint” – in the meaning what is painted with the brush. “Paint normal” paints everything. “Paint fills” leaves lines intact. “Paint behinds” doesn’t touch what is drawn already on the stage. “Paint inside” doesn’t cross the contour line of the closed shape if you started brush inside it. “Paint selection” applies only to selected fills.

So you need to experiment with brushes a lot and you will find them extremely useful for the drawings.

Pen tool allow you create a line by clicking on the vertexes of it. Depress Pen tool and click mouse several times on the stage – Flash will draw a straight line fragments between points of clicking. If you click and drag mouse Pen will draw a curves between points.

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