Using the Tools Panel


You have already used a few tools from the Tools panel in Lesson 1. In this lesson, you will learn more about what you can do with the drawing tools. There are four main parts of the Tools panel: tools area, view area, colors area, and options area. Each section contains buttons that do a task, but the buttons themselves are not labeled. However, if you hover over the tools with the mouse, a tooltip appears that tells you the name of the tool. A button can also have a menu attached to it. If so, there is a small black arrow at the lower right of the button. Click and hold the button to display the menu.

The tools in the Tools panel are used for creating, selecting, and manipulating graphics. They are also used for changing the view on the Stage, or the position of the Stage and its contents in the document window. Some tools have additional options, which display in the options area of the Tools panel when the tool is selected.

When you select a tool in the Tools panel, the contents of the Property inspector will change to reflect what the tool is being used to do. For instance, if you select the Text tool, the Property inspector switches to display the text properties you can edit, such as text type, font, and justification. When you have a drawing tool selected, stroke and fill options show on the Property inspector.

The Selection, Subselection, and Lasso tools are used to select elements on the Stage. The Line, Pen, Text, Oval, Rectangle, Polystar, Pencil, and Brush tools are used to create graphics. The Free Transform, Fill Transform, Ink Bottle, Paint Bucket, Eyedropper, and Eraser tools are for modifying graphics. In the view area, the Hand tool and Zoom tool are used to move the Stage around or magnify and minimize the Stage, respectively. The colors area is used to select stroke or fill colors when you create shapes. Remember that there are additional settings for each tool in the options area and/or Property inspector.




Macromedia Flash 8. Training from the Source
Macromedia Flash 8: Training from the Source
ISBN: 0321336291
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 230
Authors: James English

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