Working with Guide Layers


Flash offers two types of guide layers: guides and motion guides. Plain old guides can contain any kind of content: lines, shapes, or symbols. The contents of a regular guide layer merely serve as a point of reference to help you position items on the Stage. Flash doesn't include the graphic content of guide layers in the final exported movie.

Motion-guide layers contain a single line that directs the movement of an animated element along a path. (To learn more about creating and animating with motion guides, see Chapter 9.) Another distinction to remember is that Flash creates motion guides by adding a new layer directly to the Timeline. To create plain guides, you must redefine an existing layer as a guide layer.

To create a plain guide layer

1.

Do either of the following:

  • Create a new layer in the Timeline (for example, by clicking the Insert Layer button). Flash selects the new layer.

  • Select a layer that already exists.

2.

Control-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) the layer you want to define as a guide, and choose Guide from the contextual menu (Figure 6.27).

Figure 6.27. Select Guide as the layer type in the contextual menu for layers to change a normal layer to a guide layer.


Flash turns the selected layer into a guide layer and places a little T-square icon before the layer name (Figure 6.28).

Figure 6.28. Select a layer (top) and define it as a guide layer. In the Timeline, Flash identifies the guide layer with a T-square icon; compare that with the icon for the motion-guide layer (bottom).


You can rename the layer to identify it as a guide, if you wish.

3.

To make guide elements easier to use, do either of the following:

  • Choose View > Snapping > Snap to Objects (Figure 6.29).

    Figure 6.29. Choose View > Snapping > Snap to Objects (top) to force items that you drag to snap to other lines or shapes, such as those on a guide layer (bottom).


    Flash forces items that you draw or drag to snap to lines or shapes.

  • Choose View > Snapping > Snap Align.

    Flash displays alignment guides as you drag shapes or graphic-objects near to other shapes or graphic-objects. Now you can more easily align items to the elements on your guide layers.

Tips

  • When you've placed guide elements where you need them for a certain scene, lock the guide layer so you don't move the guides accidentally as you draw on other layers.

  • The Snap to Guide feature sounds like it might help you snap to items on a guide layer, but it doesn't. The guides in this mode are the guide lines you drag out from rulers (see Chapter 1).

  • Because the graphic content of guide layers doesn't become part of your published movie, you can use guide layers as a space for making notes to yourself, or instructions to other people who may be working on the file.





Macromedia Flash 8 for Windows & Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide
Macromedia Flash 8 for Windows & Macintosh
ISBN: 0321349636
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 204

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