Using Layout Aids


You don't have to position everything by simply eyeballing it. Flash includes many aides to help you precisely position and size objects. These aides include snapping, grids, guides, guide layers, and the align tool.

Snapping

Snapping helps position objects relative to each other and to the stage. When the Snapping option is turned on (see Figure 9.29), your object snaps into place when you position it close to its desired location. To set how objects snap, open the Edit Snapping interface by choosing View, Snapping, Edit Snapping, and select the snapping options you want (see Figure 9.29).

Figure 9.29. Quickly turn snapping on and off in the Tools Panel Options.


You can also adjust the Object spacing (how close the objects must be to a snapping guide for snapping to occur) and both the horizontal and vertical distance between objects in the Advanced area of the Edit Snapping interface (View, Snapping, Edit Snapping, Advanced), as shown in Figure 9.30. In previous versions of Flash, this was called snap tolerance.

Figure 9.30. Open the advanced Snap Align options by clicking on the Advanced button in the Edit Snapping interface.


Remember that snapping is especially important for text fields because this affects readability. Flash renders text more clearly when it is aligned on a pixel. If the text is aligned on a half pixel, it appears blurry.

Grids, Guides, and Guide Layers

The grid consists of uniformly arranged vertical and horizontal lines. It sits behind all drawn elements on the stage, and is not rendered at publishing time. From the View menu, you can hide or show the grid. You can customize the spacing of grid lines by going to View, Grid, Edit Grid. You can also set the color of the grid lines in the same panel.

In addition to the grid, you can use a guide to show an element with which you'd like your object to interact at a later frame, or to mark the position of where the two will meet. You can convert any element on the stage into a guide by placing it into a guide layer or setting its existing layer as a guide. Just like the grid, guides and guide layers are not rendered at publishing time. Guide layers can be restored easily to a normal layer.

Tip

If you're not sure an element will make it to final production, but don't want to delete it yet, set its layer as a guide layer and then make it a hidden layer. It will be there if you want it, but won't get in the way of what you're currently working on.


Sizing Shapes Precisely

You can numerically set the height, width, and position of a selected design element in the Property inspector. For example, imagine that you draw an oval on the stage that is roughly 40 pixels high and 70 pixels wide, and draw another oval that is roughly 30 by 50 pixels. What if you want both ovals to be precisely 34 pixels wide? When you select an oval, its properties become accessible in the Property inspector and you can set its width to exactly 34 pixels. The shape on the stage resizes accordingly.

You can also select Window, Transform to set the scale as a percentage (see Figure 9.31). Check the Constrain box to set the scale for both dimensions (height and width) at the same time by an equal percentage. For example, if you want to reduce a shape by 50%, turn on Constrain and set the width scale to 50%. The height scale resets automatically to 50% as well.

Figure 9.31. Resetting scale with the Transform panel.


The Align Panel

The Align panel (see Figure 9.32) enables you to perform several positioning and sizing tasks, including Align, Distribute, Match Size, and Space. It can be your best friend, but be sure to pay attention to whether it's set relative to selected symbols or to the stage. To apply the alignment options to objects on the stage, select the objects you want to align, open the Align panel by selecting Window, Align, and then click on one of the options in the Align panel. Shapes and symbols can be aligned on the left, right, top, or bottom edges, and can be centered vertically or horizontally.

Figure 9.32. Align panel.


The Match Size options set the smaller objects to the same size as the largest object selected. Be careful, though: If you set this to be relative to the stage, you'll have some very large objects. This is where the Undo button comes in handy.



Special Edition Using Macromedia Studio 8
Special Edition Using Macromedia Studio 8
ISBN: 0789733854
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 337

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