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In this chapter, we are going to look at creating artwork in Flash.
Before we start drawing shapes in Flash, I want to explain the two different
drawing types that Flash has. There is Object Drawing and there is Merge
Drawing. I'm going to use the Selection tool.
In object drawing, when you select a shape, it has a rectangle around it.
When the shape is selected, you'll see Drawing object in the Property Inspector.
A Drawing object is essentially a grouped shape.
When I select a Merge Drawing object on the right, instead of seeing a rectangle,
you see dots on the shape. In the Property Inspector, you'll see Shape.
The difference between merge drawing and object drawing is that you can click
and drag the selected portion of a merge drawing shape. From there, I can click
and drag to move that portion of the shape. To toggle merge drawing and object drawing,
simply select a Drawing tool, like the Oval tool, and then you can toggle the option
by clicking Object Drawing in the Toolbar and that's at the bottom of the Toolbar
and it's a rectangle with a circle inside of it.
When this button has a darker gray background, that means that object drawing
is selected as a drawing mode. When it has a lighter color, Merge Drawing is selected.
Another thing that's important about Object drawing and merge drawing is that
object drawing allows you to place multiple shapes in front or in back of each
other, whereas merge drawing does not. If you draw multiple shapes in front and back
of each other using merge drawing, the shapes will overlap and combine
to one shape. In other words, the shapes will merge.
The mode that you choose really depends upon your needs.
If you need to create cutout shapes, then you can use merge drawing.
If you want to create multiple shapes on the same layer, then object drawing is the best.
So there is a look at Object drawing and Merge drawing.
Throughout this chapter, we'll look at creating shapes using both drawing modes,
so you can get practice using them both.