Creating a Flash Document: Part 3

Drawing and placing objects on the stage

1. Select the Logo layer and select View>Rulers to turn on the rulers.This will allow you to create the guides necessary to accurately place the object you are about to draw.

2. Create a new layer named "Holder" and draw a rectangle in the middle of the stage. Fill it with the light olive green color in the logo by selecting the Rectangle, opening the Fill color chips on the Tools and clicking the light color in the bottom right corner of the logo.
   
3. Click on the horizontal ruler and drag a guide that runs along the top of the cut out in the logo. Do the same thing for a vertical guide on the left edge of the cut out.
   Guides, the white lines shown below, allow for the precise positioning and alignment of objects on the stage. You might want to zoom in on the guide locations if precision is critical. To change a guide color, select View>Edit Guides to open the Guides dialog box.

4. Click on the rectangle and, in the Property inspector set the width to 484 pixels and the height to 310 pixels.
   
5. Drag the rectangle to align its upper left corner at the intersection point of the guides.

When you release the mouse the square will “merge” with the cut out.
Though it may look like the logo and the rectangle have merged, the Object Drawing mode actually treats them as two separate objects. If you click and drag the rectangle away from the logo you will see it maintains its rectangular shape. Were you to have not used the Object Drawing mode, the rectangle, when you moved it, would have a cut out in the corner where it intersected with the logo and also would have cut out a piece of the shape located in the “Top” layer.

6. Add a new layer named TextBox. Draw a rectangle that uses these values:
   W= 452
   H= 215
   X= 49
   Y= 113
   Fill= #989A68
   
   
7. Add a new layer named “RedBar” and draw a rectangle in this layer. With the rectangle selected, use these values in the Property inspector:
   Width = 452
   Height = 30
   X= 49
   Y= 113
   F ill color = #730900
   
   
8. Add a new layer named “ExperBox” and draw a rectangle in this layer. With the rectangle selected, use these values in the Property inspector:
   Width = 175
   Height = 30
   X= 49
   Y= 113
   Fill color = #676735
   
   
9. Add a new layer named “Framer” and draw a rectangle in this layer. With the rectangle selected, use these values in the Property inspector:
   Width = 165
   Height = 129
   X= 328;
   Y= 143
   Fill color = #CACC9A.
   
   
10. Save your file.

Your layers and interface should resemble those shown below. By getting into the habit of using the Object Drawing mode, the frustration of objects merging on the stage is a thing of the past.

... Next

Who is tom green?

Teacher, author, raconteur. Here's a run down of what I have been up to over the past few years. My Bio.

Classes

• The Flash interface:
  Week 1
• ActionScript basics:
  Week 2
• Working with graphics:
  Week 3,4
• Working with text:
  Week 5
  
• Working with audio:
  Week 6,7
• Animation basics:
  Week 8
• Video basics:
  Week 9,10
• Building Stuff:
  Week 12,13,14

Class Project 1