Flash CS5 Basics Tutorial-using the stage and tools panel

　　Using the stage and tools panel

　　Use stage

The stage is a rectangular area where you place image content when you create a Flash file. Writing the stage in the environment represents the rectangular space in Flash player, or the Web browser window that displays the file when it is played. To change the view of the stage as you work, enlarge or shrink the stage. Use grid lines, leader lines, and rulers to help you schedule items on the stage.

　　Timeline and stage content.

Zoom the stage to view the entire stage on the screen, or to view a specific area of the drawing in a high magnification, change the zoom level. The maximum display scale varies according to the Monitor's resolution and file size. The minimum zoom display value for the stage is 8%. The maximum magnification display value for the stage is 2000%.

• To enlarge the display of an element, choose the Zoom tool in the Tools panel

Toggle between display, you can use either zoom in or zoom out to modify options (when the Zoom tool is selected, bit in the Tools Panel options area), or press ALT + click (Windows) or OPTION + click (Macintosh).

• To enlarge the display of a specific area in the drawing to fill the window, use the Zoom tool on the stage to drag out the rectangular selection.

• To zoom in or out to display the entire stage, choose either View > Zoom in or View > Shrink view.

• To enlarge or shrink the display by a specified percentage, choose View > Zoom, select a percentage from the submenu, or select a percentage from the zoom control in the upper-right corner of the document window.

• To zoom the stage to the fully compliant application window, choose View > Zoom > Fit window size.

• To display the contents of the current shadow, choose View > Zoom > Show All, or select Show all from the zoom control at the top right of the application window. If the scene is blank, the entire stage is displayed.

• To display the entire stage, choose View > Zoom > Show Shadow, or choose Show Shadow from the zoom control in the upper-right corner of the document window.

• To display the workspace around the stage, or to view some or all of the elements outside the stage area, choose View > Paste Board. The board will be shown in light gray. For example, to allow a bird to fly into a shadow, you can put a bird in a panel outside the stage, and then animate it into the stage area.

Move the stage view when the stage is enlarged, you may not see the full picture. To change the view without changing the zoom, use the Palm tool to move the stage.

• Select the Palm tool in the Tools panel and drag the stage. To temporarily switch between the hand tool and other tools, hold down the SPACEBAR, and then click the tool in the Tools panel.

Working with rulers

When the ruler appears, it appears along the top and left sides of the file. You can change the unit of measure used in the ruler from the default pixel to other units. When you move an element on the stage while you are displaying the ruler, the line representing the dimension of the element appears on the ruler.

• To show or hide the ruler, choose View > Ruler.

• To specify the unit of measure for the ruler for the file, choose Modify > file, and then select the unit from the Ruler units menu.

　　Using leader lines

When the ruler is displayed (View > Ruler), you can drag the horizontal and vertical leader lines from the ruler to the stage. If you create a nested timeline, the towed leader line is displayed on the stage only when the timeline where the nested timeline is established is in effect.

To create a custom leader line or an irregular leader line, use the leader line layer.

• To show or hide the drawing leader line, choose View > Leader line > Show leader Line. Note: If you can see gridlines while you are building the leader line and grid alignment is turned on, the leader line snaps to the grid line.

• To turn on or off the snap leader Line feature, choose View > Align > Align leader lines. Note: When the leader line falls between gridlines, the ability to align the leader lines takes precedence over the grid line alignment.

• To move a leader line, use the selection tool, click in one of the rulers, and drag the leader line to the position you want to place on the stage.

• To remove a leader line, use the selection tool to drag the leader line to the horizontal or vertical ruler when you unlock the leader line.

• To lock the leader line, choose View > Leader line > Lock leader Line, or use the Lock leader line option in the Edit leader line (View > Leader line > Edit Leader Line) dialog box.

• To clear the leader line, choose View > Leader line > Clear leader Line. In file editing mode, all leader lines in the file are purged. In edit component mode, only the leader lines that are used in the assembly are cleared.

Set leader Line Preferences

1 Select View > Leader line > Edit leader Line, and then do any of the following steps:

• To set a color, click the triangle in the color square, and then select the leader Line color from the panel. The preset leader line color is green.

• To show or hide a leader line, select or deselect show leader lines.

• To turn on or off the snap leader line feature, select or deselect Snap to grid.

• Select or deselect lock leader lines.

• To set the "alignment accuracy", choose an option from the pop-up menu.

• To remove all leader lines, click Clear All. Clear all to remove all leader lines from the current scene.

• To save your current settings as a default, click Save Preset.

2 Click OK.

　　Using grid lines

The gridlines appear in all scenes, with a set of lines following the pattern in the file.

Show or hide drawing gridlines ❖ Do one of the following:

• Select View > Gridlines > Display gridlines.

• Press CONTROL + "(single quote) (Windows), or Command + (single quote) (Macintosh).

Turn grid alignment on or off ❖ select View > Align > Grid alignment.

Set Gridline Preferences 1 Select View > Gridlines > Edit Gridlines, and then select the options you want. 2 to save your current settings as a default, click Save Preset.

　　About the main toolbar and editing columns

Select a single column at the top of the application window, where the menu contains commands for controlling the function.

The edit column is above the stage and contains controls and information for editing scenes and components and changing the scale of the stage display.

　　Using the Tools panel

Tools in the Tools panel allow you to draw, draw, select, and modify patterns, and to change the appearance of the stage. The tools panel can be divided into four areas:

• The tool area contains drawing, drawing, and selection tools.

• The view area contains tools for scaling and resizing in the application window.

• The color area contains modification options for strokes and fill colors.

• The option area contains the modification options for the currently selected tool. Modifying an option affects the drawing or editing job of the tool.

If you want to specify the tools to display in your authoring environment, use the Customize Toolbars dialog box. If you want to show or hide the Tools panel, choose Window > Tools.

Select Tool ❖ do one of the following:

• Click Tools in the Tools panel. Depending on the tool you select, a set of modification options for the tool may appear in the options area below the tools panel.

• Keyboard shortcuts by tool. If you want to view keyboard shortcuts, choose Edit > Keyboard shortcuts (Windows) or "flash > Keyboard shortcuts (Macintosh). On the Macintosh, you may need to move your mouse to see the new pointer.

• To select the visible tool (such as the Rectangle tool) in the pop-up menu, press the icon for the visible tool and choose another tool from the pop-up menu.

　　Custom Tools Panel

If you want to specify the tools that you want to display in your authoring environment, use the Customize Toolbars dialog box to add or remove tools on the toolbar.

When multiple tools are displayed in one location, the topmost tool in the group (the most recently used tool) is displayed, and an arrow appears in the lower-right corner of the icon. This arrow indicates that there are other tools in the pop-up menu. All the tools in the pop-up menu can use the same keyboard shortcut feature. When you hold down the mouse button on an icon, other tools in the group appear in the pop-up menu.

1 to display the Customize Toolbars dialog box, follow one of the following steps:

• (Windows) Choose Edit > Customize Toolbars.

• (Macintosh) Select "flash > Custom toolbars. The Available Tools menu shows the tools you can use today. The tool that is indicated in the current selection menu is currently assigned to the location selected in the Tools panel.

2 to browse the tool to find a location to assign to another tool, click the tool in the tools panel image or use the arrows.

3 to add a tool to the selected location, select the tool in the available tools list, and then click Add. You can assign the tool to more than one location.

4 to remove the tool from the selected location, select the tool in the current selection scroll list, and then click Remove.

5 If you want to restore the Toolbars panel, click Restore Defaults in the Customize Toolbars dialog box.

6 Click OK to apply your changes and close the Customize Toolbars dialog box.

Use the Quick Display menu

The Quick menu contains commands that are related to the current selection range. For example, when you select a shadow in the timeline window, the Quick Display menu contains commands to create, delete, and modify the Shadow and key shadows. Many of the items and controls in many locations have quick display menus, including on the stage, in the timeline, in the Component library panel, and in the Actions panel.

❖ Right-click (Windows) or press control on the project (Macintosh).