Subtitles of the Movie

Now that you have had a chance to use some of Flash's drawing tools, it's now time to learn about Flash's two drawing models. The Merge drawing model and the object drawing model,the drawing models define how multiple shapes interact with each other, particularly when you create overlapping shapes and how you will be working with each shape. An example of a Merge Object and a Drawing Object here, notice that they look identical. This is the Merged Object, notice how it has this stippled area here and when I double click on it, it behaves very differently than when I double click on the object here. Notice when I double click on the Object Model, actually the shape that was drawn with the Object Drawing model, it goes into the Drawing Object, where if I double click on it now, it behaves as a Merged Object. So In this movie, I will be showing you comparisons and examples and explaining the difference between these two drawing models. The Merged Drawing Mode, which is the default Drawing model in versions of Flash previous to Flash 8, automatically merges overlapping shapes. As a result, if you create overlapping shapes and then move the shapes away from each other, you end up with broken or merged shapes, so let's move this object out of the way and go back to my Tools panel. And with my Object Drawing mode turned off, let's draw another merged shape on top of that first one and let's double click on it. Notice that it gets that stippled area there and let's change the color to a dark blue. And now let's de-select that object and then grab it and move it away. Two things that you will notice is that at first it leaves a stroke behind, let's undo that and now let's double click on that merged shape. And move it away. This time, the stroke comes with the object, but it cuts out some of the other merged object underneath it. In this case, I will cover the other object completely, deselect the other merged shape and then move it off. And notice that the other object underneath it is completely gone. I need to double click on that to make sure I bring the stroke with it. That is one major difference between the two drawing models. When using the Merge Drawing mode, Flash will automatically merge overlapping shapes, so as a result, if you create overlapping shapes and then move the shape away from each other, you end up with broken or merged shapes or in this case, completely destroyed the shape underneath it. Now, for many users, this merge drawing model was difficult to understand because it was so different from other drawing programs like Illustrator or Fireworks or Photoshop. However, Flash CS3 has an additional drawing model, the Object Drawing model, which provides a greater deal of control and flexibility when creating multiple or overlapping objects. In addition, the Object Drawing model behaves much the way that other drawing programs behave, making it much easier to learn. You will access the Object Drawing model using the Toolbar here, for those drawing tools that do support the Object Drawing model, you will click on the tool and you will have a button here in the lower left hand corner, press the button to move in to the Object Drawing model. Notice that if I do create a drawing object instead of a merge object, if I click just once on that object, I do not leave the stroke behind, that is one sure way to know that you are working in the Object Drawing model, compare that to this merged object, click on it once and move it and a stroke is left behind. Just undo that. Perhaps the most important distinction between the two models is that when you use the Object Drawing model to create your shapes, they do not interfere or merge with the shapes underneath them. Notice this holds true for both kinds of objects, merge objects and shape objects. Notice that I'm moving my object here that I created in the Object Drawing model over my merged object. Selecting it and then de-selecting it and then moving it off and it does not interfere or merge with that object - with either object. Again, objects created here in the Object Drawing model behave much the same way as other drawing programs, making this a little bit easier to learn, so you probably want to start off in Flash CS3, using the Object Drawing model when you can. Not all tools support it, but notice the rectangle tool has both drawing modes. This includes all the tools here under the Geometric Tools option, including the rectangle tool, oval tool, rectangle primitive tool, oval primitive, polystar tool, all have the Object and the Merge Drawing models as well as the pencil tool. Notice you can move in and out of objects. Drawing mode as well as the brush tool. Notice that some of the other tools do not have the two drawing models including the Paint Bucket, the Eraser, Eye Dropper, because you are not actually creating shapes with those tools. Now that you've got a grounding in the theory of how graphics are created in Flash, including lines and strokes, fills and you now understand the two Flash drawing models, let's now go through the various tools here in the Toolbar, starting with the Geometric shape tools, underneath the Rectangle tool here in the Toolbar.