Adobe Flash CS4 Professional for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide

Using Armatures to Connect Symbols

Chapter 13

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Using Armatures to

Connect Symbols

When you use IK armatures to connect two

or more symbol instances, the whole struc-

ture moves together, something like a mari-

onette puppet. You can link symbol instances

in linear or branching fashion or use a combi-

nation, where one or more branches extend

in linear fashion. In a simpli ed cartoon body,

for example, you might have three bones

branching from the base of the character’s

About IK Drawing Preferences

When an IK bone connects two symbol instances, the ends of the bone (its head and tail)

create points around which the attached symbol instances rotate. A symbol instance has its

own point of rotation, the transformation point. How do the two work together?  ere are two

styles. Flash can set the transformation point wherever you create a head/tail point, or you

can have Flash force the bone to start or end at the symbol instance’s existing transformation

point. By default, when you click with the

bone tool to create a bone’s head, or release

the mouse button to create the bone’s tail,

Flash moves the transformation point

to the spot where you clicked or released.

To change the setting, choose Flash (Mac)

or Edit (Windows) > Preferences. In the

Preferences dialog, choose Drawing

from the category list. To have Flash retain

the current transformation point, in the

IK Bone Tool section, deselect the Auto

Set Transformation Point check box

(Figure 13.1). Now when you create IK

bones, the head (or tail) point snaps to

the existing transformation point of the

symbol instance.  e tasks in this chapter

use the default style.

Figure 13.1 In the Drawing category of the Preferences

dialog, in the IK Bone Tool section, deselect the Auto

Set Transformation Point check box to have Flash

preserve the transformation points of the symbol

instances as you create IK bones. The head or tail of

the bone snaps to the existing transformation point

when you add a bone to the symbol instance.

neck; one connects to the head, a second

connects to the right shoulder, a third to

the left shoulder. Each shoulder bone could

connect in linear fashion to bones for the

upper arm, forearm, and hand. For the tasks

in this section, you’ll create a linear armature.

(Because you can also use IK armatures with

shapes, make sure that any artwork you’re

planning to connect in symbol form has in

fact been converted into symbols before you

start linking with the IK bone tool.)