Flash CS5: The Missing Manual

Adding Color

The Colors section of the Tools panel lets you choose the colors for your strokes and fills. Before you click one of the drawing icons to begin drawing (or afterward, to change existing colors), you can click either of the Stroke or Fill icons in the Colors section to bring up a color palette, as shown in Figure 2-27. Choose a color from the color palette, and Flash applies that color to the objects you draw.

Figure 2-27. Before you begin drawing with the Pen or Pencil tools (both of which let you create strokes), you can choose the color of the Pen or Pencil by clicking the Stroke Color icon and then selecting a color from the palette that appears. If you want to change that color when you use the Brush tool (which creates fills), then you need to click the Fill Color icon (and select a color) before you click the Brush tool and begin to draw.

Changing the Color of a Stroke (Line)

One of the best things about drawing in Flash is how easy it is to change things around. If you draw a bright orange line using the Pencil tool, for example, you can change that line an instant later to spruce, chartreuse, or puce (and then back to orange again) with just a few simple mouse clicks.

Note

In Flash, all lines are made up of strokes. The Flash drawing tools that produce strokes include the Pencil, the Pen, the Line, and the shape tools (Oval, Rectangle, and PolyStar).

Flash gives you ...