Flash CS5: The Missing Manual

Drawing with the Deco Tool

The Deco tool lets you draw multiple complex shapes easily. In that way, it's similar to the Spray Brush tool, described above (Spray Painting Symbols). After you select the tool in the Tools panel, the Properties panel shows you the settings and options for the tool. Click the drop-down menu in the Drawing Effect subpanel (Figure 5-37), and you see that the Deco tool is actually three different tools: Vine Fill, Grid Fill, and Symmetry Brush. The designs created by each brush are different, but they all work by creating repeating patterns. For example:

• Use Vine Fill to create patterns on the stage or a selected symbol. Used on a background, the Vine Fill tool could create wallpaper for an interior scene. Used on a shape, Vine Fill could create the gift wrap for a present. Flash comes loaded with a leafy vine that you can use, as shown in Figure 5-37. Or you can provide your own symbols for the leaf and flower parts of the vine.

  

  Figure 5-37. The Deco tool creates three different drawing effects chosen by the drop-down menu in the Properties panel. Here you see the Vine Fill effect and the options that let you select symbol patterns and colors to create interconnected vine patterns.

• Use the Grid Fill effect to create a repeating effect that's more uniform than the Vine Fill. For example, you could use your company logo as the symbol and apply the Grid Fill effect ...