The Stage Drawing on the Stage

1. The Stage

• Where drawings are created, modified, deleted, etc. • Contains the objects, images, drawing, buttons, etc. • Things can go outside the stage, but they are clipped when the movie is played. Modify the stage size • Go to Modify Document... to change the stage size, background color, frames per second, ruler units • Change the dimension to 400px x 300px. Since most monitors have aspect ratios of 4 x 3, you can easily go full screen. The initial dimension of the stage is 550px x 400px. • Change the frame rate to 10 fps frames per second, so you can easily compute the number of frames necessary for a par- ticular range of time e.g. 5 seconds is 50 frames. The initial frame rate is 12 fps. Show rulers • Go to View Rulers to show the rulers, which will help in positioning objects on the screen. • Dragging from the rulers will create vertical or horizontal guides. 3

2. Drawing on the Stage

• Flash graphics are vector-based, while JPEG and GIF images are raster-based. Vector-based images do not have a set resolution. Draw a rectangle • Draw a rectangle to represent the robot’s face. • Select the Rectangle tool from the Drawing tools panel. • All shapes have an outline and fill color, a line pattern, and a stroke thickness, which can be changed in the property window. • Note that once a shape has been drawn, selecting the shape does not se- lect the outline. To avoid this, select the Object Drawing button under Op- tions in the Drawing tools panel. • Turn on stroke hinting so that lines are not blurry. • The Rectangle tool has an additional option to change the radius of the cor- ner. Draw a circle • Draw circles to represent the eyes of the robot. • Select the Circle tool . Similar to the rectangle tool in functionality. 4 Draw freeform lines and shapes • Select the Pencil tool from the Drawing tools panel. • You can set whether to straighten or smooth your drawing under the Options in the Drawing tools panel. Draw lines with the Line and Pen tool • Draw mouths with different expressions: neutral and sad. • Select the Line tool to make straight lines. • Select the Pen tool to make straight lines and curved lines. • Click once to make a jagged corner. • Click and drag to make a curve. • Click on a previously-made point to close the shape. Draw a PolyStar • Draw a hexagonal nut icon. • Holding on the Rectangle tool reveals the PolyStar tool. • Select Options in the Properties panel to modify the number of sides of the PolyStar. 5 Draw with the Brush tool • Select the Brush tool to draw with strokes have a size and a shape. • The Brush tool has 5 different modes that you can set. • Paint Normal: draw strokes on any part of the stage • Paint Fill: draw strokes only on fills ignores lines and the empty part of the stage • Paint Behind: draw strokes only on the empty part of the stage • Paint Selection: draw strokes within the active selection • Paint Inside: draw strokes only on the shape or area where the brush was first laid down. Erase • Draw a cheese icon. • Select the Eraser tool to erase fills and lines. • Like the Brush tool, the Eraser tool has a size and a shape, and 5 different modes. Write text • Write the name of the robot. • Select the Text tool . Click on the Stage and enter text. • You can set the font face, size, weight, and other properties of the text using the Properties window. 6

3. Symbols