Flash Tutorial - Using the Line tool

This section of the Flash tutorial introduces you to the simplest drawing tool in flash - the line tool.

The Line tool is used for making straight lines. When activated the Line tool presents a set of modifiers below the toolbar. These modifiers control the various properties of the line such as thickness, color and style.

Clicking on the Color Icon with the left mouse button, presents a color palette. Move your mouse pointer over a color and left-click to select it.

The thickness of the line is set by selecting a value from the drop down menu (shown on the left). This menu displays a list of thickness values in pixels. H means a hairline thick line and Custom, lets you specify the thickness value via a pop up window.

Line style such as solid, dashed, dotted, ragged etc can be selected from the Line Style drop down menu.
Tip: Using a line style other than solid will result in slightly larger file size. Be sure to test the file size before you populate your Flash movie with other styles.

Now, let's draw a few straight lines. Select the line tool and left-click somewhere in the movie and with the mouse button depressed drag to another location. You have your line. Simple?

Tip: If you want perfectly horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines, press SHIFT on the keyboard while drawing.

Here are some examples:

Once we have made a straight line, its shape and size can be changed using the mouse.
If you move your mouse pointer near one of the ends of the line, you'll notice that the pointer changes to . Left-click this end and drag it to a new location. Line size and orientation can be changed using this method.
Converting a straight line to a curve is also quite simple. Move you mouse pointer near the middle of the line, its shape changes to . The display of a small curve icon at the bottom-right of the mouse pointer means that you can change the shape of the line. Left click and drag to convert it into a curve.

A (very) brief introduction to Inspectors
The mouse can be used for scaling, rotating and placing objects. (You'll learn how to accomplish all these in later sessions).
However, if you want precise control, I suggest you use Inspectors.
For example, the Object Inspector controls the properties of a line. Open it by clicking on Window - Inspectors - Object. If the line is deselected, select it using the arrow tool . Selection places a sort of net over the object (the line in our case). In the Object Inspector, you can specify the starting x and y co-ordinates of the line and its width in pixels. Click the Apply button when you are through.

The Transform Inspector, which is closely associated with the Object Inspector lets you change the orientation and scale of objects (the line in our case).

Further, the Transform menu (Modify - Transform) also lets you change the orientation and the size of objects (line in our case). We shall look at this in the next session.

Thus, the shape, orientation and other properties of objects can be changed through the Transform menu, Inspectors and the Arrow tool modifiers. Sounds confusing? Don't worry, we would be looking at all these options soon.