Adobe 65018518 User Guide - Page 97

USING FLASH CS4 PROFESSIONAL 92 Creating and Editing Artwork Pixels in bitmap art. When you edit a bitmap graphic, you modify pixels rather than lines and curves. Bitmap graphics are resolution dependent, because the data describing the image is fixed to a grid of a particular size. Editing a bitmap graphic can change the quality of its appearance. In particular, resizing a bitmap graphic can make the edges of the image ragged as pixels are redistributed within the grid. Displaying a bitmap graphic on an output device that has a lower resolution than the image itself also degrades its quality. Paths Whenever you draw a line or shape in Flash, you create a line called a path. A path is made up of one or more straight or curved segments. The beginning and end of each segment is denoted by anchor points, which work like pins holding a wire in place. A path can be closed (for example, a circle), or open, with distinct endpoints (for example, a wavy line). You change the shape of a path by dragging its anchor points, the direction points at the end of direction lines that appear at anchor points, or the path segment itself. A C B E D F Components of a path A. Selected (solid) endpoint B. Selected anchor point C. Unselected anchor point D. Curved path segment E. Direction point F. Direction line. Paths can have two kinds of anchor points: corner points and smooth points. At a corner point, a path abruptly changes direction. At a smooth point, path segments are connected as a continuous curve. You can draw a path using any combination of corner and smooth points. If you draw the wrong type of point, you can always change it. A B C Points on a path A. Four corner points B. Four smooth points C. Combination of corner and smooth points. A corner point can connect any two straight or curved segments, while a smooth point always connects two curved segments. Updated 5 March 2009