Adobe 65036570 User Guide - Page 161

150 Chapter 7: Vector Shapes Vector shapes and bitmaps are the two main types of graphics used with Adobe® Director®. A vector shape is a mathematical description of a geometric form that includes the thickness of the line, the fill color, and additional features of the line that can be expressed mathematically. A bitmap defines an image as a grid of colored pixels, and it stores the color for each pixel in the image. For more information about using bitmaps in Director, and how they compare to vector shapes, see Bitmaps. You can create vector shapes in the Director Vector Shape window by defining points through which a line passes. The shape can be a line, a curve, or an open or closed irregular shape that can be filled with a color or gradient. You can also use Lingo or JavaScript™ syntax to dynamically create and control vector shapes. You can create a vector shape entirely with script or modify an existing one as the movie plays. Because vector shapes are stored as mathematical descriptions, they require less RAM and disk space than an equivalent bitmap image, and they download faster from the Internet. Drawing vector shapes You create vector shapes with drawing tools in the Vector Shape window. You can use the Pen tool to create irregular shapes or use the shape tools to create rectangles and ellipses. A vector shape can include multiple curves, and you can split and join the curves. Shape properties such as fill color, stroke color, and stroke width are set at the castmember level and not for individual curves. When you create vector shapes, you create vertices, which are fixed points. You can also create handles, which are points that determine the degree of curvature between vertices. These curves are known as Bézier curves. A vertex without a handle creates a corner. As you draw vector shapes, control handles appear on the vertices: round curve points for vertices with handles and square corner points for vertices without handles. • The first vertex in a curve is green. • The last vertex in a curve is red. • All other vertices are blue. • Unselected vertices are solid. • Selected vertices are unfilled.