Flash Tutorial

Take our Flash tutorial. Creating graphics, working with layers, and adding motion, sound, and text to your Flash 8 movie are all covered in our Flash tutorial.

Drawing a Car

In this exercise you will create a car. You will use the car later.

Draw a Hubcap

Start your car by drawing a hubcap.

1. Choose View > Snapping > Snap to Grid from the menu.
2. Choose the Oval tool.
3. Click the Stroke color box and choose gray as the stroke color.
4. Click the Fill color box and choose gray as the fill color.
5. Click in the upper corner of a square of the grid, hold down the Shift key, and drag diagonally to draw a circle. Holding down the shift key as you drag creates a perfect circle when you are using the Oval tool.

Convert the Hubcap to a Symbol

Converting the hubcap to a symbol places the hubcap in the Library. Later you will take two copies of the hubcap out of the Library and place one copy on each tire.

1. Choose the Selection tool.
2. Double-click the circle. Double-clicking the circle selects the fill and the stroke.
3. Choose Modify > Convert to Symbol from the menu. The Symbol Properties dialog box opens.
4. Type Cap in the Name field.
5. Choose Graphic as the Behavior type.
6. Click OK.
7. Press the Delete key to remove the hubcap from the Stage.

Draw the Tires

Draw two tires. Look at the graphic below and place the tires on the grid exactly as shown. Remember: When using the Oval tool, holding down the Shift key as you click and drag creates a perfect circle.

1. Choose the Oval tool.
2. Click the Stroke color box and choose black as the stroke color.
3. Click the Fill color box and choose black as the fill color.
4. If selected, deselect Obect Drawing mode.
5. Click and drag while holding down the Shift key to draw the two tires as show in the graphic.

Draw the Chassis

You use the Line tool to draw straight lines. Use the Line tool to draw the car chassis. But first, you need to set the Stroke line size.

1. Choose the Line tool.

2. Move to the Property inspector. If the Property inspector is not open, choose Window > Properties > Properties from the menu to open it.
3. Choose Solid from the drop-down menu.
4. Type 3 in the Stroke height field to set the line thickness.
5. Draw the chassis as shown in this graphic.

Fill the Car with the Color Red

1. Choose the Paint Bucket tool.

2. Click the Fill color box and choose red as the fill color.
3. Click the car to apply the fill color.

Fill the Headlights with the Color White

1. Choose the Paint Bucket tool.
2. Click the Fill color box and choose white as the fill color.
3. Click inside the headlight area.

Add the Hubcaps

1. Choose the Selection tool.
2. Move to the Library panel. Choose Window > Library from the menu if the Library is not open.
3. Click the icon next to Cap and drag a copy of Cap to the center of one tire.

4. Click the icon next to Cap again and drag another copy of Cap to the center of the other tire.
5. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to adjust the location of the hubcaps. Your car should look like the one shown here.

Group the Car

You want Flash to view the car as a single object. You need to group the car.

1. Choose the Selection tool.
2. Create a rectangle around the car to select the car.
3. Choose Modify > Group from the menu.

Convert the Car to a Symbol

1. Choose Modify > Convert to Symbol from the menu. The Convert to Symbol dialog box opens.
2. Type Car in the Name field.
3. Choose Graphic as the Behavior.
4. Click OK. Flash stores the graphic in the Library.
5. Press Delete to remove the car from the Stage.