creating a logo – lesson 3 1 creating a logo lesson 3

Creating a Logo – Lesson 31

Creating a Logo

Lesson 3

2 Creating a Logo – Lesson 3

Objectives

Create ovals and circles with the Oval tool.

Design gradient fills. Create and edit symbols. Import images into Flash. Export images from Flash.


Draw ovals and circles using the Oval tool Select the Oval tool and drag in the area of

the Stage where you want the shape to appear. Hold down the Shift key while dragging to draw a

circle. Set the Stroke and Fill colors before

dragging the shape to color the oval as it is drawn.

Choose your colors from the standard color palette or create your own custom color.


Align the oval to the StageThis figure shows a circle with a stroke and fill of black, and it fills nearly the entire Stage area. The Stage dimensions were set to 100 by 100 in the Document Properties dialog box.

After the circle is drawn, double-click it to select the stroke and the fill areas, and set its dimensions to 98 by 98 in the Property inspector.

In the Align panel, toggle the To Stage option, and click the Align horizontal center and the Align vertical center buttons to center it in the Stage area.


Add a gradient fill to the circle Adding a gradient fill to the circle gives it more

depth and can make the circle look like a lens. Be sure to double-click the circle with the

Arrow tool to select both the stroke and the fill area before setting the gradient options.

Open the Color Mixer dialog box and change the Fill type to Radial for the effect we want to achieve.

Add additional color markers to change the effects of the gradient fill.

Assign colors to each color marker as desired.


The Color Mixer dialog box

You set the beginning and ending colors for the gradient fill in this dialog box. You also set the gradient fill type — Radial, in this case.

Click the Fill pull-down menu to set a color for each color marker. The color bar shows the blend from one marker to the next.

You can add additional color markers by clicking just below the color bar for each marker you want to add.


The finished circle with a gradient fillNote how the final fill effect makes the circle resemble a camera lens, and it appears to add depth to the object.

The figure above shows the final color marker settings to achieve the effect on the left.


Create symbols for your documents A symbol is a graphic, button, or movie

clip that is created once and can be used repeatedly in a Flash document.

Symbols are stored in a library within each document.

Symbols can be artwork you create in the Flash document or can be imported from some other application.

Each time you drag a symbol from the library and place it on the Stage, that copy of the symbol is called an instance of the symbol.


Advantages to using symbols Among the advantages to using symbols are the

following: Converting a drawn object into a symbol creates a

permanent object from which you can make many copies.

Symbols can overlap on the Stage without affecting each other.

Symbols keep file sizes small because a symbol can be used many times without significantly affecting overall file size.

Symbols contain their own Timelines. Changing the original version of the symbol affects all

placed instances of the symbol automatically, saving valuable time when updating the document.


Types of symbols Graphic symbols – These are used for static images and

simple animations. Each frame in a graphic symbol has to correspond to a

frame on the main Timeline. Movie Clips – These play independently of the main

Timeline and are like a movie within a movie. Buttons – These are used for creating navigation and

control buttons. A button can have four possible states: Up – How the button first appears on screen. Over – How the button appears when the mouse moves

over it. Down – This state is revealed when you click a button. Hit – Not visible in the document, but defines the active

area of the button.


Import external images to Flash Images created in other applications can

be imported into Flash and used in your Flash documents.

If you import a Flash movie (an SWF file), it is automatically saved in the library as a graphic symbol.

The imported image can be dragged from the symbol library to any area of the Stage and manipulated like any other object.


Export Flash files Once your Flash document is

created, it can be exported in many different formats.

Open the Export Image dialog box from the File menu and choose the file type from the list options.

If exporting for use in a Web page, the JPEG file type is the best option.


Summary

In this lesson, you learned: How to create ovals and circles with the Oval

tool. To design gradient fills. To create and edit symbols. How to import images into Flash. How to export images from Flash.

creating a logo – lesson 3 1 creating a logo lesson 3

Documents