Macromedia Flash Tutorial, Continued

Creating a Stripe

To create a symbol in Flash, go to the main stage (your primary workspace in Flash) and make sure everything is deselected (Edit > Deselect All). Then create a symbol (Insert > Create Symbol). When you're prompted to name your symbol, name it "Numbers" and make sure the Behavior option is set as Graphic. Now we'll actually create the symbol we've named.

Flash doesn't have a filled polygon tool, so we need to create the rectangle for the stripe first, then convert it to a filled rectangle. Start by selecting the pencil tool and then the rectangle shape. Draw a rectangle on the stage. Select the fill tool, choose the color red, then fill the rectangle. You will now have a red rectangle with a border. Double click on the border to select it, then delete the border by choosing Edit > Clear from the Flash menu.

At this point, you will need to set the size of the red rectangle you've created. Each colored stripe to be used in the digits will be long and thin (about ten times as wide as it is high). To set the size, make sure the red rectangle is selected and open the Inspector (Window > Inspector).

You will see four variables: x, y, h, and w. The h (height) and w (width) variables define the size of the object. In the example I created, I used a width of 270 and a height of 27. Choose your dimensions and type those values into the Inspector. Press the Enter key and the rectangle will change to the size you chose. The x and y in the Inspector define the exact location of the upper left corner of the object. To make calculations easier, you can set both of these to zero.

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