Draw rectangles and ovals

The Oval and Rectangle tools let you create these basic geometric shapes, and apply strokes, fills, and specify rounded corners. In addition to the Merge and Object drawing model, the Oval and Rectangle tools also provide the Primitive Object drawing mode.

When you create rectangles or ovals using the Primitive Rectangle or Primitive Oval tools, Flash draws the shapes as separate objects not unlike the shapes created when you use object drawing mode. The Primitive shape tools let you specify the corner radius of rectangles, and the start and end angle and the inner radius of ovals using controls in the Property inspector. After you create a primitive shape, alter the radiuses and dimensions by selecting the shape on the Stage, and adjusting the controls in the Property inspector.
Note: When either of the Primitive Object drawing tools is selected, the Property inspector retains the values of the last primitive object that you edited. For example, if you modify a rectangle, and then draw a second rectangle.

Draw primitive rectangles

  1. To select the Rectangle Primitive tool, click and hold the mouse button on the Rectangle tool , and select the Rectangle Primitive tool  from the pop-up menu.
  2. To create a primitive rectangle, drag the Rectangle Primitive tool on the Stage.
    Note: To change the corner radius while dragging with the Primitive Rectangle tool, press the Up Arrow key or Down Arrow key. When the corners achieve the desired roundness, release the key.
  3. With the primitive rectangle selected on the Stage, you can use the controls found in the Property inspector to further modify the shape, or specify fill and stroke colors.

    Properties for a rectangle primitive

    The Property inspector controls specific to the Rectangle Primitive tool are:

    Rectangle Corner Radius Controls Lets you specify the corner radiuses for the rectangle. You can enter a numerical value for the inner radius in the box, or click the slider and interactively adjust the size of the radius. Entering a negative value creates an inverse radius. You can also deselect the constrain corner radius icon, and adjust each corner radius individually.

    Reset Resets all of the Rectangle Primitive tool’s controls, and returns the primitive rectangle shape drawn on the stage to its initial size and shape.

  4. To specify a different corner radius for each corner of the rectangle, deselect the Lock icon located in the Primitive Rectangle radius controls sections of the Property inspector. When locked, the radius controls are restrained so that each corner uses the same radius.
  5. To reset the corner radiuses, click the Reset button in the Property inspector.

Draw primitive ovals

  1. Click and hold the mouse button on the Rectangle tool , and select the Oval Primitive tool .
  2. To create a primitive oval, drag the Primitive Oval tool on the Stage. To constrain the shape to a circle, Shift-drag.
  3. With the primitive oval selected on the Stage, you can use the controls found in the Property inspector to further modify the shape, or specify fill and stroke colors.

    Properties for an oval primitive

    The Property inspector controls specific to the Primitive Oval tool are:

    Start angle and End angle Let you specify the angle of the start and end points of the oval. Using these controls, you can easily modify the shape of ovals and circles into pie slices, half circles, and other creative shapes.

    Inner radius Lets you specify an inner radius (or oval) within the oval. You can either enter a numerical value for the inner radius in the box, or click the slider and interactively adjust the size of the inner radius. The numerical values you can enter for the inner radius range from 0 to 99, and represent the percentage of the oval’s fill that is removed.

    Close path Lets you specify whether the path (or paths, if you are specifying an inner radius) of the oval is closed. If you specify an open path, no fill is applied to the resulting shape, only the stroke is drawn. Close path is selected by default.

    Reset Resets all of the Oval Primitive tool’s controls, and returns the primitive oval shape drawn on the stage to its initial size and shape.

Draw ovals and rectangles

The Oval and Rectangle tools create these basic geometric shapes.

  1. To select the Rectangle tool  or Oval tool , click and hold the mouse button on the Rectangle tool and drag.
  2. To create a rectangle or oval, drag the Rectangle or Oval tool on the Stage.
  3. For the Rectangle tool, specify rounded corners by clicking the Round Rectangle modifier and entering a corner radius value. A value of zero (0) creates square corners.
  4. Drag on the Stage. If you are using the Rectangle tool, press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys while dragging to adjust the radius of rounded corners.

    For the Oval and Rectangle tools, Shift-drag to constrain the shapes to circles and squares.

    To specify a specific size of Oval or Rectangle in pixels, press the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Macintosh) with the Oval or Rectangle tool selected, and click the Stage to display the Oval And Rectangle Settings dialog box.

    • For ovals, specify the width and height in pixels, and whether to draw the oval from the center.

    • For rectangles, specify the width and height in pixels, the radius of the rectangle corners for rounded corners, and whether to draw the rectangle from the center.

Related Information

  This page on the Web