ptg 60 Chapter 2 Setting General Preferences Set General Preferences Click the Flash (Mac) or Edit (Win) menu, and then click Preferences. Click the General category. Select from the following options: ◆ On Launch. Select an option to specify which document opens when you start the program. ◆ Welcome Screen. ◆ New Document. ◆ Last Documents Open. ◆ No Document. ◆ Undo Levels. Select Document or Object-level Undo, and then enter a value from 2 to 300 to set the number of undo/redo levels. The default level is 100. ◆ Open Test Movie In Tabs. Select this check box to have Flash open a test movie in document tab. ◆ Auto-Collapse Icon Panels. Select this check box to automatically collapse the panel set to Icons only. ◆ Shift Select. Select or deselect this check box to control the selection of multiple elements. 3 2 1 Flash allows you to set general preferences to customize the way you work in the program. You can specify what you want to display or open when you launch Flash. Some of the preferences allow you to specify the number of undo levels, enable multiple selection, show tooltips, open documents and test movies in tabs, enable span-based selection in the Timeline, make the first frame of each scene in a document a named anchor, and select a specific selection highlight color for differ- ent element types, such as drawings, groups, and symbols. You can also set Project preferences for closing and saving project files. In Flash, the Preferences dialog box is reorganized with new categories and options for ease of use, such as having have Flash open a new document tab instead of opening in its own window. 2 3 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 2 Working Within the Flash Environment 61 ◆ Show Tooltips. Select to display tooltips when the pointer points to a button or control. ◆ Contact-Sensitive Selection and Lasso Tools. For the object drawing model, select to select objects when any part of the marquee touches it. Clear it to select objects that are completely enclosed by the marquee. Points within the selection will be selected. ◆ Show Axes For 3D Movie Clips. Select to show axes for 3d movie clips. ◆ Span Based Selection. Select to use span-based selection instead of frame-based selection. ◆ Named Anchor On Scene. Select to make the first frame of each scene in a document a named anchor. ◆ Highlight Color. Select the Use Layer Color option to use the current layer’s outline color, or select the option, and then select a color for Drawing objects, Drawing primitives, groups, symbols, and other elements. ◆ Printing (Win). Select the Disable PostScript check box if you have problems printing to a postscript printer. Click OK. 4 3 4 Setting Drawing Model Options You can draw shapes in Flash using two main drawing models: Merge Drawing and Object Drawing. Merge Drawing model automat- ically merges shapes that you draw when you overlap them. If you select a shape that has been merged with another, and move it, the shape below it is moved too. For example, if you draw a square and overlay a circle on top of it, and then select the circle and move it, the portion of the square that overlaid the circle is removed. Object Drawing model allows you to draw shapes as separate objects that do not automatically merge together when overlaid. This lets you overlap shapes without altering their appearance should you choose to move them apart, or rearrange their appearance. Flash creates each shape as a separate object that you can individually manipulate. When you select a shape created using the Object Drawing model, Flash surrounds the shape with a rectangular bounding box. You can use the Pointer tool to move the object by clicking the bounding box and dragging the shape anywhere you’d like to position it on the Stage. You can now extend the Object Drawing mode by creating primitive rectangles and ovals in Primitive mode, which allows you to edit properties in the Property Inspector and specify the corner radius of rectangles and inner radius of ovals. This makes it easy to create pie wedges, round off corners, and other shapes. For Your Information From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 62 Chapter 2 Setting Text Preferences Set Text Preferences Click the Flash (Mac) or Edit (Win) menu, and then click Preferences. Click the Text category. Select from the following options: ◆ Show Asian Text Options. Select to show Asian text options in the Property Inspector (New!). ◆ Show Right-To-Left Text Options. Select to show Direction options in the Property Inspector (New!). ◆ Font Mapping Default. Click the list arrow, and then select a font to use when substituting missing fonts. Click the Style list arrow, and then select a font style. ◆ Show For Missing Fonts. Select to show the Font Mapping dialog box. ◆ Vertical Text options. ◆ Default Text Orientation. Select to make default orientation vertical, which is useful for Asian fonts. ◆ Right To Left Text Flow. Select to reverse the default text direction. ◆ No Kerning. Select to turn off kerning for vertical text. ◆ Input Method. Select the Text Input Window check box (Mac) or language option to select a language type. ◆ Font Menus. Select check boxes and option to show fonts in menus. Click OK. 4 3 2 1 When you edit or work with text in a Flash document, you can specify text related preferences. You can select a font to use when substituting missing fonts, or select text orientation options, which is useful when using English (horizontal) or Asian (vertical) language fonts. In addition, you can select a language as an input method. 2 3 4 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 2 Working Within the Flash Environment 63 Setting Clipboard Preferences Set Clipboard Preferences Click the Flash (Mac) or Edit (Win) menu, and then click Preferences. Click the Clipboard category. Select from the following options: ◆ Bitmaps (Win). Select options for Color Depth and Resolution to specify these parameters for bitmaps copied to the Clipboard. Select Smooth to apply anti-aliasing. Enter a value in the Size Limit box to specify the amount of RAM that is used when placing a bitmap on the Clipboard. ◆ PICT Settings (Mac). Select Objects to preserve data copied to the Clipboard as a vector graphic, or select one of the bitmap formats to convert the image. Enter a value for Resolution. Select the Include Postscript check box to include Postscript data. For gradients, select an option to specify quality in the PICT. ◆ Gradient quality. Select an option to specify the quality of gradient fills placed in the Windows Metafile. Click OK. 4 3 2 1 When you copy or cut graphics to the Clipboard, you can set prefer- ences to determine how you want to paste the graphic into a Flash document. The preference options give you control over the size and quality of the graphics you insert in a document. If you are using Windows, the Clipboard preferences include options for bitmaps and gradients in the Windows Metafile format. If you are using a Macintosh, the Clipboard preferences include options for the PICT format. Macintosh options 3 Windows options 2 3 4 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 64 Chapter 2 Setting Warning Preferences Set Warning Preferences Click the Flash (Mac) or Edit (Win) menu, and then click Preferences. Click the Warnings category. Select from the following options: ◆ Warn On Save For Adobe Flash CS4 Compatibility. When you save documents with content features specific to Flash CS5. ◆ Warn On URL Changes In Launch And Edit. If the URL for a document has changed. ◆ Warn On Inserting Frames When Importing Content. When Flash inserts frames while you import audio or video files. ◆ Warn On Encoding Conflicts When Exporting ActionScript Files. When you create a document with different language characters for export. ◆ Warn On Conversion Of Effect Graphic Objects. When you attempt to edit a symbol with effects applied to it. ◆ Warn on sites with overlapped root folder. When you create a site in which the local root folder overlaps another site. ◆ Warn On Behavior Symbol Conversion. When you convert a symbol with a behavior attached to a symbol of a different type. ◆ Warn On Symbol Conversion. When you convert a symbol to a symbol of a different type. 3 2 1 Flash provides warning messages when you perform actions that might create problems for your document or lose important data. The warn- ings help you avoid compatibility problems with Flash CS4 and charac- ter corruption from encoding, which lets you know about missing fonts, URL changes, and symbol conversion. Additional warnings let you know when importing audio and video content inserts frames and when motion frames or target objects contain ActionScript. 2 3 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 2 Working Within the Flash Environment 65 ◆ Warn On Automatically Converting From Drawing Object To Group. When you convert an object drawn in Object Drawing mode to a group. ◆ Warn On Automatically Converting Objects To Drawing Objects. ◆ Show Incompatibility Warnings On Feature Controls. When controls are not supported by the Flash Player version specified in Publish Settings. ◆ Warn On Automatically Generating ActionScript Classes For Timelines. When you don’t create a class, Flash does. ◆ Warn On Compiled Clips Defining ActionScript Classes For Symbols. When you try to create ActionScript classes for symbols. ◆ Warn On Converting Multiple Selection To Symbol For Tween. When you don’t have a symbol to create a tween. ◆ Warn On Replacing Current Tween Target. When you try to replace the current tween target ◆ Warn On Motion Frame Contains ActionScript. ◆ Warn On Motion Target Object Contains ActionScript. ◆ Warn On IK Bones Not Showing. ◆ Warn On Text Needs Embedded Font. When a font is not avail- able on your computer (New!). ◆ Warn On Clearing SWF History When Saving Template (New!). ◆ Warn On RSL Preloading Causes All Content To Download Before The First Frame Will Play (New!). ◆ Warn On Remove Default Value From RSL List (New!). Click OK. 4 3 4 From the Library of Wow! eBook . tween. ◆ Warn On Replacing Current Tween Target. When you try to replace the current tween target ◆ Warn On Motion Frame Contains ActionScript. ◆ Warn On Motion Target Object Contains ActionScript. ◆. another site. ◆ Warn On Behavior Symbol Conversion. When you convert a symbol with a behavior attached to a symbol of a different type. ◆ Warn On Symbol Conversion. When you convert a symbol. category. Select from the following options: ◆ Warn On Save For Adobe Flash CS4 Compatibility. When you save documents with content features specific to Flash CS5. ◆ Warn On URL Changes In Launch And