Vector Graphics Tips for Macromedia Freehand 9 - Page 3

Drawing II

Quadratic curves

Flash's homegrown Quadratic curves give quite a different result, and it's well worth experimenting. There are no visible points involved: just hold your main Selector tool near an edge or corner of an object. You can drag Straight edges out into deep curves, and adjust curve angles and depths - anywhere on the edge is fine, no need to find a point. You can drag corners around in the same way, and a clear cursor mark shows whether your cursor is over a curve or corner.

Complex maths

Quadratic curves have a certain disadvantage however, particularly because no points show, so you're never quite sure where any given curve begins and ends, what the details of its shape are, and so on. Often in animation you'll find yourself moving curves around several times in every frame, but the underlying maths becomes more and more complex, and getting the result you want becomes tough.

Reshape with Beziertools

Fortunately, Flash 5 can usually translate between Quadratics and Beziers. If you've been twisting a shape in complex quadratic curves with your selector and it gets in a mess, you can reshape it with the Bezier tools. Sometimes starting again is the only option -but not an ideal one if you're working on animation.