Note that the 3D-rotation and 3D-translation tools available in the authoring environment do not create objects that take advantage of the new Stage 3D architecture in Flash Player 11.
Experimenting at this basic level gives you a feel for how the tools distort the movie clip’s “plane” to create the 3D illusion. (Using 3D tools to create artwork that simulates three-dimensional environments is a complex technique and is beyond the scope of this book.)Īfter you learn to create symbols, try applying the 3D tools to a movie-clip symbol containing a simple shape, such as a square. With Flash’s 3D tools you can rotate and position movie clips not only along the x-axis and y-axis (for horizontal and vertical positions, respectively) but also along the z-axis (for depth), redrawing the object to make it appear to recede into space. The 3D-rotation and 3D-translation tools work only on movie-clip symbols (which you’ll learn to create in Chapter 7). The shapes within adjust accordingly.įlash CS6 also provides more sophisticated tools for putting two-dimensional objects into three-dimensional space. You can drag each handle of the box so that the sides of the box angle inward like converging perspective lines. The free-transform tool’s Distort modifier can help you create the same illusion for nonrectangular shapes because it encloses your selected shape-circle, oval, or squiggle-within a rectangular transform box. Doing so creates the illusion that the objects recede into the distance.
You adjust the appropriate edges to align with imaginary parallel lines that converge at a distant point on the horizon-the vanishing point. As beginning art students discover, it’s not difficult to add depth to two-dimensional objects made up of rectangular shapes.