Add vector art

When you draw in Flash, you create vector art, which is a mathematical representation of lines, curves, color, and position. Vector art is resolution-independent; you can rescale the art to any size or display it at any resolution without losing clarity. Additionally, vector art downloads faster than comparable bitmap images.

You will begin by drawing a rectangle to highlight the area where the car will be.

1. Double-click the Layer 1 name in the Timeline.
2. Type over the name Layer 1, replacing it with the name Art.

   Art is now the active layer. Anything you place on the Stage will be in this layer.

3. Select the Rectangle tool from the toolbar.
4. On the Stage, draw a rectangle, similar to the one below, toward bottom of your screen. (The colors are not important right now; you'll change the colors soon.)

   

   The drawing tools work much as they do in other graphics programs, with one major exception. When you draw a shape, it has two parts: the outer line, called the stroke, which outlines the shape, and the fill, which colors the inside of the shape.

5. Click the Selection tool in the toolbar.
6. Holding down the mouse button, draw a rectangle around the rectangle you just drew. This selects the entire rectangle.

   Now the Property inspector displays settings for a shape. You can use the Property inspector to change the line thickness, fill and stroke colors, and other attributes of the selected rectangle.

7. In the Property inspector, change the color of the fill to dark gray (hexadecimal #333333).

   

8. Change the color of the stroke to the same dark gray.