Breaking apart a bitmap

Breaking apart a bitmap separates the pixels in the image into discrete areas that can be selected and modified separately. When you break apart a bitmap, you can modify the bitmap with the Flash drawing and painting tools. Using the Lasso tool with the Magic Wand modifier, you can select areas of a bitmap that has been broken apart.

You can paint with a broken-apart bitmap by selecting the bitmap with the Eyedropper tool and applying the bitmap as a fill with the Paint Bucket tool or another drawing tool.

To break apart a bitmap:

Select a bitmap in the current scene.
Select Modify > Break Apart.

To change the fill of selected areas of a broken-apart bitmap:

Select the Lasso tool and click the Magic Wand modifier.
Click the Magic Wand Settings modifier and set the following options:
- For Threshold, enter a value between 1 and 200 to define how closely the color of adjacent pixels must match to be included in the selection. A higher number includes a broader range of colors. If you enter 0, only pixels of the exact same color as the first pixel you click are selected.
- For Smoothing, select an option from the pop-up menu to define how much the edges of the selection will be smoothed.
Click the bitmap to select an area. Continue clicking to add to the selection.
Select the fill that you want to use to fill the selected areas in the bitmap. See Using the Stroke Color and Fill Color controls in the toolbar.
Select the Paint Bucket tool and click anywhere in the selected area to apply the new fill.

To apply a broken-apart bitmap as a fill using the Eyedropper tool:

Select the Eyedropper tool and click the broken-apart bitmap on the Stage.
The Eyedropper tool sets the bitmap to be the current fill and changes the active tool to the Paint Bucket.
Do one of the following:
- Click an existing graphic object with the Paint Bucket tool to apply the bitmap as a fill.
- Select the Oval, Rectangle, or Pen tool and draw a new object. The object is filled with the broken-apart bitmap.
You can use the Paint Bucket tool to scale, rotate, or skew the bitmap fill.