Learn Flash: A Tutorial on the Gradient Transform Tool

• Lesson 03: The Free Transform Tool


• Lesson 02: The Subselection Tool


• Lesson 01: The Selection Tool

I'm going to assume you have basic knowledge with the program (such as creating new documents, opening documents, etc.). This is pretty basic stuff and acts like any software would. These tutorials were also conducted with Adobe Flash CS3 running on Mac OS X. However, this tutorial is pretty universal and can be applied to almost any version of Flash. Also, besides slightly different shortcut commands, the Windows and Mac versions of Flash are identical. On that note, let's get started!

In order to manipulate a gradient we'll need to make one. First, make sure your Color Window is open. The Color Window is simply a tool that allows us to, you guessed it, mix colors! More specifically, you can edit and create different types of gradients with it. If it's the Color Window is not open or you're unsure what it looks like, you can open it by clicking Window > Color (or hold in shift and hit F9). The Color Window should appear on the right side.

You should see a pencil and paint bucket icon on the Color panel. If you select the paint bucket tool, you will be creating a color that is meant to be filled in. If you select the pencil icon, you'll be creating a color for a line (like a border around a circle). We're going to want to use the paint bucket tool for today so make sure the paint bucket icon is selected. Then to the right of the bucket you should see a drop down menu entitled "Type". Click this and select radial.

A bunch of color options should now appear in the panel. You can play around with all of this later if you desire, but right now we will concentrate on the stuff near the bottom of the panel. On the bottom of the panel you should see a preview of your current radial color with a tool above it to change it. This tool allows you to select and move any color you wish to change the look of the radial gradient color. Right now there are only two colors on opposite ends of each other. Let's just leave the locations of these where they are for now. Click each bar and select a color of your choice. Once this is done you'll have a new radial gradient color.

Now it's time to select the Oval Tool (it's the 8th tool down, this slot is shared with multiple shape tools so you may need to click, hold and select the tool). With this selected, draw a circle. Your new radial color should have appear in the circle. Don't like how it looks? No problem, that's where the Gradient Transform Tool comes in! Select the first tool, the Selection Tool from the Tool Bar and click the inside of the circle (don't select the outline). The fill of our circle should now be selected. Now select the Gradient Transform Tool from the Tool Bar. An outline now appears around your gradient. The three tools on the right of the circle allow you to stretch, rotate, and scale the gradient. By using a combination of these, you can get some pretty cool results. The middle icon in the gradient allows you to move the entire fill. The top icon on the right of the gradient allows you to mess around with the width. The icon below that allows you to scale the entire fill while the final icon allows you to rotate the gradient.

The Gradient Transform Tool is great for adding some color and depth to your projects. Gradients can be used to show perspective, mimic lights and anything else your imagination can come up with. The key is to play around until your comfortable with it.

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