Vectors in Flash

I posted yesterday about Raven, the web based vector tool by Aviary, and remembered by first brush with vectors was actually in Flash and not Illustrator. In fact, I once did a bunch of fabric designs for a client with all vectors made in Flash, it was so easy to do that even my wife {who had no prior web experience at the time} did some herself.

You can create some pretty complex vector art in Flash, it may not have the same flair as Illustrator, but it’s great if you are willing to spend some time on it. When Macromedia, at the time, added the option to export your Image or Movie to more image file types it got even better. Flash CS3 has since added more Rich Drawing Capabilities with CS4 going a step further and giving us some new features like 3D Transform, Spray Brush and Deco Tool.

Developers Can Do Vector Too

Flash has mostly garnered attention because of the slick things a lot of developers have used it for. Most of them probably use the drawing API in AS to illustrate but I’m sure each one of them has thanked Macromedia/Adobe for the easy to use, no nonsense drawing tools in Flash.

Some of the tools and options in Illustrator are alien to me till today. I am more prone to fire up Flash to finish a design and create an illustration, than I am for doing it in Illustrator.

There are a TON of tutorials on the web for how you can use Flash to create some amazing looking vectors. The most basic way of getting a hang of the drawing tools in Flash is to just import an image and use the pen tool to create some lines, do a few fills, gradients, use layers for adding depth and shadow and Voila! you just saved yourself a license of Illustrator :-P

I am actually going to be using Flash to create a logo for a web project of mine, when I get to it I will post a step by step method of how I did it.

FlashDen has a lot of files that contain quite a bit of drawing in them, I’m guessing 100% of it was created in Flash ;-) Also, there is a featured author interview coming up from someone who does a lot of illustrative work in Flash. Look forward to that tomorrow.

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Comments

Hyder

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  • VF says:
    February 10, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    I always use the line tool in Flash whenever I need to trace something are draw a shape. I never found such an easy vector editing tool. For the past 8 years, whenever I see someone who used Adobe Illustrator and then started to flash, the first thing they do is cursing Adobe Illustrator.

  • Majd Abdulqadir says:
    February 10, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    I’ve never used Illustrator ( Just looking at the toolbar made me feel sick ), but in truth and as someone who uses Flash for drawing and animating alot, I find it very lacking in options. There is a whole set of tools one needs when animating that are just not there in Flash.
    To understand more what I’m talking about try to use Descreet’s 3DSMax, where you can bend and taper and whatnot.