Macromedia Flash MX 2004 for Windows and Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guides)

To save time, you can copy the fill and stroke attributes of one element and apply them to another element.

To copy fills between graphic elements:

1. In the Toolbox, select the eyedropper tool, or press I.

2. Move the pointer over the Stage.

   The pointer changes to an eyedropper.

3. Position the eyedropper over the fill you want to copy (either a solid color or gradient).

4. Click the fill (Figure 3.120).

   Figure 3.120. Click a fill with the eyedropper tool to copy that fill. The paint bucket tool appears; it's loaded with the copied fill. Now click another graphic element to apply the fill.

   Flash switches to the paint-bucket tool automatically. The color or gradient you picked up appears in the fill-color box in the Toolbox and Property Inspector and in the gradient-preview window of the Color Mixer panel. (Clicking the eyedropper tool on a fill activates the paint bucket's locked gradient mode.)

5. Use the paint-bucket tool to apply the copied fill to a different graphic element (see "Modifying Fill Colors" earlier in this chapter).

To copy stroke attributes:

1. In the Toolbox, select the eyedropper tool.

2. Position the eyedropper pointer over a line or outline (stroke) whose attributes you want to copy.

3. Click the line (Figure 3.121).

   Figure 3.121. Clicking a line with the eyedropper tool copies the stroke attributes to the stroke-color box in the Tool-box, the Color Mixer panel, and the Ink Bottle Property Inspector. Use the ink- bottle tool to apply these settings to another line.

   Flash switches to the ink-bottle tool. The color, stroke height, and style attributes of the line you clicked appear in the Ink Bottle Property Inspector.

   You can use the ink-bottle tool to apply the copied attributes to a different line (see "Modifying Strokes" earlier in this chapter).

Tips

• To pick up the color of a stroke or fill and use it for both strokes and fills, Shift-click with the eyedropper tool. Flash loads the selected color into the fill- and stroke-color boxes in the Toolbox, the Color Mixer panel, and the Property Inspectors relevant to the selected color.