Using Director > Vector Shapes and Bitmaps > Drawing vector shapes |  |

Drawing vector shapes

You create vector shapes with drawing tools in the Vector Shape window. You can use the Pen tool to create irregular shapes, or use shape tools to create rectangles and ellipses. A vector shape can include multiple curves, and you can split and join the curves. Shape properties such as fill color, stroke color, and stroke width are set at the cast-member level and not for individual curves.

When you create vector shapes, you create vertices, which are fixed points. You can also create handles, which are points that determine the degree of curvature between vertices. These curves are known as Bézier curves. A vertex without a handle creates a corner.

As you draw vector shapes, control handles appear on the vertices: round curve points for vertices with handles and square corner points for vertices without handles.

| The first vertex in a curve is green.
| The last vertex in a curve is red.
| All other vertices are blue.
| Unselected vertices are solid.
| Selected vertices are unfilled.

For an animated introduction to vector shapes, watch the vector shape movie.

To open the Vector Shape window:

Choose Window > Vector Shape.