Select the Subselection
tool 
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Last updated on
May 24, 2023
- Adobe Animate User Guide
- Introduction to Animate
- Animation
- Animation basics in Animate
- How to use frames and keyframes in Animate
- Frame-by-frame animation in Animate
- How to work with classic tween animation in Animate
- Brush Tool
- Motion Guide
- Motion tween and ActionScript 3.0
- About Motion Tween Animation
- Motion tween animations
- Creating a Motion tween animation
- Using property keyframes
- Animate position with a tween
- How to edit motion tweens using Motion Editor
- Editing the motion path of a tween animation
- Manipulating motion tweens
- Adding custom eases
- Creating and applying Motion presets
- Setting up animation tween spans
- Working with Motion tweens saved as XML files
- Motion tweens vs Classic tweens
- Shape tweening
- Using Bone tool animation in Animate
- Work with character rigging in Animate
- How to use mask layers in Adobe Animate
- How to work with scenes in Animate
- Interactivity
- How to create buttons with Animate
- Convert Animate projects to other document type formats
- Create and publish HTML5 Canvas documents in Animate
- Add interactivity with code snippets in Animate
- Creating custom HTML5 Components
- Using Components in HTML5 Canvas
- Creating custom Components: Examples
- Code Snippets for custom Components
- Best practices - Advertising with Animate
- Virtual Reality authoring and publishing
- Workspace and workflow
- Creating and managing Paint brushes
- Using Google fonts in HTML5 Canvas documents
- Using Creative Cloud Libraries and Adobe Animate
- Use the Stage and Tools panel for Animate
- Animate workflow and workspace
- Using web fonts in HTML5 Canvas documents
- Timelines and ActionScript
- Working with multiple timelines
- Set preferences
- Using Animate authoring panels
- Create timeline layers with Animate
- Export animations for mobile apps and game engines
- Moving and copying objects
- Templates
- Find and Replace in Animate
- Undo, redo, and the History panel
- Keyboard shortcuts
- How to use the timeline in Animate
- Creating HTML extensions
- Optimization options for Images and Animated GIFs
- Export settings for Images and GIFs
- Assets Panel in Animate
- Multimedia and Video
- Transforming and combining graphic objects in Animate
- Creating and working with symbol instances in Animate
- Image Trace
- How to use sound in Adobe Animate
- Exporting SVG files
- Create video files for use in Animate
- How to add a video in Animate
- Draw and create objects with Animate
- Reshape lines and shapes
- Strokes, fills, and gradients with Animate CC
- Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
- Color Panels in Animate CC
- Opening Flash CS6 files with Animate
- Work with classic text in Animate
- Placing artwork into Animate
- Imported bitmaps in Animate
- 3D graphics
- Working with symbols in Animate
- Draw lines & shapes with Adobe Animate
- Work with the libraries in Animate
- Exporting Sounds
- Selecting objects in Animate CC
- Working with Illustrator AI files in Animate
- Applying blend modes
- Arranging objects
- Automating tasks with the Commands menu
- Multilanguage text
- Using camera in Animate
- Graphic filters
- Sound and ActionScript
- Drawing preferences
- Drawing with the Pen tool
- Platforms
- Convert Animate projects to other document type formats
- Custom Platform Support
- Create and publish HTML5 Canvas documents in Animate
- Creating and publishing a WebGL document
- How to package applications for AIR for iOS
- Publishing AIR for Android applications
- Publishing for Adobe AIR for desktop
- ActionScript publish settings
- Best practices - Organizing ActionScript in an application
- How to use ActionScript with Animate
- Accessibility in the Animate workspace
- Writing and managing scripts
- Enabling Support for Custom Platforms
- Custom Platform Support Overview
- Working with Custom Platform Support Plug-in
- Debugging ActionScript 3.0
- Enabling Support for Custom Platforms
- Exporting and Publishing
- How to export files from Animate CC
- OAM publishing
- Exporting SVG files
- Export graphics and videos with Animate
- Publishing AS3 documents
- Export animations for mobile apps and game engines
- Exporting Sounds
- Best practices - Tips for creating content for mobile devices
- Best practices - Video conventions
- Best practices - SWF application authoring guidelines
- Best practices - Structuring FLA files
- Best Practices to optimize FLA files for Animate
- ActionScript publish settings
- Specify publish settings for Animate
- Exporting projector files
- Export Images and Animated GIFs
- HTML publishing templates
- Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
- Quick share and publish your animations
- Troubleshooting
Display and adjust points with the Subselection tool
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Click the line or shape outline.
Reshape a line or shape
To reshape a line or shape outline, drag any point on a line using the Selection tool. The pointer changes to indicate what type of reshaping it can perform on the line or fill.
Animate adjusts the curve of the line segment to accommodate the new position of the moved point. If the repositioned point is an end point the line will lengthen or shorten. If the repositioned point is a corner, the line segments forming the corner remain straight as they become longer or shorter.
Some brush stroke areas are easier to reshape if you view them as outlines.
If you are having trouble reshaping a complex line, smooth it to remove some of its details, making reshaping easier. Increasing the magnification can also make reshaping easier and more accurate.
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Select the Selection tool
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Do one of the following:
To reshape the segment, drag from any point.
To drag a line to create a new corner point, control-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh).
Straighten and smooth lines
Straightening makes small straightening adjustments to lines and curves you already drew. It has no effect on segments that are already straight.
To adjust the degree of automatic smoothing and straightening, specify preferences for drawing settings.
To make Animate recognize shapes, use the straightening technique. If you draw any oval, rectangular, or triangular shapes with the Recognize Shapes option turned off, use the Straightening option to make the shapes geometrically perfect. Shapes that are touching, and thus connected to other elements, are not recognized.
Smoothing softens curves and reduces bumps or other variations in a curve’s overall direction. It also reduces the number of segments in a curve. Smoothing is relative, however, and has no effect on straight segments. It is particularly useful when you are having trouble reshaping a number of very short curved line segments. Selecting all the segments and smoothing them reduces the number of segments, producing a gentler curve that is easier to reshape.
Repeated application of smoothing or straightening makes each segment smoother or straighter, depending on how curved or straight each segment was originally.
To smooth the curve of each selected stroke, select the Selection tool and click the Smooth modifier
in
the Options section of the Tools panel. Each click of the Smooth
modifier button makes the selected stroke progressively smoother.To enter specific parameters for a smoothing operation, choose Modify > Shape > Smooth. In the Smooth dialog box, enter values for the Smooth Angles Above, Smooth Angles Below, and Smoothing Strength parameters.
To make small straightening adjustments on each selected fill outline or curved line, select the Selection tool
and
click the Straighten modifier 
in the
Options section of the Tools panel.To enter specific parameters for a straightening operation, choose Modify > Shape > Straighten. In the Straighten dialog box, enter a value for the Straighten Strength parameter.
To use shape recognition, select the Selection tool
and
click the Straighten modifier , or
select Modify > Shape > Straighten.
Optimize curves
Optimizing smooths curves by refining curved lines and filling outlines, reducing the number of curves used to define these elements. Optimizing curves also reduces the size of the Flash Professional document (FLA file) and the exported Animate application (SWF file). Apply optimization to the same elements multiple times.
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Select the drawn elements to optimize and select Modify > Shape > Optimize.
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To specify the degree of smoothing, drag the Optimization Strength slider. The results depend on the curves selected. Generally, optimizing produces fewer curves, with less resemblance to the original outline.
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To display a message indicating the number of segments in the selection before and after the optimization, select the Show Totals Message option. Animate displays the message after the operation completes.
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Click OK.
Modify shapes
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To convert lines to fills, select a line or multiple lines and select Modify > Shape > Convert Lines To Fills. Selected lines are converted to filled shapes, which allows you to fill lines with gradients or to erase a portion of a line. Converting lines to fills can make file sizes larger, but it can also speed up drawing for some animations.
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To expand the shape of a filled object, select a filled shape, and select Modify > Shape > Expand Fill. Enter a value in pixels for Distance and select Expand or Inset For Direction. Expand enlarges the shape, and Inset reduces it.
This feature works best on a single, small, filled color shape with no stroke, that does not contain many small details.
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To soften the edges of an object, select a filled shape, and select Modify > Shape > Soften Fill Edges. Set the following options:
Distance
The width, in pixels, of the soft edge.
Number Of Steps
Controls how many curves are used for the soft edge effect. The more steps you use, the smoother the effect. Increasing steps also creates larger files and slows drawing.
Expand Or Inset
Controls whether the shape is enlarged or reduced to soften the edges.
This feature works best on a single filled shape that has no stroke, and can increase the file size of a Animate document and the resulting SWF file.
Delete everything on the Stage
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Double-click the Eraser tool
in
the toolbar. This erases all types of content on the Stage and pasteboard.
Remove stroke segments or filled areas
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Select the Eraser tool, and then click the Faucet modifier
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Click the stroke segment or filled area to delete.
Erase by dragging
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Select the Eraser tool.
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Click the Eraser Mode modifier and select an erasing mode:
Eraser mode modifiers
Eraser mode modifiers Erase Normal
Erases strokes and fills on the same layer.
Erase Fills
Erases only fills; strokes are not affected.
Erase Lines
Erases only strokes; fills are not affected.
Erase Selected Fills
Erases only the currently selected fills and does not affect strokes, selected or not. (Select the fills to erase before using the Eraser tool in this mode.)
Erase Inside
Erases only the fill on which you begin the Eraser stroke. If you begin erasing from an empty point, nothing is erased. Strokes are unaffected by the eraser in this mode.
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Click the Eraser Shape modifier and select an eraser shape and size. Make sure that the Faucet modifier is not selected.
Eraser shapes
Eraser shapes Use the horizontal scroll bar to adjust the size of the Eraser shape.
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Customize, delete, or edit the customized shape. Click the Add Custom Eraser shape icon adjacent to Eraser shape icon to create your customized Eraser shape. Choose the shape, angle and flatness to define the Nib properties. Click OK to create the customized shape.
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Drag on the Stage.
Using Pressure and Tilt modifiers
Pressure and Tilt options are added to Eraser tool to enhance drawing options.
Select Eraser tool and select the 
icon from the tool bar to enable pressure sensitivity or select the 
icon to enable tilt sensitivity. The default percentage values are 1% and 100% corresponding to the minimum and maximum values of Pressure/Tilt.
Use the eraser tool to create variable-width strokes based on pressure or tilt applied on the Eraser.
A sample drawing drawn with the help of Eraser Pressure and Tilt options is shown below for illustration:
Synchronizing settings in Eraser and Brush tools
You can choose to synchronize sub settings such as pressure or tilt settings, nib size, and nib shapes in Brush (B) and Eraser (E) tools. These settings are remembered even after quitting and relaunching a session in Animate.
- Enable the Sync settings with Brush checkbox in the Eraser tool (E).
- Current settings of Eraser (E) tool are mirrored in the Brush tool (B) and conversely. The Wacom pen always uses smoothing setting from the Brush (B) tool. Wacom rear end uses the brush settings when the Brush (B) tool is selected. Else, for any other tool, it uses the eraser settings.
Erase on active layer
You can choose to use the Eraser tool (E) to erase only on the active layer.
Enable the Erase on active layer check box in the Eraser tool (E).
