Add bones to shapes

A second way of using IK armatures is with shape objects. With shapes, you can add multiple bones to the interior of a single shape. This is different from symbol instances, where each instance can have only one bone. You can also add bones to shapes created in Object Drawing mode.

You add bones to a single shape or to a group of shapes. In either case, all of the shapes must be selected before adding the first bone. Once bones are added to the selection, Flash converts all of the shapes and bones into an IK shape object and moves the object to a new pose layer.

Once a shape is converted to an IK shape, it can no longer merge with other shapes outside the IK shape.

  1. Create a filled shape or shapes on the Stage.

    The shape can contain multiple colors and strokes. Edit the shapes so they are as close to their final form as possible. Once you add bones to a shape, the options for editing the shape become more limited.

  2. Select the entire shape on the stage.

    If the shape contains multiple color areas or strokes, be sure to select the entire shape. Dragging a selection rectangle around the shape ensures that the entire shape is selected.

  3. Select the Bone tool  in the Tools panel.

    You can also press the X key to select the Bone tool.

  4. With the Bone tool, click inside the shape and drag to another location within the shape.

    While dragging, a bone appears. When you release the mouse, a solid bone is displayed between the point where you clicked and the point where you released the mouse. Each bone has a head, the round end, and a tail, the pointed end.

    The first bone in an armature is the root bone. It appears with a circle around the head of the bone. When adding the first bone, click in the location within the shape where you want the root of the armature to be. You can also edit the locations of the head and tail of each bone later.

    When you add the first bone, Flash converts the shape to an IK shape object and moves it to a new layer in the Timeline. The new layer is called a pose layer. All the bones and the IK shape object associated with a given armature reside in the pose layer. Each pose layer can contain only one armature. Flash adds the new pose layer to the Timeline in between existing layers to maintain the previous stacking order of objects on the Stage.

    Once the shape becomes an IK shape, you can no longer add new strokes to the shape. You can still add or remove control points from the existing strokes of the shape. The IK shape has its own registration point, transform point, and bounding box.

  5. To add another bone, drag from the tail of the first bone to another location in within the shape.

    The pointer changes when rolled over the head or tail of an existing bone.

    The second bone becomes a child of the root bone. Link areas of the shape with bones in the order of the parent-child relationships you want to create. For example, if you are adding bones to a shape that represents an arm, draw the first bone from the shoulder to the elbow, and a second bone from the elbow to the wrist, and a third from the wrist to the hand.

  6. To create a branched armature, click the head of an existing bone where you want the branch to begin and drag to create the first bone of the new branch.

    An armature can have as many branches as necessary.

    Note: A branch cannot connect to another branch except at its root.
  7. To move the armature, select the IK shape object with the Selection tool and then drag any of the bones to move them.