If you’ve ever wondered how Adobe Flash draws a curve when issued a “curveTo” command this article will help you visualize the process.
As you probably know, Flash requires three points to draw an exponential curve.
- A Starting Point. Wherever the Flash drawing pen is currently located. If you have not previously moved the pen with “lineTo”, “curveTo”, or “moveTo” the pen defaults to the origin (0, 0).
- A Control Point. A point which the the Flash drawing pen will head toward before changing direction and heading toward the end point. The pen generally does not go through the control point unless your “curve” is nearly straight.
- An End Point. Where the Flash drawing pen will come to rest when the curve is complete.
But how exactly does the control point “control” the shape of the curve? How does Flash precisely map the vague concept of heading towards a point and then land precisely at another point? Take a look at the SWF file below …
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