Tutorials
Merge and object drawing
See how shapes drawn in merge mode cut into each other, keep shapes apart with Object Drawing, and use Break Apart and Group to move between the two.
This page is also a lesson inside Phoenix: choose and start Merge and object drawing, and Phoenix points at each control as you go. It takes about 7 minutes.
To follow along here instead, start a new document with : 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 frames per second.
Phoenix has two ways of drawing. In merge mode, shapes on the same layer join up and cut into each other, like wet paint. In Object Drawing mode, each shape stays a separate object.
In this tutorial you will draw a few overlapping shapes both ways and see the difference.
1. Start in merge mode
This is the Object Drawing button. For now it should be off, not highlighted. If it is on, click it or press J.
2. Pick the Oval tool
Press O, or choose the Oval tool from the Rectangle slot.
3. Draw a circle
Hold Shift and drag on the left of the stage to draw a large circle.
4. Pick the Rectangle tool
Press R for the Rectangle tool. To tell the shapes apart, pick a different fill color with the fill swatch at the bottom of the toolbox.
5. Overlap the circle
Draw a rectangle that covers the right side of the circle and reaches past it.
6. Pick the Selection tool
Press V, or click the arrow at the top of the toolbox.
7. Pull the rectangle away
The rectangle you just drew is still selected. Drag it down and away from the circle.
If it is not selected, double-click its fill first: that selects the fill with its outline.
8. A bite out of the circle
The circle has a piece missing. Where the rectangle covered it, the rectangle's fill replaced the circle's, and its outline cut the circle's outline. Merge shapes really are one drawing.
This is handy for sketching and cutting shapes, but easy to do by accident. Ctrl+Z undoes it.
9. Turn on Object Drawing
Click the Object Drawing button, or press J, so it is highlighted. New shapes will now each be an object of their own.
10. Pick the Oval tool again
Press O.
11. Draw a circle object
With Shift held, draw a circle on the right of the stage. When you let go it shows a box around it: it is a drawing object.
12. And a rectangle object
Press R and draw a rectangle over the right side of this circle, as before.
13. Move it away
Press V, then drag the rectangle away from the circle. A single click selects a whole object.
14. Nothing was cut
This circle is whole. Drawing objects sit on top of one another without merging, like cut-out paper.
To turn one back into merge artwork, break it apart, as you will do next.
15. Break it apart
Click the circle object to select it, then press Ctrl+B, or choose Modify > Break Apart. It becomes plain merge artwork again.
16. Group it
With the shape still selected, press Ctrl+G, or choose Modify > Group.
A group keeps merge artwork safe from what is drawn around it, like a drawing object, and can hold several things at once. Double-click a group to edit inside it.
17. Back to merge mode
Click the Object Drawing button or press J again, so it is off.
18. Draw over an object
Press O and draw an oval that overlaps the rectangle object you moved, away from the other shapes.
19. Merge artwork goes underneath
The oval went under the rectangle, although you drew it last. On a layer, merge artwork always sits below the layer's drawing objects, groups and symbols.
To put a shape over an object, draw it on a layer above, or make it an object too.
What you did
You saw merge shapes cut into each other, kept shapes apart with Object Drawing, and used Break Apart and Group to change one into the other.
Next, try Frame-by-frame and onion skinning to draw an animation by hand.