Adobe Flash sucks.
For vector creation.
At least. . . .
I think so.
And when compared to Inskcape.
Inkscape is a free, open source tool for creating vector graphics. Maybe it's because I've been using it for quite a while longer than Flash, or maybe Flash actually DOES suck for creating vectors, but no matter the reason, I prefer the intuitive interface of Inkscape to that of Adobe Flash, which is convoluted, frustrating, and ill-organized.
In Inkscape, the UI is all right at your fingertips, the tools are simple and really easy to use, and their functions work extremely logically. Flash on the other hand, does not work logically at all.
For instance, in inkscape, to change what type a node is, simply control click it. the shape of the node changes accordingly to reflect the different node type. In Flash, I currently do not know how to change a node; the best I can do is delete a handle, and then instead of clicking again to toggle to the next node type, it just deletes the node altogether. Not to mention that in Flash, modifying nodes and splines can be done in a myriad of different ways, most of which are inefficient and end up creating and deleting nodes at random, it would seem. In Inkscape, there's one tool to draw the spline, and one tool for editing it, and all of it's components. This is incredibly simple, and works flawlessly. need to change a curve? drag it in the direction, and handles are created. Try this in Flash, and you'll more then likely end of moving the spline entirely, or end up deleting or adding a node by accident. On the off chance that you successfully manage to change the curve from the way it was, Flash will probably not create a handle for you to work with! Or, maybe it will. It's really hit or miss with that program.
Anyway, aside from ranting, I actually have something relevant to say.
What would seem to be the standard file format for vectors is .SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). This is pretty much as universal as .JPEG or .PNG. Inkscape saves natively to this format. So of course, the logical thing to do, since it's impossible to use the bezier tool to create vectors in Flash, is to do in Inkscape and simply import it into Flash. I click import, browse to my documents where I saved the .SVG. . . where is it? It doesn't appear. Apparently, Flash does not support the extremely common .SVG file type.
>:(
This drives me insane. Imagine if you were unable to edit .PNG files in paint.
Anyway, after many hours of searching, I found that Adobe Illustrator supports .SVG files! So I imported it into Illustrator, and lo and be hold, THERE! Is. . . is. . . . my image? Nope! it's incredibly distorted. MASSIVE SIGH. After I thought I finally figured it out, it doesn't work.
Apparently, the clipping and masking functions that Inkscape uses are defined completely differently in Illustrator when it reads the .SVG files. In the end, I could not find a solution to this, so I had to go back and edit my original vector to remove all clipping and masking.
How obnoxious.
Anyway, after that was done, .SVG seemed to work quite alright in Illustrator. I then save this newly created file in the standard Adobe .AI file type.
THIS.
THIS file type is actually recognized by Flash. Yay! I can FINALLY get it to work!
Then, a few headaches and frustrations later, I find that all my layers from Inkscape aren't linked properly, and things are all over the place, and don't import to the stage very well. Despite technically being different layers, they are actually all on the same layer in Flash, which I have yet to figure out.
After COMPLETELY deleting and recreating my original vector, take the utmost care not to do anything to extravagant, I eventually exported a perfect SVG into Illustrator, which in turn finally exported a perfect AI file to Flash, which in turn loaded it all* perfectly.
*Gradients aren't aligned properly and screw up.
>:(
ARG!!!!!
I was very annoyed.
There was literally nothing I could do to the original to fix the gradients to make them work better. So, I resigned to using Flash to do gradients. At least that works, considering that gradients aren't really splines, so they're not as stupid to try to make in Flash.
In the end, I wonder whether it would just be simpler to use the crappy tools in Flash to draw things. There has got to be a better way than all this mindless converting of broken files.