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Creating Buttons

Free Flash Tutorial

The Hit Area

The Hit Area is an invisible the area of a Flash button that responds when the mouse pointer passes over it or clicks on it. This can be a rectangular area surrounding the button, or an irregular shape.

If you have a background shape in your button - such as a rectangle you do not need to create a hit area:

My Example: Download the Flash File:  Beg 005a

No Hit Area is needed as the button has a background rectangle.

My Example: Download the Flash File:  Beg 005e

The Hit Area is not in the same position as the visible button.

Note: Normally the Hit Area is invisible but in the example above I have cheated and made it visible.

Important: If your button does not have a solid background (in this case a rectangle) but only text, you will have to create a rectangle (or other solid shape), in the hit area frame. Otherwise when the mouse pointer goes over the gaps between the letters, the button will go back to frame one: The over state.

Very slowly click and move the mouse over button 1 below and you will see the problem.

My Example: Download the Flash File:  Beg 005f

Move your mouse slowly over the Buttons to see the difference.

Button 1 is not stable and moves between states with small movements of the mouse.

Button 2 is stable. Button 2 has a rectangle in the 'Hit' frame. This is not visible in the Movie, but controls the 'Up', 'Over' and 'Down' states.

To create a Hit Area you need to edit the button and create a rectangle (or other shape) in the Hit Frame:

The red rectangle is drawn in the Hit frame inside the button and defines the Hit Area.

If you are having difficulty understanding this, download the Movie and look inside the symbol at the Hit Frame. To look inside the symbol double click it on stage.

Have fun with your buttons, make them wild and wonderful!