How to Create a Glow Effect in Flash MX

While versions of Flash from MX and lower don't have an automatic outer glow effect, that doesn't mean you can't create one by clever manipulation of gradients, opacity, and layers.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A working installation of Flash MX or lower.

1. Select the shape that you want to apply the glow to.
2. Copy the shape (menu Edit->Copy, PC shortcut Ctrl+C).
3. Click the New Layer icon on the Layers panel to create a new layer above the current one.
4. Use Paste in Place (menu Edit->Paste in Place, keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+V) to paste the copy of the shape onto the new layer directly on top of the old one. The new layer will be your visible shape, while the one underneath will be your glow.
5. Lock the top layer to make sure that you won't accidentally edit it while creating your glow.
6. Select the copy of the shape on the layer underneath and use either the Transform panel or the Free Transform tool to scale the shape up so that the larger version is visible beyond the edges of the original. Usually the Transform panel is better, because by typing in scale percentages the shape will enlarge while staying centered on the original. If you use the Free Transform tool you may have to use the Align panel to make sure that the shape and the enlarged version are centered on each other.
7. If you're already working with a plain fill, skip to step eight. If you're working with a symbol or text, use Break Apart (Modify->Break Apart or PC shortcut Ctrl+B) to break the shape down to fills. Continue doing so until the shape no longer has any blue bounding boxes indicating symbols or text.
8. From the Color Mixer panel, select a Radial gradient fill and either auto-fill the shape with the gradient by clicking on the gradient swatch while the shape is selected, or by using the Paint Bucket tool to fill it in.
9. Use the Color Mixer panel to set the inner color of the gradient to the color that you want your glow to be. Set the outer color to the same color, but use the Alpha slider to set the opacity to zero. This will create a fade effect in which the color fades towards nothing, as if a glow dying out.
10. Adjust the position of the solid color on the slider and use the Gradient Transform tool to tweak the gradient's scale until the size and intensity of the glow surrounding your shape suit you.

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