How to Make Water Bubbles in Flash CS3

Digital illustrators can add a touch of realism to water with water bubbles. But water bubbles can be tricky. You need to add highlights and shadows to make them look round and real. Flash CS3 offers a few short cuts to speed up the process of making water bubble.

Instructions

1. Draw or import your water source. Any water container will do; a water glass, water bottle or aquarium. Drag it on stage into the bottom layer and lock the layer so you won't accidentally select it.

2. Paint a stream of white dots on a new layer. Select the paintbrush and set it to white fill and no stroke. Paint a dozen or more dots varying the brush size between Flash's three smallest stroke sizes. You can paint them in a straight line or randomize it slightly.

3. Convert your bubbles to a movie clip. Click on the layer in the timeline to select all of the painted dots. Choose "Convert to Symbol" from the Modify menu (F8) and check the "Movie Clip" option. The bubbles will become a single object.

4. Add depth to the bubbles. Open the Filters inspector window and click on the "+" button. Select "Bevel" from the filters pulldown menu. Make the Knockout Type is "Inner" and adjust the Distance, Strength and Angle settings to make the dots appear spherical.

5. Option + drag your bubbles symbol to create enough copies to cover the water area. Set the Property Inspector Blend to "Hard Light." Choose "Alpha" from the Property Inspector Color pulldown menu and reduce the opacity as needed to blend into the water.

6. Create a mask if your bubbles fall outside the water area. Add a new layer at the top of the timeline and use the pen tool to draw an object in the shape of the water. Fill the shape with a solid color. Right click on the mask layer and choose "Mask" from the popup menu.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want, vary the opacity of the bubbles symbols slightly to add a sense of depth.