Recipe 1.6. Controlling How Lines Scale

Problem

You want to control how a line scales.

Solution

Set the Scale type from the Property inspector.

Discussion

Until Flash 8, there was just one option for the line scale type. The line thickness scaled with the width and height. For example, a line with thickness of 10 would appear as though it had a thickness of 20 when scaled to 200%.The only alternative for lines was to use the Hairline Line style. However, the Hairline style works only if you want a line with a thickness of one pixel.

As of Flash 8, you can specify a scale style for lines using the Scale style menu in the Property inspector. The default setting is Normal, which means that lines scale just as they have always done. However, you can also select from Horizontal, Vertical, and None. When you select Horizontal, it means that Flash does not scale the thickness when the line is scaled horizontally. Likewise, when you select Vertical, it means that Flash does not scale the thickness when the line is scaled vertically. And a setting of None means that Flash does not scale the thickness of the line regardless of whether or not the line is scaled vertically or horizontally.