Find And Replace Strokes

16 May, 2018

by vlad

Functionality

Finds and replaces stroke properties across shapes* in the current document. Allows to process Thickness, Color, Alpha and Style separately or in any combination.

As of EDAP Tools v.6.9 the command can also completely delete strokes.

* Changes can be applied to the Entire Document or restricted within the Current Timeline or Selected Library items

Note: In Animate Tagged Colors (Swatches) are skipped by default. To include them in the processing operation, uncheck Skip Tagged Colors in EDAPT Control Panel > Processing Strokes and Fills. (v.7)

Suggested use

In all cases when batch modification of Stroke properties is required. Works in a similar way to Flash's default Find and Replace Color.

If a stroke is selected before triggering the command, the command will pre-fill its properties in the 'Search for' part of the dialog.
A self-explanatory dialog appears where users have to choose what values they would like to modify.

Where does it work?

Stage, selected Shape, selected Union, selected Stroke (used for stroke picking)

Notes

This command requires Flash CS5 or later to run.
Please note: Hidden and locked layers are also processed.

Known issues

The command does not process Groups.
When limiting selection to specific Library items, the applied stroke changes are impossible to undo.

Video demonstrations

All our videos are 1080p. If for some reason full HD is not available here, try watching them on YouTube.

This command is part of the Flanimate Power Tools package. Get the latest version from Downloads.

Ganesh Phad

25 December, 2017 at 3:33 am

Hey Nick !
It seems that find and replace only work's fine for the strokes inside symbol or drawing object but it does not apply on strokes inside group and the output window shows "Find Replace Strokes: Done. 0 contours processed."

Plz help me if you find out any solution.

nick

30 December, 2017 at 8:08 am

Hello Ganesh,

Thanks for reporting this issue!

At this stage the only advice I can offer it to stay away from groups and avoid using them.
Groups have always been problematic in Flash due to the way they were implemented by Macromedia.

Instead of groups, use a combination of Drawing Objects (Unions), Layers and Graphic Symbols, and you will have better flexibility and control; Find And Replace Strokes will also work fine.

We may try to explore this problem further for our future releases, but it is very low priority and I cannot promise anything at this stage.

http://flash-powertools.com/workflow/#c02
In this foundational article from 2011 I have clearly written:
"Groups should be avoided at all times. Drawing objects (also called Unions) are a lot more flexible, but should only be used temporarily or with caution. The automated Find and Replace Color function in Flash 8 only works on raw vector shapes inside symbols. A typical problem during production may be the requirement to change some particular color in one particular character.

If groups and unions were not used the task becomes a simple automated operation. The finished scenes are subjected to a Find and Replace Color and in no time the problem is solved. On the contrary, if groups and unions were used during character creation, the operation snowballs and becomes a tedious time-consuming process, which requires manual operations and double-checking."

Good luck with your work!

Sergiopop

3 March, 2023 at 11:50 pm

Would the option that replaces the color with an empty one be possible?

4 March, 2023 at 12:11 am

Yes. It's already done. Coming with v.7.