[Discuss][AS3] 2D Game Coding Using CopyPixels(),Draw()

[as3newb]

Collision Checking: I'm planning on adding width/height/radius properties to my sprite class and then just use brute code (circle or box check) to do the collision checking. Is this the preferred way?

Font Handling: I'm considering just using CopyPixels() to draw some pre-rendered bitmap letters. You don't get any fancy fx with the letters, but it seems easy to do. Is there a better way?

Screen Fades: Don't have a clue. Is there a way to draw a black square over the entire scene and adjust the alpha so it can fadein or fadeout? Seems like this would be the easiest way? Maybe .Draw() could be useful here?

.Draw() I've never used this yet. I've read that it can do realtime fx but I haven't found any plain english examples yet how to use this routine. I'm wondering if this would be useful for title screen fx where you might want to rotate, zoom in a logo, etc?

Thanks for your thoughts.