Re: FLASH: graphic basics

[Marc Hoffman]

At 01:28 PM 5/16/99 +0200, you wrote:

>Anyone can help me to understand the basics of graphic importing ? 

>I don't understand when do I have to render bitmap images and simple rules

>for images importing formats...

>


Flash works best with vector images, not bitmaps.  Vectors will generally

consume less file space and if you are tweening an image (animating its

position, size, or color on stage), a bitmap will usually require a lot

more processor activity and hence will tend to slow things down.  The most

efficient vectors will be those created in Flash or in Freehand 8.01+

(which exports directly to Flash format).


Sometimes you may want to use bitmaps as backgrounds or as small images in

a presentation.  Aside from requiring more file space, they won't hurt your

presentation, although they usually won't look very good unless they're

displayed at 100% (meaning you will have to fix the display size of your

Flash movie to 100% rather than allow it to scale to fill a browser window).


If you import images, try to import lossless format (for example .gif,

.bmp, etc.) rather than those using a lossy compression scheme (e.g. .jpg),

since quality of a lossy-compressed image erodes every time it is altered

and resaved.  Flash has the ability to compress images in a lossless mode,

which is most likely what you will want to use.


Many Flash designers either hand-trace bitmap images and used the resulting

Flash vector image, or they use Flash's autotrace function to convert the

bitmap to a vector.  The latter will not always produce acceptable results;

a very complex bitmap may autotrace into a vector image that has so many

vertices it is actually larger than the original bitmap. Adobe Streamline

is also a useful utility for converting bitmaps to vectors.


The manual adequately explains which formats are supported and how to

import them.  If you do not have the manual, you may download it in pdf

format from Macromedia.


-Marc






Marc Hoffman

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

marcdartfrogmedia [dot] com (mailto:marcdartfrogmedia [dot] com)

Play a virtual marimba at: <www.dartfrogmedia.com/dartfrog> (featured 

in the book Flash 3 Web Animation by Ken Milburn).

Flash3 Portfolio: <http://www.jps.net/dartfrog/sampler>.


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