Re: FLASH: compressed .ai file?

[John Dowdell]

At 9:33 AM 4/24/0, Anthony Faust wrote:

>I have an Illustrator map that is 38 k. It only has 3 or 4 colors but it has

>a lot of paths because it has a lot of curves and buildings and stuff.

>What are some ways that I can compress the heck out of it without

>sacrificing image quality?


Illustrator doesn't have the "Simplify Curve" abilities that FreeHand

does... although it has a "smoothing brush" you can rub back and forth over

a single curve, it doesn't optimize curve count as well as FreeHand and

Flash do.


Be sure to use the free FlashWriter Export Plugin for Illustrator 8,

available from the Macromedia site. This will help on some curve reduction

and filesize compression.


Once you import this SWF to Macromedia Flash, doublecheck whether

ungrouping shapes adequately removes some hidden curves. You might consider

using the "Optimize Curves" or "Smooth" options to remove some vector

detail.


Consider symbols. A repeating element, such as a building, which is made

into a symbol in FreeHand 9 will become a symbol in Flash. If you start in

Illustrator, though, it will send many unrelated copies of the same

building. If you replace these with a symbol in Flash you can save some

filesize.


jd






John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US

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