RE: FLASH: tracing bitmaps

[Eric Smollin]

>What are the advantages of using trace a bitmap in Flash? 

If you are using simple bitmaps with big rounded corners, Trace Bitmap can

transform your raster images into vectors which will give them increased

clarity when scaled and tweened. 



>If there is only one bitmap in a movie, is it worth it?

That depends on what type of bitmap it is. Is it a large complex bitmap with

sharp corners and complex colors? If so, don't even bother, your results

will be a bloated vector that looks horrible. You are better off sticking

with your bitmap. Better yet, open it in Fireworks, optimize it, and save it

as a PNG. Import the PNG into Flash and use the Lossless PNG/GIF settings.


>Does the trace of the bitmap give a good representation of the original

>image?

Like I mentioned above, it can if you are using simple shapes, but the more

complex you get, the more distorted the traced image will be. The way I see

it, if you have a bitmap that is simple enough that if you traced it it

would look good, you are probably better off just scraping it and recreating

it as true vector in Flash, Freehand, or AI.


Of course screen shots are always the exception...


Good Luck 

-Eric-


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