Re: FLASH: New Site please review (Marc)

[Marc Hoffman]

At 08:39 AM 11/16/98 -0600, you wrote:

>I appreciate your honest feedback. So tell me...since I am not an

illustrator, I don't relly know these things, how could we get the

animation that we have, with the detail that we have, in vector format?

That seems to be their biggest problem with going to Vector. They think

they'll have to hand trace 400 pictures in order to get what they want out

of it.

>

> 


I should think that by utilizing symbols and shape tweening you could get

away with a quarter that number of pictures.


Some images can be autotraced efficiently by Flash -- you'll have to play

with the trace settings, however, to make sure the results aren't overly

complex (they can end up being larger than the original bitmaps!).  Adobe

Streamline is a stand-alone utility that takes more practice but can give

you more control over bitmap-to-vector conversion. It's worth the price if

you have the time to learn to use it.


I don't consider myself an illustrator, either, but I get by on

hand-tracing, doodling, and trial-and-error.  A Wacom pad is a good

investment.  Even their smallest ArtPad will give you far better control

than a mouse. Place the bitmap on one Flash layer, and draw on the layer

above.  I've been advised to draw at 400% zoom using the finest resolution

settings possible, then shrink everything and use Modify>Curves>Smooth (or

Optimize).  It does take practice, but try to break the image into areas of

relative dark and light, and fill those areas accordingly (the paint

palette editor helps here, as you can easily create different shades of the

same color).  If you use the auto trace awhile, it can help you realize how

to break up an image into a few areas of dark and light. Your mannequin,

for example, could be created with fewer than a dozen symbols and simple

gradient fills (use a single symbol, stretched differently, for upper and

lower arms, legs, and fingers!).


Practice using motion tween (which includes Scale tweening) and shape tween

(not used with symbols, but an excellent way to change perspective on a

geometric object).  This should reduce the number of pictures you're

dealing with.  


If you can convert only some of your images, convert those that do the most

moving, or that change the most, or that are most complex.  Also, an

imported bitmap is not a symbol until you turn it into one.  I'm not sure

about this, but it may save file size to use the symbol version of a bitmap

rather than drag  the original bitmap from the library onto the stage (can

someone else comment on this?).



Marc Hoffman

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