Re: FLASH: Trace a bitmap?

[John Croteau]

Hi Erich,


>  I've heard several people mentioning the term "trace a bitmap image" in

>  Flash, rather than just using the bitmap file in Flash.

If an image is highly detailed or photographiv in nature it is likely to

be best used as a bitmap in Flash. Images that are made up of more basic

shapes are often better converted to vectors. Tracing is the term for

converting a bitmap to a vector drawing.


> Would this involve importing a .bmp file, then actually just 'painting

> over' the layer? 

There are two types of tracing hand tracing (as you descibe above) and

auto tracing done by a program such as in Streamline, Flash or many

programs.


In Flash:

Modify > Trace Bitmap.


In general it is not worth trying to convert a single simple image with

Flash's Trace Bitmap (or any other auto trace), just import the image

and hand trace it. If you have good drawing skills in Flash you can hand

trace most any basic bitmap in much less time than getting the correct

Trace Bitmap settings and neccessary cleanup (optimization). I have seen

many people spend hours trying to get an auto trace of an object when

they could have hand traced the object in 30 minutes or less. Auto

tracing is very important and worth the effort if you need to convert a

large series of similar images. Note, the way auto tracing works

betweeen different programs can affect which program you chose to do an

auto trace. Streamline is a program whose only function is to convert

bitmaps to vectors and is often the best choice for auto tracing.


-- 

Coming Soon    Flash 4 Web Animation F/X and Design

  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576105555/flashcentral

-----------                               -----------------------

John Croteau

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

-------------                             -------------------------

FlashTek  (Advanced Websites with Flash) http://www.FlashTek.com/

Flash Bible (Fast track to good Flash)  http://www.FlashBible.com/

Flash Central(The Universe Starts Here) http://www.FlashCentral.com/

The Flash Tech Resource (Tech Notes)   http://www.FlashCentral.com/tech/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



flasher is generously supported by...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Streaming Media WEST '99 Conference & Exhibition

  "The Worlds largest Internet Audio & Video Event"

 December 7 - 9, San Jose Convention Center, California


Reserve your space today at http://www.streamingmedia.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

http://www.chinwag.com/flasher or email

helpchinwag [dot] com