Re: FLASH: transparent symbols?

[John Dowdell]

At 1:09 PM 10/19/98, John Lutter wrote:

> Is there a way to import a graphic with a transparency? I'm trying to

> bring in a bitmap graphic that will pass over other symbols/text and

> then sit half-way on a background. Any advice would be appreciated.


The PNG format can hold alpha transparency which can be read and used by

Flash 3.


If you're using Fireworks, then Flash can open a native Fireworks file,

because Fireworks uses PNG as its native file format. I'd recommend doing a

"millions of colors" PNG export from Fireworks, however, to get rid of the

editing data which Flash doesn't really need.


If you're using another tool, such as Photoshop, doublecheck its

instructions on creating PNG with alpha information. Yu can always import

this file back to the host to check how it's saving out its PNG.


In all tools, semi-transparent bitmaps will cost you quite a bit in

filesize... doublecheck the size of the file. If you can, consider trying

to use Flash's built-in image tiling, in order to cover a larger screen

area with a smaller number of source pixels.


(The alpha-transparency for native vector curves is almost free in

comparison to pixel-based graphics... if you can design the piece so that

the transparent element is a Flash painting then that will give you much

faster download times.)


jd





John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US


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