Flash CS4 - Adobe

Flash CS4THEMISSINGMANUAL Chris Grover withE.A. Vander VeerBeijing Cambridge Farnham Köln Sebastopol Taipei Tokyo

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chapterChapter 1919Publishing andExportingWhen you’re finished creating an animation in Flash, you want to do one of twothings with it: Publish it, which means packaging it in a form your audience canplay using the Flash Player they’ve installed on their computers; or export it, whichmeans packaging it in a form you can edit using another graphics or animationprogram (like Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Fireworks).Note: Note: Publishing means something different in Flash (where it means “creating an executableFlash file”) from what it means in the larger world of Web development (where it means “transferring filesto a Web server”).In this chapter, you’ll learn how to do both.Using Flash’s publishing settings (Figure 19-1), you’ll see how to tell Flash to publish your animation as part of a Web page, and as a standalone projector. You’ll alsosee how to export the artwork in your animation as editable image files. But beforeyou publish or export, you need to learn how to optimize your animation (reduceyour animation’s file size) so that it runs as quickly and efficiently as possible—areal concern if you’re planning to publish your animation on the Web (see the boxon page 623).623

Optimizing FlashDocumentsFigure 19-1:Flash lets you choose how to deliver yourcompiled animation. The options shownhere produces a plain .swf that plays inmost browsers. You can also publish itas a standalone projector file (a selfcontained executable file you doubleclick to run, with no need for a Webbrowser or a separate Flash Player), animage file, or embedded in a Web page.Optimizing Flash DocumentsThe larger your published Flash animation file size, the longer it takes for youraudience to download it from the Web, and the more stress it puts on their computers when it does begin to play. (Find out more about the difference between aneditable .fla Flash document and a published, ready-to-roll .swf document on page 631.)A large file size can cause someone to stare at a blank screen for seconds or evenminutes at a time, while she waits for your animation to download and begin playing. A large file size can also cause your animation (including any sound files itcontains) to play in fits and starts once it does begin.Optimizing your animation means paring down its file size by making variouschanges to your images, text, and other elements—all while making sure your animation continues to play the way you want it to. You can think of optimization aslow-fat cooking for the animation set: The goal is to get rid of the fat without gettingrid of the flavor. And, as with low-fat cooking, Flash doesn’t have a single approachto optimization; instead—because every animation and target audience is different—you need to experiment, tweak, and retest using the strategies outlined next.624Flash CS4: The Missing Manual

Optimizing FlashDocumentsFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONThe Importance of Being OptimizedIn an era where lightning-fast connections, high-speedprocessors, and multimegabyte memory cards abound,why should I bother optimizing my Flash documents?not everyone can upgrade, and not everyone wantsto. But even if they do, chances are they’re not goingto do it just to see your animation.Here’s why: Not everyone has access to the latest, greatestequipment and Internet service. In many parts of the world,people don’t have access to affordable T1 connections, forexample. Also, folks relying on the computers at theirschools or jobs don’t have control over their equipment.And, of course, not everyone has the time, money, orpatience necessary to upgrade every time a new “revolution” in hardware or software technology hits the market. So what if it takes 5 minutes to download myanimation file? My animation is so fantastic it’sworth waiting for. It doesn’t matter if your animation is in line for the next Webby Award: If your audience can’t run it (or surfs away impatiently instead ofwaiting for it to download and stutter across theirscreens), you haven’t communicated effectively—andcommunicating effectively is, or should be, the goal ofevery animation you create in Flash.There’s a tendency among some animators (especially thosewho don’t have a background in building non-Flash softwareprograms) to resist the extra effort that optimizing their animations (as you see on page 624) requires. But here’s thefact: If people can’t see your animation, nothing else matters.Not the beauty or cleverness of your artwork, nor the sophistication of your animated sequences, nor the appropriateness of your perfectly synchronized background music.Here’s a short list of the most common excuses some animators give for not optimizing their animations (and thereasons why these excuses don’t fly): It looks great on my machine. If my audiencedoesn’t have a fast enough connection, theyneed to upgrade. Animators and others using Flashtend to be running high-end equipment—muchfaster and more powerful than the equipment theiraudiences are running. That’s why testing your animation at a variety of connection speeds (as discussed on page 602) and even on a variety ofmachines, if possible, is so important. As noted above, The big boys (Hollywood trailer-makers, high-endadvertisers, and super-sophisticated, high-trafficsites) don’t worry about optimization. Whyshould I? It’s true that some folks would still checkout the latest Hollywood teaser even if it took all dayto download. But they don’t have to because the bigboys pay an army of professional testers and software designers to optimize their animations usingthe techniques in this chapter.The bottom line, as you’ve read over and over in this book,is to determine the needs of your target audience first, andthen construct your animation to meet those needs. Ifyou’re delivering your animation as a standalone file onDVD, you’re absolutely sure that your audience will be running high-end equipment, and you know for a fact they’rehighly motivated to run your animation (for example, theyhave to work through the Flash training tutorial you createdin order to keep their jobs), then by all means take optimization with a grain of salt. But if your audience fits any otherprofile, ignore optimization at your own risk.Tip: As you check out the optimization strategies in this section, keep in mind that effective optimizationis always a balancing act. You may decide some effects are worth the bloated file size they require, andsome aren’t. In still other cases, you’ll want to compromise. For example, you might choose to removehalf of the gradient effects you’ve applied to your images so that you reduce file size, but keep the otherhalf. In Flash, you’re the director, so you get to decide how much is enough.Chapter 19: Publishing and Exporting625

Optimizing FlashDocumentsTen Optimization StrategiesBelow you’ll find 10 strategies for reducing file size by tweaking the images youdraw, the bitmaps you import, the graphic effects you apply, and more. Apply asmany of the strategies as you can. You can use any of these techniques to trimdown a completed animation. Better yet, keep them in mind as you create yournext animation. That way, you’ll end up with a streamlined animation without alot of extra, after-the-fact work.Choose tweens over frame-by-frame animationsEvery time you add a keyframe to your timeline, the size of your file goes up dramatically. In contrast, when you use a motion or shape tween (Chapter 3), Flash onlyhas to keep track of the beginning and ending keyframes; for the in-betweenframes it generates, it has to save only a few calculations. (Obviously, there aretimes you need to use frame-by-frame animation to create the effect you’re after;but for those times when tweening will do the job, use it.)Choose the Pencil tool over the Brush toolBrush tool fills are more complex than the lines you create with the Pencil tool, sobrush strokes take up more file space. When you feel both strokes are equallyacceptable, choose the Pencil.Choose solid over dashed or dotted linesThrough the Property Inspector, Flash lets you apply a handful of dash-and-doteffects to the lines you draw on stage using the Pencil, Pen, Line, and Shape tools(page 64). But do so sparingly, because these line effects increase file size.Simplify curvesThe less points that make up your lined curves and fill outlines, the less information Flash has to keep track of—and the smaller your file size. Flash even gives youa special Optimize command to remove superfluous points from your shapes.Here’s how to use it:1. Select the curved line or fill outline you want to optimize, and then chooseModify Shape Optimize.The Optimize Curves dialog box you see in Figure 19-2 (top) appears.2. Drag the smoothing slider to tell Flash how much optimization to apply, fromnone to maximum, and then click OK.Flash displays a message (Figure 19-2, bottom) letting you know what percentage of the selected line or outline it was able to dispense with.3. Click OK.On the stage, you see the (subtle) results of the optimization.626Flash CS4: The Missing Manual

Optimizing FlashDocumentsFigure 19-2:Top: Optimizing a line doesn’t straighten it out oreven smooth it the way that Modify Shape Advanced Straighten and Modify Shape Advanced Smooth do; instead, it ever-so-subtlyshifts the points that make up the line. If youwant to see how successful the optimization is,make sure you leave the “Show totals” messagecheckbox turned on.Bottom: Because optimization is a final tweakmeant for you to do after your image alreadylooks the way you want it to look, you don’t seea huge reduction in size here. Still, depending onthe number of curved lines and fill outlines youranimation contains, the saved bytes can add upfast.Use symbolsCreating a reusable symbol (Chapter 6) lets you add multiple instances of a shapeor drawing to your animation without dramatically increasing file size. Evenshrinking, rotating, or recoloring your instances costs less in file size than creatingseparate images.Avoid bitmaps (or optimize them)Bitmaps are expensive in terms of file size. If you can do without them, do so; ifnot, crop them (so that you use as little of them as possible) or optimize them bychoosing a higher-than-standard compression option, as described below. However, in some cases, overly complicated vector graphics also use a lot of space. If indoubt, test both options and compare the sizes by generating a size report (page 603).Note: You can also optimize bitmaps in the Publish settings dialog box (page 632).To optimize a bitmap:1. Import the bitmap into your document’s Library panel.The steps, if you need a refresher, are in Chapter 9 (page 328).In the Library, double-click the icon next to the imported bitmap’s file name.(Or select the bitmap, and then, from the Options menu in the upper-right corner of the Library, choose Properties.)Either way, the Bitmap Properties window you see in Figure 19-3 appears.Chapter 19: Publishing and Exporting627