Flash
Contents
- 1 Compression / Cache glitch in flash
- 2 Crossdomain
- 3 Filters in Flash
- 4 CS4
- 5 Syncing with sound
- 6 Flash Shortcuts
- 7 Easing
- 8 SWF to AVI
- 9 Flash Banners
- 10 Actionscripted Tweening
- 11 Preloader
- 12 Clicktag
- 13 Reducing File Size
- 14 Effects I like
- 15 Trace Bitmap
- 16 Toggle Flash
- 17 TROUBLESHOOTING ALARMING BUT SILLY PROBLEMS
- 18 From Photoshop to Flash : Exporting layer as PNG
Compression / Cache glitch in flash
Have you just spent an inordinate amount of time trying to compress your flash file? Have you compressed all your assets into minuscule peanuts in photoshop and reswapped them endless to no avail??
Is the file size still irredeemably and hideously large for absolutely no reason?
COPY ALL YOUR FRAMES AND PASTE IT INTO A NEW FLASH
SOMETIMES THERE IS A GLITCH AND FLASH CONTINUES TO "THINK" THAT YOUR FILE IS HUGE EVEN AFTER YOU SWAP ASSETS.
I HAVE LEARNT THIS THE HARD WAY
Crossdomain
Filters in Flash
filters re-render the object so sometimes if you have filter on one keyframe and no filter on the next it can cause a bit of jiggling of position EVEN THOUGH BOTH ITEMS WILL BE SAME INSTANCE SAME SIZE SAME X Y COORDINATES
SOLUTION: apply filter of 0 to all keyframes of that instance
CS4
cs4 has lots of new features too and i want to learn them... Learn more about CS4's new features:
Syncing with sound
Flash Shortcuts
- Q - Transform
- V - Selection Tool
- A - Sub selection
- P - Pen
- T - Text
- F5 - Add frame
- Shift-F5 - Remove frame
- F6 - Add Keyframe
- F7 - Add blank Keyframe
Easing
SWF to AVI
to convert swf to avi, use: swf2avi
Flash Banners
Standard Flash Banner Sizes:
250 x 250 Square
200 x 200 Small Square
468 x 60 Banner
728 x 90 Leaderboard
300 x 250 Inline Rectangle
335 x 280 Large Rectangle
120 x 600 Skyscraper
160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper
I reckon the three most important sizes are: Inline Rectangle, Banner, and Skyscraper.
Actionscripted Tweening
Preloader
stop(); onEnterFrame = function(){ if (_root.getBytesLoaded() == _root.getBytesTotal()){ delete onEnterFrame; play(); } }
Clicktag
For Google: on (release) { if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == "http:") { getURL(clickTAG, "_blank"); } } |
For others (eg: ad2one): on (release) { getURL(clickTag, "_blank"); } |
Reducing File Size
- Compress images in photoshop before adding them to your flash library.
- Save duplicated objects as movieclips and reinsert them as iterations of the same mc.
- Shorten the length of loops.
Effects I like
Trace Bitmap
Trace Bitmap function - posterise effect
Toggle Flash
Toggle Flash is a useful utility for windows ie that lets you toggle flash quickly.
TROUBLESHOOTING ALARMING BUT SILLY PROBLEMS
Q: WHY DOES MY TEXT INPUT APPEAR LOPSIDED WHEN I FIRST ENTER IT IN??
A: this may be because you are entering it into an instance of a movieclip which has been put in an angle. stop editing it in place and it will be straight when you first enter it, instead of disturbingly askew. USE THE DAMN ALIGN PANEL ALL THE TIME
Q: WHY DOESN'T MY CODE WORK? I'VE CHECKED IT MILLIONS OF TIMES AND ITS CORRECT???
A: Check that its set to publish the correct version of Actionscript. If you are writing in Actionscript 2, make sure its exporting in Actionscript 2!
Q: WHAT DO I DO IF WHEN I PUBLISH A FILE, ONE OF MY LOGOS IS MISALIGNED BY 1 PIXEL???? A: RESAVE THE ORIGINAL LOGO WITH A WHITE/BACKGROUND BORDER AROUND IT OF ABOUT 2PX AND THE BACKGROUND BORDER CAN BE CHEWED UP WITHOUT AFFECTING THE LOGO ITSELF. GLITCH IN FLASH PERHAPS??!?? ARGH????
From Photoshop to Flash : Exporting layer as PNG
export layer as PNG 24 with alpha channel and it will have transparency in flash
- http://www.pretentiousname.com/ps_exportlayersfast/index.html : photoshop script