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Flash Reference Guide

Aug 22, 2003

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Using bitmap images within a Flash movie is one of the easiest features to master. All you need is one bitmap image and Flash MX. The following steps illustrate how easy it is to use a JPEG image within Flash.

Open Flash MX.

Save the new file as myBitmap.fla.

Select File, Import.
A window opens, allowing you to navigate through your computer until you find your bitmap image.

You are selecting a JPEG.

Select OK.
The new imported image is placed directly in the center of your movie (see Figure 8).

There is a gray border around the bitmap image, and the Property Inspector describes the object as a bitmap image. If you open the Library, you also see a copy of the bitmap in the Library.

TIP

It's always better to import PNGs because Flash runs JPG compression upon publishing. You don't want to compress an image twice. Also, importing a PNG of a custom graphic means that you can retain its layers and editability.

Figure 8 An imported JPEG bitmap image is inserted on the Stage and in the Library.

JPEG and GIF Images

Arguably, the two most common file types you will import to Flash are either JPEG or GIF images because the two file types are so prevalent on the Internet. For many people, JPEG and GIF are synonymous with bitmap images.

As shown in the previous example, JPEG images are a snap to import. There really is not anything more you can do with them.

GIF images come with a couple of extras. First, a GIF image can have selected colors appear transparent. Through the magic of Flash, when you import a GIF image that has transparent regions, the areas remain transparent. This is great for buttons and other irregularly shaped images created with Flash.

GIF images are also famous for being the first animated feature on the Web. Animated GIFs first came out with Netscape 3 (yep, back in 1995) and have been the source of many annoying online ad campaigns. When you import an animated GIF into Flash, the file is imported as a series of bitmap images into the Library. The first image has the name of the original file; each following image in the GIF animation sequence is labeled Bitmap 2, Bitmap 3, Bitmap 4, and so on.

Finally, you see that the animated sequences are pulled together into a single Movie Clip. If you play the Movie Clip, you see that the entire animation sequence for the GIF image will play back (see Figure 9).

Figure 9 An imported animated GIF bitmap image creates a series of bitmap images in the Flash Library.

Fireworks MX Integration

There is one bitmap graphic file format that is special to Flash: PNG. This file format is special because PNG files are the native file type of Macromedia's Fireworks MX. PNG also happens to be an open bitmap file standard for the Web.

Fireworks MX is a tool that enables you to create graphics for the Web. When you design within Fireworks, you use a combination of vector and bitmap drawing tools. The PNG file format is used to store the data for these files because it is one of the few file types that easily supports both raster and vector image format languages.

There is a nice interoperability from Fireworks to Flash: Create your drawings in Fireworks and then port them to Flash. Using the import feature in Flash, you can select a Fireworks PNG file. When you do, the Fireworks Import Window pops up, in which you can choose which elements you import need to be converted to vector (or remain as a bitmap). Understanding that you can use mixed image types is important because some visual effects you can create in Fireworks (such as live effects) can be reproduced in Flash only as bitmap images. On the other hand, if you keep text as vector, you can modify any text inside of Flash.

Integrating the two tools is very useful for creating stylish and stylized effects within your Flash movies.

Additional File Types

In addition to PNG, JPEG, and GIF images, you can also import the following bitmap image file types:

BMP
TIFF
TGA
TIF
GI
SD
NTG (Requires QuickTime)
CT (Requires QuickTime)

NOTE

Some of these file types require that you have QuickTime 4 or higher installed. QuickTime acts as the intermediary converter.

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