- Getting in Gear: An After Effects 5 Tutorial
- Part Two: Grouping Layers Using Parenting
- Part Three: Exporting a Movie as an SWF File
Part Three: Exporting a Movie as an SWF File
19. Export the composition. Choose File> Export> Macromedia Flash (SWF). In the Save File As dialog box, choose a name and destination for the exported movie and click Save. A SWF Settings dialog box appears. See pages 566-569 for a complete explanation of SWF export.
Figure 19 Export the composition as a Macromedia Flash (SWF) file.
20. Select the SWF export settings in the SWF Settings dialog box.
For Unsupported features, choose Ignore. The Ignore setting excludes features (such as bitmapped images and motion blur) from the exported file. This project was designed to make a seamless, continuous loop, so in the SWF Settings dialog box, check Loop Continuously. Because this animation does not contain rasterized images or audio, you can ignore the other SWF Settings, and click OK.
Figure 20 Select the SWF export settings in the SWF Settings dialog box.
21. When export is complete, two files appear in the destination you selected in step 19. One is a report, an .htm file that you can open in a browser, such as Netscape or Explorer; the other is the actual .swf file. Open the .htm file in a browser to view the animation in a Web page that includes information about the file, including a log of unsupported features. In that page, you can click a link that opens the .swf file in another window, without the file information. Click on the image below to see the final product in action.
Figure 21 The finished product. Click on the image to see the swf file in action.