Trim Fat from Flash Files by Grant Crowell

 
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Why would the average online marketer who knows nothing about creating banners
(for the most part) be interested in reading about SWF or ADPCM ??? what???? well, if you're having a banner created for your site or you've started creating your own? This is a great guideline for getting fast loading, great visuals, and Fabulous Flash Files!


TRIM FAT FROM FLASH FILES

By Grant Crowell

Businesses and designers alike prefer Flash Web banners over GIFs because Flash Web banners allow more complex animations, have high graphic quality, and can include scripting features and interactivity, all of which are desirable for e-commerce.

End users, in turn, benefit from Flash's smaller files, faster download times and streaming capabilities. For example, a short banner animation can play in the forefront while the main banner downloads in the background. And Flash banners are now almost universally accepted, displaying on more than 96 percent of computers with Internet connections.

But Flash banners aren't designed as well as they could be when it comes to file size. If not handled skillfully, Flash files can become too big and take too long to download.

Below are some important tips that will trim the fat from your Flash file and leave you with a lean, mean banner machine. These tips assume you have a copy of Macromedia Flash and are familiar with its functions.

And because Macromedia Flash is a complex software program, both basic and advanced tips are provided. Beginners can visit Macromedia's online support for further assistance with the terms given here.

COLORS

When working with colors, use a limited color palette Web-safe colors are best.

Use gradients sparingly. Each area of a gradient fill requires more data than a solid fill.
Linear gradients, left to right, are preferable as browsers read them more quickly.

Advanced. To understand advanced optimizing in Flash, you must first know how to create symbols. Symbols are elements in your movie that you select for using over and over again. Symbols can be graphics, buttons, movie clips, sound files or fonts.

By creating a symbol, the symbol is stored in the Flash file's library, which you can grab and place for multiple uses and edits. Symbols reduce file size because no matter how many times you make and place a symbol, Flash stores the symbol in the file only once.

For advanced color optimizing, use the effects panel's tint to create different colored instances of a single symbol instead of creating multiple symbols. Be careful not to overuse the alpha transparency color effect. It can slow playback.

FONTS

Limit the number of fonts and font styles you use. For embedded font options, select only the characters needed instead of the entire font.

Advanced. Use font symbols as shared library assets. A library is where all your symbols are stored. You can access the main library by going toWindow>Library, or you can access a shared library by defining the linkage properties of the original library's items or assets.

To use the assets from a shared library in another movie, chooseFile>Open As Shared Library in your current movie and select the shared library file you want to use.

LINES

Limit the number of special line styles used, such as dashed and dotted. Solid lines require less memory. Lines created with the pencil tool require less memory than brush strokes. Use Modify>Optimize to minimize the number of separate lines in your shapes.

Advanced. Limit the number of special line effects. The commands Convert Lines to Fills, Expand Shape, and Soften Edge in the Modify>Shape submenu increase the number of vector elements in your file.

BITMAPS

Graphic files imported into Flash, such as a photo or a file from another software program, take up more file size than Flash (vector) graphics. Use them sparingly.

Size bitmaps to the exact dimensions you need before importing them into Flash. This includes reducing image quality as much as possible. Avoid animating bitmap elements.

Advanced. Try converting your bitmaps to vector graphics. Sometimes you'll achieve
considerably smaller file size. Adjust the JPEG quality of bitmap files and turn off the
Smoothing option for bitmaps in a movie's library. Playback will be faster because the
bitmaps will render more quickly.

SOUND

Sound Properties dialog box. Use the lowest sampling rate and bit depth required.
Sixteen Kbps should suffice for most situations.

Instead of using a long sound file, take a segment of the file and set it to loop, that is, to
repeat itself. Choose fast in your quality button under Sound Settings. Fast gives better
compression results than medium or best.

ADPCM (Advanced Differential Pulse Code Modulation) for short sounds, and
streaming (MP3 compression setting) for longer sounds such as background
music and soundtracks.

ANIMATION

File size increases with the number of frames. Use symbols for every element in your
banner that appears and changes in more than one frame. Use keyframes and tweening to reduce the number of individual frames and keep your file size down to a minimum.

Avoid using too many tweening operations at one time, however. Too many could
significantly slow playback.

Animate a fixed area of your banner, not everywhere on it.

Advanced. Choose motion tweening over shape tweening and motion tween symbols
instead of grouping objects. Use caution when creating complex symbols or having
many symbols in a single frame. It might cause the movie to pause while symbols
are downloading.

EXPORTING TO THE WEB

Flash movies for export: SWF or ShockWave Flash movie require you to also save
an HTML file. The HTML document is needed to activate the Flash movie and specifies the browser settings, including where the Flash movie appears on screen and the movie size. You can change these settings in the HTML panel of the Publish Settings dialog box.

Be sure to choose carefully among the anti-aliasing options found in the HTML section of a movie's Publish Settings. I usually recommend autohigh.

Advanced. Use the bandwidth profiler to see if your movie meets or exceeds your target audience's connection speed. You can see where a movie may be paused to wait for a large file to download.

Flash is a powerful tool for creating Web banners. It will take time to learn all the features. But keep these optimizing tips in mind and you'll be able to make stunning banners that are quick to download.

author: Grant Crowell

article provided by admin Mike of Trucker6roadclicks