What You’ll Do
When you design a Flash movie, you’re actually working with two documents: a source document (.fla), and a publish document (.swf). The source document is the working document that the Flash application uses to edit the movie data. The published document is the compressed player document that, once created, can be inserted into an HTML document, burned onto a CD, DVD, or DVS, or played directly from your hard drive.
You can publish a Flash document in one step, by clicking the File menu, and then clicking Publish. However, before publishing, it’s a good idea to first check the publish settings by clicking the File menu, and then clicking Publish Settings. Using the Publish Settings dialog box, you can easily change the way your file is published. For example, the default settings for publishing a Flash document are to publish using the latest Flash plug-in, and to create an HTML container document to hold and play the published movie. Additional options include the ability to generate a JPEG, GIF, or PNG image of a selected frame in the Flash source document. You can even create a self-running player document for Macintosh or Windows. Publishing is not only necessary to create a Flash movie; it can be used to test the movie using different settings.
Once the correct publish settings are found, you can export the settings into a separate file, and then use them on new Flash documents. This not only makes the publishing process fast, it gives you consistency between documents.
FL 1.2, 5.4
Publishing a Flash movie is the last step in a long journey from inception to the final product. Along the publishing road, you’ll encounter detours, and stoplights and even get lost once in awhile. However, if you’ve had the foresight to plan your project, then the journey becomes one more of pleasure than pain.
Planning a project requires knowledge of where the final published document is headed. You might be designing a Flash movie, where the intended audience is the Web, or it could be a project where the final destination is a CD or DVD. It could be an interactive form, or an animated cartoon. It’s even possible that your goals for this project involve more than one destination.
Called Multi-purposing, Flash will help you design a project version that is small enough to run efficiently, as well as a higher-quality version, intended to run directly off the hard drive. It really doesn’t matter where the project is headed, because Flash’s advanced publishing options will effortlessly guide you through the process.
Before you ever open Flash, create your first graphic, or write your first piece of text, always remember to plan the project. In other words, begin the project with the end in mind. That’s not new, but it bears remembering. If you plan for the end of a project, you will create a road map that will accurately guide you to your final destination.
When you are ready to publish a Flash movie, you can use Flash publishing settings and tools in this chapter to make the job easier. You can also use the Adobe Flash deployment kit to post Flash Player (.swf) files to your Web site and control the experience of visitors who do not have the Flash Player installed in their browser. Flash standardizes the method used for detection of the plug-in on the client-side, reducing the amount of code that must be written to implement the detection option. If you’re interested in working with the Flash Development Kit, simply point your browser to http://www.adobe.com/devnet/devices/development_kits.html. Since Flash is always creating new ways for us to design great Flash documents, this site is constantly changing to reflect the latest technologies.
FL 1.2, 5.4
Once you’ve determined how your project will be published, it’s time to let Flash assist you with all the details of getting your project from conception to an output file suited to your needs. Flash’s publishing settings go far beyond converting a Flash source file (.fla) into a published movie (.swf); they give you the ability to adjust the output to a specific version of the Flash player, incorporate specific Flash compression features, and even save screen shots of the source file’s frames in several different formats. And, if a Flash movie is not what you’re after, you can even save a Flash source file as a QuickTime movie (.mov). To utilize this feature, you may need to download the latest version of the QuickTime player; point your browser to www.quicktime.com. It’s free and works equally well within the Windows or the Macintosh environments.
Open a Flash source document.
Generic publish settings are initially linked to a specific Flash file.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select or clear the option check boxes to enable or disable the Publish Settings.
Enter a name for the individual options in the File name input box.
To revert the names to default, click the Use Default Names button.
The default name refers to the name of the source document.
Click OK to save the changes.
FL 1.2, 5.4
A Flash document is like a fingerprint: no two Flash movies are the same. So it stands to reason that different Flash documents would require different publish settings. Flash gives you the ability to conform a Flash document using specific output settings. Everything from the version of the Flash player plug-in and ActionScript to the movie compression and quality of embedded JPEG images are available options in the Publish Setting dialog box.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select the Flash check box, and then click the Flash tab.
Click the Player popup, and then select the version of the player to publish the Flash document.
Click the Script popup, and then select the version to publish the Flash document.
Drag the JPEG Quality slider to increase or decrease the amount of compression applied to the image.
The lower the value, the more information is removed from the image.
Select the Enable JPEG deblocking check box to reduce the appearance of common artifacts found in highly compressed JPEG files (New!).
Select from the following options:
a. Click Set to modify the Audio Stream settings for the active Flash document.
b. Click Set to modify the Audio Event settings for the active Flash document.
c. Select the Override Sound Settings check box to override any sound settings applied to the individual sound files within the active Flash document.
Select from the following options:
• Compress Movie. Compresses the movie (only for movies played with Flash 7 player).
• Include Hidden Layers. Includes hidden layers in the Flash document.
• Include XMP metadata. Includes XMP data (New!). Click File Info to view the data.
• Export SWC. Exports a .swc file, which is used for distributing components made up of ActionScript code.
• Generate Size Report. Creates a frame-by-frame size report for the active document.
• Protect From Import. Prevents the published Flash document from being reopened in the Flash application.
• Omit Trace Actions. Prevents trace actions from being carried over to the published document.
• Permit Debugging. Permits debugging of the Flash movie.
Enter a password for the Flash document (2.0).
This option is available if Protect From Import or Permit Debugging are selected in step 10.
Click the Local Playback Security popup, and then select the local only or network only option.
Click the Hardware Acceleration popup, and then select an option to take advantage of available hardware for better playback performance (New!).
Click OK to save the settings.
FL 1.2, 5.4
Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system runtime that allows you to leverage your existing web development skills in Flash to build and deliver Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) to more devices, including the web, mobile, and desktop. You can create a new Flash file for AIR (New!) from the Welcome page or the New dialog box by clicking Flash File (Adobe AIR), or use an existing Flash file (ActionScript 3.0), and then convert it to an Adobe AIR file through the Publish Settings dialog box. Before you can publish a file to Adobe AIR, you need to have a digital certificate that represents the application publisher’s identify. Flash CS4 only supports and publishes to AIR 1.1, while Flash CS3 only supports and publishes to AIR 1.0.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select the Flash check box, and then click the Flash tab.
Click the Player popup, and then click Adobe AIR 1.1.
Click Settings.
a. If you have an application descriptor file (an XML file), select the Use custom application descriptor file check box, and then skip to Step 8.
Enter the following file information: File name, Name, Version, ID (a unique identifier, no spaces or special characters), Description, Copyright, and Window style.
Click Select Icon Images, select an application icon, and then click OK.
Click Settings, specify any associated file types, initial window settings, install and program menu folders, and then click OK.
Select from the following Installer settings:
• Digital signature. All Adobe Air applications must be signed to be installed on another system. Click Set, and then specify a digital certificate or use AIR Intermediate for temporary use.
• Destination. Specifies where to save the AIR file.
• Included files. Specifies which additional files and folders to include in the AIR file.
Click Publish AIR File to publish it, or click OK, and then click OK to save settings.
When you save a document, you have the ability to save more than just Flash information. You can save copyright, camera, and even image category information. This data is saved with the file as metadata in the XMP format (Extensible Metadata Platform) in SWF files, and can be recognized and accessed by any application, such as Adobe Bridge, that reads XMP metadata (New!). In addition, if an image is a photograph, you can save data specifying the type of image, where it was shot, or the camera used. You can even get information on shutter speed and f-stop. You can do the same with video and audio data too. That information will not only protect your intellectual property, but will supply you with vital statistics on exactly how you created that one-of-a-kind image.
Open a document.
Click the File menu, and then click File Info.
Click the Description tab, and then enter information concerning the author and any copyright information.
Click the IPTC tab to enter information concerning the image’s creator, description and keywords, location where photograph was taken, date created, copyright, and usage terms.
Click the Camera Data tab, which reveals information about the camera that took the image.
Click the Video Data tab or Audio Data tab to reveal information about video and audio data, and then enter your video and audio data.
Click the Mobile SWF tab or Audio Data tab, and then enter file information for a mobile SWF.
Click the Categories tab, and then enter category keywords for search purposes.
Click the Origin tab, and then enter data pertaining to the origin of the image.
Click the DICOM tab, and then enter data pertaining to the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine.
Click the History tab to view historical information about the active document, such as dates last opened and saved, and a list of image adjustments.
Click the Illustrator tab, and then select an Illustrator profile.
Click the Advanced tab to view additional information on the active document, such as EXIF, and PDF document properties.
Click the Raw Data tab to view raw RDF/XML information.
Click OK.
Did You Know?
You can add metadata to files saved in the PSD, PDF, EPS, PNG, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF formats. The information is embedded in the file using XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform). This allows metadata to be exchanged between Adobe applications and across operating systems.
You can use the XMP Software Development Kit to customize the creation, processing, and interchange of metadata. You can also use the XMP kit to add fields to the File Info dialog box. For information on XMP and the XMP SDK, check the Adobe Solutions Network.
The most common way to display a Flash movie is on the Internet, using an HTML document as the movie container. HTML creates tags that embed the Flash movie in an HTML document for viewing on the Web. Flash publish settings give you the ability to create an HTML document specifically tailored to the active Flash document; including options to use an HTML template, and control the playback and quality of the final published document. You can also set options to specify the scale and alignment of the movie as well as the way it opens.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select the HTML check box, and then click the HTML tab.
Click the Template popup, and then select a Flash container template (including templates for PocketPC devices).
Click the Dimensions popup, and then click Match Movie, Pixels, or Percent. If Pixels or Percent, enter width and height.
The Match Movie option matches the size of the Flash movie. The Pixels option sets the exact size. The Percent option allows for scaling within a browser.
Select from the following Playback options:
• Paused At Start. Select this option to pause the Flash movie, when loaded.
• Loop. Select this option to cause the Flash movie to loop, when loaded.
• Display Menu. Select this option to have the HTML document display a control menu for the Flash document.
• Device Font. Select this option to use device fonts in the Flash document.
Click the Quality popup to select a quality level for the document.
• Low No anti-alias.
• Auto Low. Starts with no anti-alias, but changes as needed.
• High. Allows anti-alias.
• Auto High. Starts with anti-alias, but changes down as needed.
• Medium. Anti-aliases most items, but does not smooth bitmaps.
• Best. Anti-aliases everything.
Click the Window Mode popup to select a mode (Window, Opaque Windowless, or Transparent Windowless) for opening the Flash document.
Click the HTML Alignment popup to select the alignment of the HTML page.
Click the Scale popup to select how to scale the Flash document, when loaded into the HTML page.
• Default. Shows entire document; keeps proportions.
• No Border. Fills area to the border; keeps proportions.
• Exact Fit. Fills entire SWF movie; doesn’t keep proportions.
• No Scale. SWF remains the same size if Player window is resized.
Click the Horizontal and Vertical popups to select how the Flash document is aligned with in the HTML page.
Click OK to save HTML settings.
When you publish a Flash document, you’re not limited to just the creation of the Flash movie, you can instruct Flash to create a GIF image of the Flash movie, based on the currently selected frame. The GIF file format (Graphics Interchange Format) is used primarily for clipart, text, and line art, or for images that contain areas of solid color. Once the image is created, you can open and use it in any application that supports the GIF file format.
Select a specific frame on the Timeline.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select the GIF check box, and then click the GIF tab.
Enter a Width and Height (in pixels) for the JPEG image, or select the Match Movie check box to create a JPEG image that matches the size of the Flash movie.
Select from the following Playback options:
• Static. Prevents the GIF animation from playing.
• Animated. Animates the GIF document.
• Loop Continuously. Forces the animation into a continuous loop.
• Repeat. Enter a value representing the number of times the file loops.
Select from the following Options:
• Optimize Colors. Creates an optimized (smaller) set of colors for the active document.
• Interlace. Creates an interlaced image where the file, when displayed on a Web page, loads in three passes.
• Smooth. Uses a color dithering scheme to create visually smoother color transitions.
• Dither Solids. Dithers (mixes) solid colors if they fall outside of the viewable color gamut.
• Remove Gradients. Removes gradients from the active image.
Click the Transparent popup, and then click Opaque, Transparent, or Alpha.
The Alpha transparency mask generates transparent areas within the GIF image.
Click the Dither popup, and then click None, Ordered, or Diffusion.
Click the Palette Type popup, and then click Web 216, Adaptive, Web Snap Adaptive, or Custom.
Enter a number for the Maximum Colors.
This is available for Adaptive and Web Snap Adaptive. Flash lets you select how many colors are available for the image’s color table.
Click to select a color table file for the Custom Palette Type.
Click OK to save the GIF settings.
When you publish a Flash document, you’re not limited to just the creation of the Flash movie. You can instruct Flash to create a PNG image of the Flash movie, based on the currently selected frame. The PNG file format (Portable Network Graphic) is a hybrid format designed to save clip art, photographic images, text, and line art. Once the image is created, you can open and use it in any application that supports the PNG file format.
Select a specific Frame on the Timeline.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select the PNG check box, and then click the PNG tab.
Enter a Width and Height (in pixels) for the PNG image, or select the Match Movie check box to create a PNG image that matches the size of the Flash movie.
Click the Bit Depth popup, and then select 8-bit, 24-bit, or 24-bit With Alpha.
Select from the following Options:
• Optimize Colors. Creates an optimized (smaller) set of colors for the active document.
• Interlace. Creates an interlaced image where the file, when displayed on a Web page, loads in three passes.
• Smooth. Uses a color dithering scheme to create visually smoother color transitions.
• Dither Solids. Dithers (mixes) solid colors, if the colors fall outside of the viewable color gamut.
• Remove Gradients. Remove any gradients from the active image.
Click the Dither popup, and then click None, Ordered, or Diffusion to dither (mix) colors that fall outside the viewable color gamut.
Click the Palette Type popup, and then click Web 216, Adaptive, Web Snap Adaptive, or Custom to select a specific palette type.
Enter a number for the Maximum Colors.
This is available for Adaptive and Web Snap Adaptive. Flash lets you select how many colors are available for the image’s color table.
Click to select a color table file for the Custom Palette Type.
Click the Filter Options popup, and then select from the available filter options to control the filtering of the colors in the active image.
Click OK to save the PNG settings.
When you publish a Flash document, you’re not limited to just the creation of the Flash movie, you can instruct Flash to create a JPEG image of the Flash movie, based on the currently selected frame. The JPEG file format (Joint Photographic Experts Group), is used primarily to reduce the size of photographic images. Once the image is created, you can open and use it in any application that supports the JPEG file format. You can select a quality option to compress the file size, which reduces download time over the Internet. You can specify a quality value between 1 and 100. A higher value preserves image quality, but retains a higher file size.
Select a specific frame on the Timeline.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select the JPEG check box, and then click the JPEG tab.
Enter a Width and Height (in pixels) for the JPEG image, or select the Match Movie check box to create a JPEG image that matches the size of the Flash movie.
Drag the Quality slider to increase or decrease the amount of compression applied to the image.
The lower the value, the more information (quality) is removed from the image.
Select the Progressive check box to create a progressive JPEG image. The file, when displayed on a Web page, loads in three passes.
Click OK to save the JPEG settings.
The Flash publish settings gives you the ability to create a self-contained player document for the Macintosh or Windows operating system. When you publish a document using the projector options, Flash creates a Flash movie according to your setting, and embeds the player application into the file. Creating a projector document increases the size of the final document by almost 1MB, so this option would not be used to create Internet documents, but for movies destined for playing on a hard drive, or burned onto a CD. When you publish using the Projector options, there are no additional options.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Select the Windows Projector (.exe), and/or Macintosh Projector check boxes.
Click Publish.
Flash generates the Macintosh or Windows Projectors documents, and saves them in the same location as the original source document.
Did You Know?
You can play Flash SWF files different ways. Besides playing SWF files in a stand-alone projector, you can also play Flash content in an Internet browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox; in Director, Microsoft Office and other ActiveX applications with the Flash ActiveX; and as part of a QuickTime video.
Flash lets you generate profiles for often-used publish settings within a Flash source file. For example, you’re creating a multi-purpose Flash document and you need specific settings to create a fast-loading Internet version, as well as a version designed to run on a CD. You could create a publishing profile to fit both needs, and save them with the source document. The benefits of this are obvious: Not only can you quickly publish a Flash document using different profiles; you’re assured the settings will be accurate every time. Fast and accurate are two words which describe Flash publishing.
Once you create a unique profile settings file, it’s available for use with the click of the Current Profile popup in the Publish Settings dialog box. Unfortunately, not everything is perfect the first time you do it, and it’s possible that after you create a profile, you discover a mistake in the settings. The good news is that you don’t have to begin again. All you have to do is edit the profile.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Click the Current Profile popup, and then select the profile you want to change.
Make the necessary changes in the Publish Settings dialog box.
Click OK.
Select the File menu, and then click Save.
Flash profiles are saved when you save the Flash source document.
Important
Profile properties are recorded as you change them, and then saved when you save the file. If you change your mind after modifying the profile, your choices include manually changing the profile back to its original settings, or closing the file without saving. However, if you’ve also made changes to the Flash document, closing without saving will also cause you to lose those changes.
Saving Flash profiles is a great way to cut down on repetitive publish settings. However, the disadvantage is the user-defined settings only relate to the original source document. If you open a new file, you’re starting from scratch. It would be great to be able to create a series of setting files, and then use them over and over again on new Flash document. Flash understood this need and gave Flash users the ability to create settings files, and then export them as a separate file. Then, if you need to use the settings in a new Flash document, all you have to do is import the settings file. Exporting Dreamweaver profiles gives you the ability to import and use the profile on multiple Flash projects. In addition, you can send copies of exported profiles to other Flash users, so they can benefit from your efforts. When you export a Flash profile, you have the ability to reuse it, via the Import option. It’s a good idea to save (export) all of your profiles into a single location. That way, when you go to import a specific profile, you will know exactly where to point your finder.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Click the Current Profile popup, and then select the profile you want to import.
Click the Import/Export Profile button, and then click Import.
Navigate to the drive or folder where the profile is located.
Select the file name of the exported profile.
Click Open.
When you work with a profile, you’re creating a time-saving file that lets you use the same settings over and over again. Not only does Flash make the creation of a profile easy; it will let you create a duplicate of the file. In truth, a duplicate file would not serve much of a purpose: Why would you want an exact copy of something that already exists? Actually, creating a duplicate can be a very smart thing to do. For example, say you create a profile for a specific job that involved several changes to the default settings, and you name it: Output_A. Then, two weeks later you need another profile that’s almost exactly the same as Output_A, with one or two minor changes. Rather than start from scratch, you create a duplicate of Output_A, make the minor changes, and Export it using the name: Output_B. It’s fast and easy, it and means you’re working smart.
Click the File menu, and then click Publish Settings.
Click the Current Profile popup, and then select the profile you want to duplicate.
Click the Duplicate Profile button.
Give the duplicate a new name.
Click OK.
See Also
See “Exporting and Importing a Profile” on page 484 for more information on how to export a Flash publishing profile.
Testing a Flash movie is an important part of the design process. As you work, you should periodically stop and test the movie. It’s also a good idea to periodically save your document. In fact, you should always save the Flash document before testing. That way, if there happen to be any problems, it’s an easy matter of restoring the file from the last-saved version. To preview your Flash SWF file with the publishing format and settings you’ve selected, you can use the Publish Preview command. This command exports the file and opens the preview within the default browser.
Click the File menu, point to Publish Preview, and then select from the following options:
• Default (HTML). Select this option to display the Flash document within an HTML document.
• Flash. Select this option to create and play a Flash .swf file.
• HTML. Same as Default (HTML).
• GIF. Select this option to create a GIF version of the currently selected frame in the Timeline.
• JPEG. Select this option to create a JPEG version of the currently selected frame in the Timeline.
• PNG. Select this option to create a PNG version of the currently selected frame in the Timeline.
• Projector. Select this option to display the Flash document in a self-contained projector file.
• QuickTime. Select this option to open QuickTime, and play the Flash movie as a QuickTime file.
To view the performance of a Flash document using a graph, use the Bandwidth Profiler. The Bandwidth Profiler displays how much data is sent for each frame in the active Flash document, according to the modem speed you specify. The Bandwidth Profiler has two windows. The left window shows information about the active document and the current download settings, and the right window displays information about each frame in the document. In addition, the Bandwidth Profiler lets you view how the page loads, based on a specific bandwidth. For example, you could specify to load the Flash document using a modem speed of 28.8Kbps. To maintain an accurate download test, the Bandwidth Profiler compensates for added compression support applied to .swf files, which reduces the file size and improves streaming performance.
Click the Control menu, and then click Test Movie.
Click the View menu, and then click Bandwidth Profiler.
Click the View menu, point to Download Settings, and then select from the available bandwidth options, or click Customize, and then create a user-defined setting.
Click the View menu, and then click Simulate Download.
This tests the load of the Flash movie against the current settings.
In your browser, you can press Control+click (Mac) or right-click (Win) a Flash movie in a Flash Player to display a contextual, or shortcut, menu. The menu contains Flash Player related commands, such as Print. You can give viewers the option to print some, or all of your movie. By default, the Print command prints every frame in the movie unless you restrict printing to specific frames by labeling them as printable in the Flash document before you publish it. You label frames as printable by typing #p in the Frame box of the Property Inspector. By default, the movie’s Stage size determines the print area.
Open a document.
Select the frames or keyframes in the Timeline you want to label as printable.
Type #p in the Frame box in the Property Inspector.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each keyframe you want to label as printable.
Publish your movie using the Publish command on the File menu, and then view it in your browser using the Flash Player.
Press Control+click (Mac) or right-click (Win) anywhere in the movie window, and then click Print.
Did You Know?
You can disable printing from the Flash Player. Open the Flash document, select a frame in the Timeline, open the Frame Property Inspector, and then type !#p in the Label box.
You can disable the contextual menu in the Flash Player. Click the File menu, click Publish Setting, click the HTML tab, clear the Display Menu check box, and then click OK.
Flash can export an entire movie or frame to several different formats that are not included in the Publish Settings dialog box. These formats include Adobe Illustrator, EPS, DXF, PICT, Quick Time (MOV), Enhanced Metafile (EMF), Windows Metafile (WMF), Windows AVI, and WAV (for Windows only). When you export a movie or image (frame), some file formats require you to select additional format specific options, such as resolution (dots per inch) and number of colors or color bit depth, to complete the operation. To set the resolution to match your monitor, select Match Screen.
Open a document.
Select a frame you want to export in the Timeline.
Click the File menu, point to Export, and then click Export Image.
Navigate to the location where you want to save the file.
Enter a name in the Save As (Mac) or File Name (Win) box.
Click the Format popup (Mac) or the Save As Type list arrow (Win), and then select a file format.
Click Save.
Some file formats require you to select additional format specific options to complete the operation.
If a dialog box appears, select the options you want, and then click OK.
Open a document.
Click the File menu, point to Export, and then click Export Movie.
Navigate to the location where you want to save the file.
Enter a name in the Save As (Mac) or File Name (Win) box.
Click the Format popup (Mac) or the Save As Type list arrow (Win), and then select a file format.
Click Save.
Some file formats require you to select additional format specific options to complete the operation.
If a dialog box appears, select the options you want.
Click OK or Export.
When you export a movie, Flash creates a separate file for each frame of the movie and numbers them in sequential order.