© 2010 Delmar, Cengage Learning Chapter 6: Preparing and Publishing Movies

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Chapter 6 Lessons 1.Publish movies 2.Reduce file size to optimize a movie 3.Create a Pre-loader 4.Use HTML Publish Settings

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Preparing and Publishing Movies Using Flash –Generate files for delivering movies over the Internet –Test movies to determine where the problems might arise during download –Optimize movies

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Publish Movies Use Publish Settings feature to publish a movie Create a GIF animation Create a JPEG image from a movie

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Using Publish Settings Publish generates files necessary to deliver movies on the Web By default, an.swf Flash file is created HTML file instructs browser to play the Flash file

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 1: Publish Settings Dialog Box Selected formats Use to create a profile Click to select a different profile Click to open tab and select settings for the Flash format

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 2: Flash Tab Click to open tab and select settings for the HTML format

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 3: The GIF Tab

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Using Publish Preview Use Publish Preview from File menu –To publish a movie –To display a movie in your default browser or in the Flash Player –To view HTML, GIF, JPEG, PNG, Projector, and QuickTime files

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 4: Three planeLoop Files The Flash document file Your browser icon may vary The Flash Player file Your file extensions may not appear The HTML document file Your browser may be listed as the file type Your file sizes may differ

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Create a JPEG Image from a Movie Frame Click a Frame on the movie layer Click File on the menu bar, then click Publish Settings Accept the default settings in the JPEG tab Click Publish, and then click OK

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Reduce File Size to Optimize a Movie Play a movie stored on your computer in a browser Test the download time for a movie Use the Bandwidth Profiler Optimize a movie by reducing file size

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Testing a Movie Guidelines for optimizing movies –Use symbols and instances for every element appearing in movie more than once –Use tweened animations instead of frame- by-frame –Use movie clip symbols instead of graphic symbols –Confine area of change to keyframe

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Testing a Movie Guidelines for optimizing movies –Use bitmaps as static elements only –Group elements –Limit fonts and font styles –Use gradients and alpha transparencies sparingly

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Using the Bandwidth Profiler Test movie and determine which frames may create a pause during playback Set a simulated Internet connection speed for your target audience

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 7: The Bandwidth Profiler Playback head at frame 38 Height of bar represents size of the contents for that frame Information on selected frame (38) Simulated bandwidth set in the View menu

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Using the Simulate Download Feature When testing a movie, you can simulate downloading Flash movies using different connection speeds: –Dial-up –Broadband (both DSL and cable) –T1

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 9: Selecting the Connection Speed for Simulated Download Click even if already checked

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Optimize a Movie by Reducing File Size Click Frame that causes pause during movie playback Reduce size of image on stage Test movie and notice that the animation does not pause

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Create a Pre-loader Prevents browser from playing a specified frame or series of frames until all frames have downloaded. Includes a simple animation that starts in Frame 1 and loops until rest of movie has been downloaded.

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Create a Pre-loader Indicates to viewer that movie is being loaded ActionScript code on separate layer checks if all movie frames are loaded –If not, a loop continues until last frame of movie has been loaded

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 12: Completed Pre-loader with Animation and ActionScript The preloader ActionScript code in frames 1 and 10 The preloader animation plays in frames 1 through 10 The startofMovie frame label in frame 11

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 14: Actions Panel Displaying Pre-loader Script The ActionScript that is to be developed will be applied to frame 1 on the preloaderScript layer ScriptAssist feature is off

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 17: Bandwidth Profiler Showing Delay in Downloading Frame 48 Delay at download process at frame 48 Pre-loader animation plays until all frames are loaded

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Understanding HTML Publishing Options HTML file automatically generated during the publishing process HTML allows Flash movie to be displayed on the Web

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Understanding HTML Publishing Options The HTML document specifies: –Background color –Placement in the browser –Size –EMBED and OBJECT tags used to direct browser to load Flash Player

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning HTML Publishing Options Template Dimensions Playback Quality Window Mode HTML Alignment Scale Flash Alignment

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Determining Movie Placement in a Browser Movie displayed within movie window HTML settings control placement Publish Settings example: –Movie window width: 400 pixels –Height: 100 pixels –HTML alignment: right –Flash alignment: right

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 19: Change HTML Publish Settings This affects the size of the Flash movie window in the browser This affects the placement of the Flash movie window in the browser. Default is center aligned. This affects the placement of the Flash movie in the Flash movie window

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Fig. 20: Changing HTML Code Your code may vary

© 2010 Delmar Cengage Learning Chapter 6 Summary 1.Publish movies 2.Reduce file size to optimize a movie 3.Create a Pre-loader 4.Use HTML Publish Settings