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Adobe Flash CS4 Professional integration
Kick off your Flash projects with Illustrator CS4 and have confidence that your vectors will copy/paste and import reliably. The integrity of
critical elements is fully maintained in Flash Professional CS4, with intact paths—and correct anchor point positions—as well as gradients,
clipping masks, and symbols. Plus, your entire Illustrator layer and grouping structure is preserved, along with all object names. Use the
strengths of Illustrator to create intricate and unique vectors for your animations.
Features of particular interest to Flash designers include Illustrator symbols and type tools. Save any Illustrator shape as a symbol to paste
into Flash, and use Symbol tool options that are similar. Take advantage of the power of Illustrator type tools to create text for Flash,
choosing to define it as Regular Text, Dynamic Text, or Input Text, and assigning properties accordingly.
Exporting Flash animation from Illustrator
Export artwork as SWF files using the Export command or the Save For Web &
Devices command. Options in the Export dialog box provide control over animation
and bitmap compression options, while options in the Save For Web & Devices dialog
box give you control over the mix of SWF and bitmap formats in a sliced layout. You
can also use Save For Web & Devices to preview animation in a web browser.
Advanced and basic sWF options
Exporting
If you need to use your file in workflows that do not support native Illustrator file formats, you can export the artwork into many alter-
nate file types, including AutoCAD Drawing (DWG), Flash (SWF), or TIFF. These formats are called non-native because Illustrator doesn't
include all of the data necessary to reopen the file in Illustrator. For this reason, it is recommended that you save artwork in AI format until
you completed it, and then export the artwork to the desired format.
S A V I N G A N D E X P O R T I N G F I L E S
In this example, the star in the center has a Warp effect applied to it.
Creating frame-based animation
Flash animation is frame based. Keep that in
mind when working with layers; each layer of
your Illustrator document can become a frame
of animation. For Flash animation that plays at
12 frames per second, you will need 12 layers for
each second of animation.
Using symbols
If you create a layer-based animation of repeated
shapes, you can use symbols instead of adding
complex art to every layer. Each symbol instance
is linked to the symbol in the Symbols panel or
a symbols library, resulting in smaller file sizes.
And after you place a symbol, you can edit the
instances and redefine the original symbol.
Using blends to animate objects
Illustrator blends are useful if you want to morph
shapes or change colors during the animation.
You can modify the blend's path using drawing
tools to create very intricate movements.
Freehand to Illustrator Migration guide
—
blend
options
saving and exporting Files 36
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