About Flashtype - MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-USING FLASH Use Manual

Substituting missing fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Controlling text with ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Creating scrolling text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

About FlashType

FlashType is a new text rendering engine that provides clear, high-quality text rendering both
in the Flash authoring environment and in the published SWF files. FlashType greatly
improves the readability of text, particularly when it is rendered at smaller font sizes. While
FlashType is available in both Flash Basic and Flash Professional, the new custom anti-aliasing
option is available only in Flash Professional. Custom anti-aliasing lets you specify the
thickness and sharpness of fonts used in individual text fields.
FlashType is automatically enabled whenever Flash Player 8 is the selected version of the
player, and Anti-Alias for Readability or Custom Anti-Alias is the selected anti-aliasing mode.
Using FlashType may cause a slight delay when loading Flash SWF files. You will notice this
delay especially if you are using several different character sets (four or five) within the first
frame of a Flash document, so be aware of the number of fonts you use. FlashType font
rendering may also cause an increase in the Flash Player's memory usage. Using four or five
fonts, for example, can increase memory usage by approximately 4 MB.
When Flash Player 8 is the selected version of Flash Player, and Anti-Alias for Readability or
Custom Anti-Alias is your chosen anti-aliasing option, FlashType anti-aliasing applies to the
following:
Untransformed text that is scaled and rotated
While the text can be scaled or rotated, it must remain flat (for example,
untransformed). For example, if you skew the fonts or otherwise manipulate the font
shapes, FlashType automatically is disabled.
All font families (including bold, italic, and so on)
Display sizes up to a size of 255 points
Because magnification affects the display size of the text, when you zoom in, the text
redraws at larger point sizes, thereby disabling the anti-aliasing for readability font
rendering once a size of 255 points is reached.
Exporting to most non-Flash file formats (GIF or JPEG)
FlashType is disabled under the following conditions:
Flash Player 7 or earlier is the selected version of Flash Player.
About FlashType 159