Using Break Apart to Create Fill Patterns Create a Bitmap Fill Pattern Drag a copy of a bitmap to the Stage from the Library panel; make sure the bitmap is selected on the Stage.. Click
Trang 1When you export a Flash movie, you can decide how much color
infor-mation to include in each exported bitmap This is called compression
The more compression you apply, the less color information is included
and the lower the size and quality of the image Lossy compression reduces the file size by removing color information, while lossless
com-pression reduces the file size (not as much) without removing informa-tion You can choose to set a global compression for all bitmap files used in a Flash movie or you can set a separate compression for each image As with all image compression, file size needs to be weighed against image quality It is always best to experiment until you get the results you want
Setting Bitmap
Compression
Set Compression for a Bitmap
Open the Library panel.
Select the bitmap from the Library
item list in which you want to set
compression
Click the Properties icon in the
bottom of the panel or double-click
the bitmap file in the list
Select the Allow Smoothing check
box to anti-alias the edges of the
image, making it appear smoother
Click the Compression popup, and
then select from the following
options:
◆ Lossless (PNG/GIF).
Compresses the image without
losing any information; remains
in its highest quality
◆ Photo (JPEG) You can choose
to use the compression
information contained by
selecting the Use Document
Default Quality check box By
deselecting this feature you
can set the level of JPEG
compression applied to the
bitmap The values are 1-100
The higher the number, the less
compression applied,
producing a higher quality
image
Click OK.
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Thumbnail preview
Click to test and preview the image in thumbnail.
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Trang 2By default, when you import a bitmap into Flash and drag it to the Stage, you are limited in how you can edit it Break Apart the image to remove the image from its bounding box and enable you to cut into the image, remove parts, select regions, and use it as a fill pattern The bitmap is still linked to its parent in the Library Any edit made to a bitmap only affects the copy on the Stage For example, if you break an image and then edit it down to a tiny portion, in the exported movie the image appears exactly as you edited it However, it will still have the same file size of the image you imported (less any compression you may have applied) It is always best to do your most severe editing in a bitmap or paint program outside of Flash
Using Break Apart to
Create Fill Patterns
Create a Bitmap Fill Pattern
Drag a copy of a bitmap to the
Stage from the Library panel; make
sure the bitmap is selected on the
Stage
Click the Modify menu, and then
click Break Apart.
TIMESAVER Press A+B
(Mac) and Ctrl+B (Win) to quickly
break apart a bitmap on the Stage
Click the Eyedropper tool on the
Tools panel
Position the eyedropper over the
image, and then click to select it
The bitmap is a selected fill that
you can use to fill vector shapes
Click the Rectangle or Oval tool on
the Tools panel
Click and drag on the Stage to
create a new shape with the
bitmap fill
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Did You Know?
You can select the bitmap fill in the
Color Mixer panel In the panel, click
Bitmap from the Fill Style popup, and
then select a thumbnail fill (bitmaps
from the Library appear)
Trang 3Flash defaults to tiling a bitmap fill Tiling is simply when an image is repeated in a grid until it fills the entire object If you have applied a bitmap fill to a vector object, you can continue to edit its characteris-tics and placement You can resize, skew, or rotate the fill or change its center point within the shape with the Gradient Transform tool This tool allows you to dynamically make these changes when it is applied to any editable shape As with most of the assets Flash stores in the Library, any change you make to the application of the fill does not affect the master object stored in the Library In this way, bitmaps like video clips and sounds, behave similarly to symbols in that their master object is not affected Although when you use a bitmap in your movie Flash refers to this as a copy, not an instance, because there are no built-in controls for bitmaps
Modifying a Bitmap
Fill
Change the Center Point
Create a shape on the Stage with
a bitmap fill
Click the Gradient Transform tool
on the Tools panel
The pointer changes to an arrow
with a small gradient box in the
right-hand corner
TIMESAVER Press F to quickly
select the Gradient Transform tool
Click the shape to select it
A bounding box appears on the
tile
Position the pointer over the white
circle in the center of the
bounding box
The cursor becomes a Move icon
Click and drag the center point to
a new position
The tile accommodates to the new
position of the center point
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Bitmap fill in new location
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Trang 4Modify the Orientation and Size
of a Bitmap Fill
Create a shape on the Stage with
a bitmap fill
Click the Gradient Transform tool
on the Tools panel
The pointer changes to an arrow
with a small gradient box in the
right-hand corner
Position the pointer over the
shape, and then select it
A bounding box appears on the
tile
Do one of the following:
◆ Bottom-left-corner square.
Drag this to resize the fill
proportionally
◆ Left-center square Drag this to
resize width of fill
◆ Bottom-center square Drag
this to resize height of fill
◆ Top-right-corner circle Drag
this to rotate fill
◆ Top-center circle Drag this to
skew fill horizontally
◆ Right-center circle Drag this to
skew fill vertically
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Resize proportionally Resize width Resize height
Rotate Skew horizontally Skew vertically
Circle handle Square handle
Samples of various fills
Trang 5When you use Break Apart on a bitmap, the bitmap becomes a fill and its content is editable You can select specific regions of it with any of Flash's selection tools and procedures If you want to remove parts of the bitmap or replace them with different fills you can select those parts with the Magic Wand tool The Magic Wand tool selects regions
of similar colors Clicking on other parts adds those parts to the selec-tion The color threshold (or sensitivity) for this tool can be set in the Magic Wand options popup menu
Editing a Bitmap with
the Magic Wand
Use the Magic Wand
Select a bitmap on the Stage
Click the Modify menu, and then
click Break Apart.
TIMESAVER Press A+B
(Mac) or Ctrl+B (Win) to quickly
break apart a bitmap on the Stage
Click on the Stage to deselect the
broken bitmap
Click the Lasso tool on the Tools
panel
Click the Magic Wand Mode
button in the Options section of the
Tools panel
The pointer becomes a small
magic wand
Position the pointer over regions
of the image you want to select
The color region you clicked on is
selected Subsequent clicks on
other regions are added to the
selection
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Color regions selected and deleted from bitmap fill.
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Trang 6Set the Magic Wand Options
Click the Lasso tool on the Tools
panel
Click the Magic Wand Properties
button on the Tools panel
Enter a color threshold between 0
and 200
This number defines how close
adjacent colors have to be to the
selected color before they are
added to the selection A higher
number selects a broader number
of colors
Click the Smoothing popup, and
then select from the following
options: Pixels, Rough, Normal,
and Smooth.
This sets the smoothness of the
edges of the selection
Click OK.
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Trang 7Flash provides a procedure to convert bitmaps into vector art When Trace Bitmap is used, Flash interprets the pixel information in the bitmap and converts it into vector shapes The results can be unpre-dictable in quality and have unwieldy file sizes if the bitmaps are very complex However, there are several parameters in the Trace Bitmap dialog box that can be modified to strike a balance between file size and quality
Using Trace Bitmap to
Create Vector Shapes
Trace a Bitmap
Drag a copy of a bitmap to the
Stage from the Library panel; make
sure the bitmap is selected on the
Stage
Click the Modify menu, point to
Bitmap, and then click Trace
Bitmap.
TROUBLE? The Trace Bitmap
command is disabled if you select
a broken bitmap (a bitmap fill)
Specify values and options to
determine how close the vector
shape resembles the bitmap:
◆ Color Threshold If the
difference in the RGB color
value for two pixels is less than
the color threshold, the pixel
colors are considered the
same Enter a value between 1
and 500 The higher the value,
the lower the number of colors
◆ Minimum Area Determines
how many neighboring pixels to
include in the threshold
calculation Enter a pixel value
between 1 and 1000
◆ Curve Fit Determines how
smoothly Flash creates vector
outlines
◆ Corner Threshold Controls
whether to preserve sharp
edges or create more smooth
contours
Click OK.
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Vectorized bitmap
Creating Vectors Closest to the Original Bitmap
Adobe recommends using the following settings in the Trace Bitmap feature to produce a vector version that is closest to the original bitmap: Color Threshold = 10, Minimum Area = 1 pixel, Curve Fit = Pixels, and Corner Threshold = Many Corners However, depending
on the complexity of the bitmap, this can produce very large and unwieldy file sizes and, in some cases, take a long time for Flash to complete the operation
For Your Information