Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity

Chapter 5. Working with Graphics

In this chapter

Importing Pixels

Working with Pixels

Importing Vectors

Using Scenes

Working with the Library

Flash’s drawing tools are primarily vector-based, so they aren’t ideal for editing bitmaps. Meaningful bitmap editing requires a program designed for that purpose, such as Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks. Similarly, while Flash’s drawing methods appeal to many designers, full-powered tools dedicated to this task, such as Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia FreeHand, are often used to create more complex vector-based illustrations. In this chapter, you’ll look at how Flash can work with other applications to help you meet your project needs. This chapter includes several mini-projects to get you familiar with working with external graphic assets.

Importing Pixels

Although importing graphic assets is a basic task, there are a few subtleties when dealing with specific file formats and specific applications. To help you take advantage of the full range of features Flash has to offer, and to give you a complete design palette to work with, this section will briefly explain some of the ins and outs of importing pixel-based graphics.

Note

The graphics discussed herein are generically referred to as pixel-based or raster graphics, both as a means of categorizing topics and because that is the most common format for these types of graphics. However, you will soon see (especially when discussing Fireworks files) that some formats can contain ...