MACROMEDIA FLASH
GIF publish settings
GIF files provide an easy way to export drawings and simple animations
for use in web pages. Standard GIF files are simply compressed bitmaps.
An animated GIF (sometimes referred to as a GIF89a) offers a simple way
to export short animation sequences. Flash optimizes an animated GIF,
storing only frame-to-frame changes.
Flash exports the first frame in the movie as a GIF, unless you mark a
different keyframe for export by entering the frame label #Static. Flash
exports all the frames in the current movie to an animated GIF unless you
specify a range of frames for export by entering the frame labels #First
and #Last in the appropriate keyframes.
Flash can generate an image map for a GIF so buttons that link to URLs
in the original movie continue to function as links in the image. Place
the frame label #Map in the keyframe in which you want to create the image
map. If you don't create a frame label, Flash creates an image map using
the buttons in the last frame of the movie. To create an image map the $IM
template variable must be present in the template you select. See Creating
an image map.
Use the controls in the GIF panel of the Publish Settings dialog box to
change the following settings:
Dimensions Sets the size of the exported bitmap image to the
number of pixels you enter in the Width and Height fields. If you turn on
Match Movie, the entries in the Width and Height fields have no effect and
Flash makes the GIF the same size as the movie. Flash ensures that the
size you specify always has the same aspect ratio as your original image.
Playback Determines if Flash creates a static image, or an
animation. Click Static to export a still image. Click Animated to export
an animated GIF. If you choose Animated, choose either Loop Continuously,
or enter a number of repetitions.
Options Specify a range of appearance settings for the exported
GIF.
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Optimize Colors removes any unused colors from the color table
of a GIF file. This can reduce the size of a GIF file by 1000-1500
bytes with no sacrifice in image quality. It does, however, cause
a small increase in the memory requirements. Note that this option
has no effect with an Adaptive palette. |
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Smooth enables or disables anti-aliasing in the exported bitmap.
Smoothing produces a higher-quality bitmapped image. Text display
quality is poor without anti-aliasing. However, a halo of gray
pixels may appear around an anti-aliased image placed on a colored
background. Export without smoothing if a halo appears, or if you
are creating a transparent GIF that will be placed over a
multicolored background. Turning this option off makes GIF files
smaller. |
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Interlace makes the exported GIF display in a browser
incrementally as it downloads. An interlaced GIF provides the user
with basic graphic content before the file has completely
downloaded and may download faster over a slow network connection.
Do not interlace an animated GIF. |
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Dither Solids applies dithering to solid colors as well as
gradients and images. See the definition of dithering that
follows. |
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Remove Gradients converts all gradients fills in the movie to
solid colors using the first color in the gradient. Gradients
increase the size of a GIF and often are of poor quality. When
using this option you must choose the first color of your
gradients carefully to prevent unexpected results. The default is
false. |
Transparent Determines how the background of a movie and alpha
(transparency) settings in Flash are converted to GIF. Choose one of the
following options from the pop-up menu:
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Opaque makes the background of the movie opaque. |
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Transparent makes the background transparent. |
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Alpha makes all the colors below the threshold alpha value
completely transparent (invisible). Colors with alpha values above
the threshold are left as they are. Enter a value between 0 and
255 in the Threshold box to the right. A value of 128 corresponds
to 50% alpha. |
Dither Enables or disables dithering and specifies the method.
Dithering displays pixels of a range of similar colors to simulate colors
not available in the current palette. With dithering off, Flash replaces
colors not in the basic color table with the solid color from the table
that most closely approximates the specified color; not dithering can
produce smaller files, but check the results to see if the colors are
satisfactory. Dithering can help if a transparent image contains
artifacts. Dithering increases the files size. Choose from the following
dithering options:
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None disables dithering. |
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Ordered provides good quality dithering with the least possible
file size increase. |
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Diffusion provides the best quality dithering but increases file
size and processing time more than Ordered dithering. It also only
works with the Web 216 color palette selected. |
Palette Type Defines the color palette to use for the image.
Choose from the following options:
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Web 216 uses the standard 216 color browser-safe color palette
to create the GIF image. This provides good image quality and the
fastest processing on the server. |
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Adaptive analyzes the colors in the image and creates a unique
color table for the particular GIF. This creates the most accurate
color for the image but the resulting file size is larger than a
GIF created with the Web 216 palette. You can reduce the size of a
GIF created with an adaptive palette by decreasing the number of
colors in the palette (see the Max Colors option that follows). An
adaptive palette works best for systems displaying thousands or
millions of colors. |
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Web Snap Adaptive is the same as the Adaptive palette option
except that it converts close colors to the Web 216 color palette.
The resulting color palette is optimized for the image, but when
possible, Flash uses colors from Web 216. This produces better
colors for the image when the Web 216 palette is active on a
256-color system. |
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Custom lets you specify a palette that you have optimized for
the current image. This provides the same processing speed as the
Web 216 palette. To use this option you must be familiar with
creating and using custom palettes. To choose a custom palette,
click the button labeled with the ellipsis (...) to the right of
the Palette box at the bottom of the dialog box and select a
palette file. Flash supports palettes saved in the ACT format.
This is the same format exported by Macromedia Fireworks and other
leading graphics applications. |
Max Colors Sets the number of colors used in the GIF image.
Choosing a smaller number of colors can produce a smaller file, but may
degrade the colors in the image. You can specify a value for the maximum
colors only when you have selected Adaptive or Web Snap as the Palette
Type option.
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