Publishing Movies Lecture Notes -

Objective #1: Be able to publish movies.

• Typically, a .swf file and a .htm web page is created when you use the File/Publish menu command since the default Publish Settings are set to create those two files.
• However, if you do not wish to place your Flash movie on the Internet or an intranet, you can publish (or export) your movie in a few other formats including QuickTime, animated gif, etc.
• You can also export your movie to play as a Projector file. This type of export creates an .exe file that can be double-clicked by the user and doesn't require the user's computer to have any specific helper applications or plug-ins.
• You can export a specific frame of a movie by first checkmarking the jpeg option in the Publish Settings window and then selecting the desired frame in the Timeline window and using the Publish command.

Objective #2: Be able to optimize a published movie by reducing file size.

• Use symbols for objects that are used multiple times in a movie.
• Use these techniques to reduce the movie's file size:
  • Use tweened animations rather than frame-by-frame animations.
  • Make use of smaller areas of change in keyframes.
  • Use vector objects rather than bitmap objects within animations. Use bitmap objects in static frames.
  • Avoid the overuse of gradients.
• Click the View/Bandwith Profiler menu command to use the banwidth profiler to find the large frames
• Preload a movie by using ActionScript to prevent the movie from playing until every frame up to a specific frame number has been downloaded to the user's browser.

Objective #3: Be able to use the HTML Publish Settings.

• Change the width and height attributes to change the size of the movie as its displayed in the browser window.
• Disable the shortcut Display menu that the user can access when right-clicking a Flash movie in a browser window.
• Change the Quality option to increase playback speed.

Objective #4: Create & upload a Web site that consists of one .swf file or multiple .swf files.

• Use Dreamweaver to set up a remote site on a Web server & upload your .swf file(s) and .htm file(s).
  • Dreamweaver Site Definition Local Info
  • Dreamweaver Site Definition Remote Info
• You can also use Internet Explorer to FTP your .swf & .htm files to a Web server. Click the View/Explorer Bar/Folders menu command. Then type the following command into IE's location bar:
  
  ftp://username:password@yourwebserver/path/to/your/website
  
  You will be able to drag and drop your files from a local folder or your floppy disk to your Web server folder.