Compressing Flash movies and Flash banners

Businesses and designers alike prefer Flash web banners over animated GIF banners because Flash web banners allow more complex animations, have high graphic quality, and can include scripting features and interactivity, all of which are desirable for e-commerce.

End users, in turn, benefit from Flash's smaller files, faster download times and streaming capabilities. For example, a short banner animation can play in the forefront while the main banner downloads in the background. And Flash banners are now almost universally accepted, displaying on more than 96 percent of computers with Internet connections.

But Flash banners aren't designed as well as they could be when it comes to file size. If not handled skillfully, Flash files can become too big and take too long to download. Below are some important tips that will trim the fat from your Flash file and leave you with a lean, mean banner machine.

(Note : These tips assume you have a copy of Macromedia Flash and are familiar with its functions.)

* Colors
* Gradients
* Symbols
* Fonts
* Lines
* Bitmap images
* Sound
* Animation
* Exporting

Colors

1. When working with colors, use a limited color palette on your Flash banner.

2. Web-safe colors are best because your Flash banner's colors will look the same across all major browsers and platforms.

Gradients

1. Use gradients sparingly on Flash banners. Each area of a gradient fill requires more data than a solid fill.

2. Left-to-right (horizontal) linear gradients are preferable to up-and-down (vertical) gradients as browsers read them more quickly.

Symbols
To understand advanced optimizing in Flash, you must first know how to create symbols. Symbols are elements in your movie that you select for using over and over again. Symbols can be graphics, buttons, movie clips, sound files or fonts.

1. By creating a symbol, the symbol is stored in the Flash file's library, which you can grab and place for multiple uses and edits. Symbols reduce file size because no matter how many times you make and place a symbol, Flash stores the symbol in the file only once.

2. For advanced color optimizing, use the effects panel's tint to create different colored instances of a single symbol instead of creating multiple symbols.

3. Be careful not to overuse the alpha transparency color effect. It can slow playback.

Fonts
1. Limit the number of fonts and font styles you use in your Flash banners. For embedded font options, select only the characters needed instead of the entire font.

2. Use font symbols as shared library assets. A library is where all your symbols are stored. You can access the main library by going to Window > Library, or you can access a shared library by defining the linkage properties of the original library's items or assets.

To use the assets from a shared library in another movie, choose File > Open As Shared Library in your current movie and select the shared library file you want to use.

Lines

1. Limit the number of special line styles used, such as dashed and dotted. Solid lines require less memory. Also, lines created with the pencil tool require less memory than brush strokes.

2. Use Modify > Optimize to minimize the number of separate lines in your shapes.

Limiting the number of special line effects will also keep the file size of your Flash banners low. The commands Convert Lines to Fills, Expand Shape, and Soften Edge in the Modify > Shape submenu increase the number of vector elements in your file.

Bitmap images

1. Bitmap graphic images imported into Flash, such as a photo or a file from another software program, take up more file size than Flash (vector) graphics. Use them sparingly.

2. Size bitmap images to the exact dimensions you need before importing them into Flash. This includes reducing image quality as much as possible.

3. Avoid animating bitmap elements, whenever possible, if you must use them in Flash banners.

4. Try converting your bitmaps to vector graphics. Sometimes you will achieve a considerably smaller file size.

5. Adjust the JPEG quality of bitmap files and turn off the Smoothing option for bitmap images in a movie's library. Playback will be faster because the bitmaps will render more quickly.

Sound

1. To choose sound compression options, use the options in the Export Settings of the Sound Properties dialog box. Use the lowest sampling rate and bit depth required. Sixteen Kbps should suffice for most situations.

2. Instead of using a long sound file, take a segment of the file and set it to loop, that is, to repeat itself.

3. Choose fast in your quality button under Sound Settings. Fast gives better compression results than medium or best.

4. In the Compression menu from the Sound Properties dialog box, choose ADPCM (Advanced Differential Pulse Code Modulation) for short sounds, and streaming (MP3 compression setting) for longer sounds such as background music and soundtracks.

Animation

1. File size increases with the number of frames. Use symbols for every element in your banner that appears and changes in more than one frame.

2. Use key frames and twining to reduce the number of individual frames and keep your file size down to a minimum. Avoid using too many twining operations at one time, however. Too many could significantly slow playback.

3. Animate a fixed area of your banner, not everywhere on it.

4. Choose motion twining over shape twining. Motion twee symbols instead of grouping objects.

5. Use caution when creating complex symbols or having many symbols in a single frame. It might cause the movie to pause while symbols are downloading

Exporting to the Web

1. Flash movies for export — SWF or ShockWave Flash movie — require you to also save an HTML file. The HTML document is needed to activate the Flash movie and specifies the browser settings, including where the Flash movie appears on screen and the movie size. You can change these settings in the HTML panel of the Publish Settings dialog box.

2. Be sure to choose carefully among the anti-aliasing options found in the HTML section of a movie's Publish Settings. We usually recommend auto high.

3. Use the bandwidth profiler to see if your movie meets or exceeds your target audience's connection speed. You can see where a movie may be paused to wait for a large file to download.

Flash is a powerful tool for creating web banners. It will take time to learn all the features. But keep these optimizing tips in mind and you will be able to make stunning banners that are quick to download.

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