Use
GIF files to export drawings and simple animations for use in web
pages. Standard GIF files are compressed bitmaps.
An animated
GIF file (sometimes referred to as a GIF89a) offers a simple way
to export short animation sequences. Flash optimizes
an animated GIF file, storing only frame-to-frame changes.
Flash exports
the first frame in the SWF file as a GIF file, unless you mark a
different keyframe for export by entering the #Static frame
label in the Property inspector. Flash exports
all the frames in the current SWF file to an animated GIF file unless
you specify a range of frames for export by entering the #First and #Last frame
labels in the appropriate keyframes.
Flash can
generate an image map for a GIF file to maintain URL links for buttons
in the original document. Use the Property inspector to place the frame
label #Map in the keyframe in which 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 SWF file.
Create an image map only if the $IM template variable
is present in the template you select.
For the GIF filename, use the default filename or enter
a new filename with the .gif extension.
Click GIF.
Dimensions
Enter values for width and height in pixels for the exported
bitmap image, or select Match Movie to make the GIF the same size
as the SWF file and maintain the aspect ratio of your original image.
Playback
Determines whether Flash creates
a still (Static) image or an animated GIF (Animation). If you select
Animation, select Loop Continuously or enter the number of repetitions.
To specify a range of appearance settings for the exported
GIF file, select one of the following options:
Optimize Colors
Removes
any unused colors from a GIF file’s color table. This option reduces
the file size without affecting image quality, but slightly increases the
memory requirements. This option has no effect on an adaptive palette.
(An adaptive palette analyzes the colors in the image and creates
a unique color table for the selected GIF file.)
Interlace
Incrementally
shows the exported GIF file in a browser as it downloads. Lets the
user see basic graphic content before the file completely downloads
and can download the file faster over a slow network connection.
Do not interlace an animated GIF image.
Smooth
Applies
anti-aliasing to an exported bitmap to produce a higher-quality
bitmap image and improve text display quality. However, smoothing might
cause a halo of gray pixels to appear around an anti-aliased image
placed on a colored background, and it increases the GIF file size.
Export an image without smoothing if a halo appears or if you’re
placing a GIF transparency on a multicolored background.
Dither Solids
Applies dithering to solid colors as well as gradients.
Remove Gradients
(Default
is off) Converts all gradient fills in the SWF file to solid colors
using the first color in the gradient. Gradients increase the size
of a GIF file and are often poor quality. To prevent unexpected
results, select the first color of your gradients carefully if you
use this option.
To
determine the transparency of the application’s background and the
way alpha settings are converted to GIF, select one of the following
Transparent options:
Opaque
Makes the background a solid color.
Transparent
Makes the background transparent.
Alpha
Sets partial transparency. Enter a Threshold value between
0 and 255. A lower value results in greater transparency. A value
of 128 corresponds to 50% transparency.
To
specify how pixels of available colors are combined to simulate
colors not available in the current palette, select a Dither option.
Dithering can improve color quality, but it increases the file size.
None
Turns off dithering and replaces colors not in the basic
color table with the solid color from the table that most closely
approximates the specified color. Turning dithering off can result
in smaller files but unsatisfactory colors.
Ordered
Provides good-quality dithering with the smallest increase
in file size.
Diffusion
Provides the best-quality dithering but increases file
size and processing time. Works only with the web 216-color palette
selected.
To define the image’s color palette, select one of the
following Palette types:
Web 216
uses
the standard 216‑color, web‑safe palette to create the GIF image, for
good image quality and the fastest processing on the server.
Adaptive
analyzes the colors in the image and
creates a unique color table for the selected GIF file. Best for
systems displaying thousands or millions of colors; it creates the
most accurate color for the image but increases file size. To reduce the
size of a GIF file with an adaptive palette, use the Max Colors
option to decrease the number of colors in the palette.
Web Snap Adaptive
is
the same as the Adaptive palette option except it converts similar
colors to the web 216-color palette. The resulting color palette
is optimized for the image, but when possible, Flash uses
colors from the web 216-color palette. This produces better colors
for the image when the web 216-color palette is active on a 256‑color
system.
Custom
specifies
a palette that you optimized for the selected image. The custom
palette is processed at the same speed as the web 216-color palette.
To use this option, know how to create and use custom palettes.
To select a custom palette, click the Palette folder icon (the folder
icon that appears at the end of the Palette text field), and select
a palette file. Flash supports palettes saved
in the ACT format, that some graphics applications export.
To set the number of colors used in
the GIF image, if you selected the Adaptive or Web Snap Adaptive
palette, enter a value for Max Colors. A smaller number of colors
can produce a smaller file but can degrade the colors in the image.
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