Some compliments served with some "whine"

[Poohlovr]

I just have to say how impressed I am with the clip art being proudly displayed by Lisa, Dan, Katholyn,Patrick,etc. They are really neat.

And the countdown clocks that are showing up in signatures are pretty awesome, too!

That's the compliments....

The whines...

<i> I want one too......Seems like the SD Cheerleader Founder ought to be able to get something.......I don't ever get any respect......Nobody knows who I am cause I'm too quiet and unassuming....</i>

LOL!!

Anyway, just wanted to get my kudos to the correct person (or persons) and apologize for not doing so sooner. They really are awesome!

 

[Cricket2]

Thank you mam!

At this time because of the storage solution that is required and the sheer amount of time that is needed, I am only creating them for board hosts. If I ever find a better internet hosting solution (free and unlimited) and retire before I am 50, I may create some for others.

You can always request some non-Flash clipart! There is always time and space for that.

 

[Beanie]

Boo hoo...My clipart was not mentioned...


Just kidding, Poohlovr...Doesn't JC do a fabulous job?? LOL!!

 

[betz]

JC ~ to reduce the file size of your FLASH files there are a few things that you can do:

1) Make your images from a vector based program. You know there are two types of images that you can produce on the computer:

____a) pixel based ~ where the computer reads the image pixel by pixel, such as .gif or .jpg lots of work for the computer

____b) vector based ~ images that are object oriented (O.O.), the computer reads the whole object instead of pixel by pixel such as a .eps the computer reads these images fast

By saving a pixel based image to an EPS/vector image does not make the image a vector image, unfortunately.
FLASH is able to convert a pixel image to an O.O. image, but these end up being really fat clumsy and you really are not any better off.
Your best bet is to draw the image in a Vector based program ~ such as Illustrator.
The capability of FLASH being able to utilize Vector Based Images is one of the Fortes of that program, as it really cuts down on file size and speeds up processing.

2) Any part of your image that is static (not animated) should be in your background (bottom) layer, that way when the file is read the static images do not have to be read over and over, only the animated objects do.

I hope this info may help, as if you can utilize it you could possibly reduce your file size to at least 1/4 of what they already are.

Or, you could just tell me to go away LOL

 

[Cricket2]

Your best bet is to draw the image in a Vector based program ~ such as Illustrator.

I'm no artist, much less a vector artist.

To give you an example of how hard I try to get bitmap images optimized, Patrick's Pluto is the 38th (really) permutation of the same image(s). Since I can't draw Pluto from scratch, I had to do my best to make Pluto the best looking, smallest file that I could. To make things worse, I had to do it in 3 separate files and one frame to allow for movement of his head and tail in separate MC's.

I try to use Actionscripting for as much movement as possible to eliminate the need for tweening (most of this includes math that I forgot 10 years ago) and mouse angles. I use duplicate movie clips to save space. I use vector images for all other "non-artist drawn" images and shading. If it was possible to make any of the symbols smaller and still look decent, I would have. Some of the files are extremely small for what they do. Katholyn's for example is entirely vector/Actionscripting which is why it moves so nicely. (Not my code BTW, and it's only 1 frame!)

FLASH is able to convert a pixel image to an O.O. image, but these end up being really fat clumsy and you really are not any better off.

I'm assuming you mean "Trace Bitmap"? If so, I agree. They can be cleaned up by exporting into Fireworks/Freehand/whatever and re-imported, but they loose far too much quality for the space reduction after all of that work.

Any part of your image that is static (not animated) should be in your background (bottom) layer, that way when the file is read the static images do not have to be read over and over, only the animated objects do.

Huh? Most static items would have to be in the background to make them static. Why would you put them anywhere else? Maybe I don't understand what you mean. Please explain so I can make sure that we are talking about the same thing/solution.

Or, you could just tell me to go away LOL

I'd talk Flash all day if I could. Don't go anywhere.............except the basement, it scares me!

JC

 

[BansheeBlue]

I've been on and off trying to get a lil' Flash avatar project down to the magic number of 4000, and I've been so frustrated. The .swf is below the line, but when I publish it to an animated .gif it's gotten no smaller than 22KB.

Background image is a .gif at present, don't know if I could trust myself to hand-draw it. It's the nymph from Fantasia 2000, btw, and I'm making one of the butterflies fly out of her hair and around her face. Well, I've MADE it do that, just can't get it down small enough byte-wise.

I'll keep trying to reduce the size of my background image, and I'm next gonna try just hand-drawing the animate element, see if that helps.

I'm a relative newbie when it comes to Flash (though I love it), I've got all the drawing and simple animating stuff down, masks and guidelayers etc, but I've yet to venture into the scary world of Action Scripting. Math frightens and confuses me. I suppose I can give up trying to make it an avatar, but demmit, I'm stubborn! Um, of course, it could be that an animated .gif done from Flash file won't go below 4KB, which shows how unschooled I am...

Any more tips/help on this would make me very grateful...I'm finding more and more that books don't ever have the answer to my questions, and just asking the folks who actually USE the programs is the surest way to an answer.

 

[Cricket2]

Send me the .fla to:

mr_j_cricket@hotmail.com

Without looking at it, you may be fighting a battle that you can't win.

JC