Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 Bible

Chapter 21. Creating Adobe Flash Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Creating content with Flash

• Creating SWF files in Illustrator

• Using SWF files in Dreamweaver

• Using SWF files in Acrobat

The Web's popularity has seen the appearance of several new technologies that add interactivity and portability within Web pages. Of these, Flash (SWF) files are vector-based image formats used for creating files a fraction of the size of their raster-based counterparts and making them useful for creating Web graphics and, specifically, Web animations. You also can use these formats to scale images to any size without sacrificing image quality.

You can create Flash (SWF) files using both Flash and from within Illustrator and use them in Dreamweaver and Acrobat. You create SWF animation in Illustrator by placing the graphics for each frame of the animation on a separate layer, which you then convert to animation frames.

You also can use InDesign to create SWF files. InDesign CS5 allows exporting documents directly to SWF or exporting to the XFL format that can be imported by Flash.

Note

Another related technology is Adobe's Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). These files are also vector-based and saved as XML files. However, Adobe has announced that it will drop support for SVG from its upcoming developments.

Creating Flash Content

Creative Suite 5 Design Premium includes the best package that can generate Flash files—the Flash CS5 program itself. Flash is a valuable addition to CS5 and provides a powerful tool for creating ...