Flash 8 Cookbook

2.6. Exporting Single-Frame Images

Problem

You want to use Flash to export a single frame in a popular image format, such as GIF, JPEG, or PNG.

Solution

Select the frame for which you want to export the contents and then choose to export as image.

Alternatively, change the publish settings to export the format you want and publish.

Discussion

Although you may typically think of Flash as being a tool strictly for exporting SWF content, you can also use it to export a variety of other formats, including single-frame formats such as JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, AI, EPS, and more. This trick can be convenient for many possible reasons. For example, you may want to export a still image of a frame or frames from your Flash movie to use for presentation or packaging purposes. And even for advanced Flash developers, the feature can be quite useful, such as to export icons that represent components that they are developing.

There are several ways you can export single-frame content from Flash. These ways can sometimes be used interchangeably, but in other cases you will want to opt for one method over another. One way is to export the content through the File menu by choosing File → Export → Export Image. We’ll call this first technique the export image technique. The second is to change the publish settings so that Flash will know to export the image types that you want, and then to use the publish feature to tell Flash to export the file or files. We’ll call this second technique the publish settings ...