Flash CS5: The Missing Manual

Importing Illustrator Graphics Files

Flash lets you import graphics files you've created with another image-editing program (like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop) and then stored on your computer. After you import a graphics file, you can either edit the image it contains using Flash's tools and panels or just add it directly to your animation.

Note

Table 10-1 (Incorporating Sound) shows you a complete list of all the different graphics file formats you can import into Flash.

As you see in the steps below, after you've imported a graphics file, Flash stores a copy of the image in the Library panel (Properties subpanels) so you can add as many instances of the image to your animations as you like.

Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Depending on the format of your graphics file (see Incorporating Sound), Flash either pulls the image in as a collection of editable shapes and layers—which you can work with just as you work with any image in Flash—or as a flattened bitmap, which limits your editing choices a bit. (Import Options for Graphics gives you tips for working with flattened bitmaps.) Flash does its best to give you all the bells and whistles of the original file format. Flash really excels when you import a file from one of Adobe's Creative Suite programs, like Illustrator. As the example below shows, you get to choose the way Flash imports layers, shapes, and text. As a result, if you're importing Illustrator files, Flash lets you go ahead and modify the shapes (vector ...