Flash® Professional CS5 Bible

Chapter 20. Using the Flash Player and Projector

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Creating a Flash projector

• Distributing the Flash Player

• Third-party utilities for Flash stand-alones

This chapter explores alternative means of distributing your Flash movies as self-contained executable applications for CD/DVD-ROMs or other removable storage devices. I also look at the broad support available for the Flash Player plug-in for Web browsers.

Using the Stand-Alone Flash Player and Projector

The stand-alone Flash Player and projector enable you to take your Flash right off the Web and onto the desktop without having to worry whether users have the plug-in. In fact, you don't even need to worry about them having browsers! Stand-alone players and projectors have similar properties and limitations, although they're slightly different.

• Stand-alone player: This is an executable player that comes with Flash CS5. You can open any SWF file in this player. The stand-alone player can be found in the Adobe/Flash CS5/Players/Release folder (Windows) or the Adobe Flash CS5:Players:Release folder (Mac) on the volume where you installed Flash CS5.

• Projector: A projector is an executable copy of your movie that doesn't need an additional player or plug-in to be viewed. It's essentially a movie contained within the stand-alone player. The projector is ideal for distribution of Flash applications on CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs. Figure 20.1 shows a Flash movie played as a projector on Windows.

  Figure 20.1. A movie playing as a projector ...