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Exporting as a Flash file

Canvas provides compatibility for designing Web content to be used in a Flash®-enabled Web site. As a result, all Canvas documents can be saved in the .SWF format.

To save a Flash file:

  1. After completing your document, choose File | Save As.
  2. In the Save As dialog box, select the Macromedia Flash (.SWF) option. Click the Save button.

Flash Options dialog box

General options

Export mode: Choose between SWF Player or SWF Editor.

  • SWF Player: Creates an .SWF file for use in Macromedia Flash player or a Flash-enabled Web browser.
  • SWF Editor: Generates the .SWF file for import into Macromedia Flash.

Exporting an .SWF file for use in an .SWF player doesn’t automatically mean that the file can’t be imported into a .SWF editor or vise-versa. However, to reduce possible problems, we suggest that you export your Canvas file using a mode that matches your specific Flash export needs.

Page export: This feature allows you to have the option to save a multipage document either as a single multiframe .SWF file or as a set of individual .SWF files:

  • Individual files: Allows a multi-page Canvas document to be exported as separated SWF files. One will be created for each page in a Canvas document.
  • File with frames: Enables a multi-page Canvas document to be exported as a single multiframe .SWF file.

Accurate strokes (slower): Enables exporting graphics that contain either calligraphic strokes or strokes that use texture, gradient, or hatch patterns.

This option may make the export process slower.

Image options

This feature allows you to choose an image format that will be applied to the original Canvas file when exported as an .SWF file.

Image format:

  • JPEG: Produces well compressed images. Loss of data may have an impact on image quality.
  • LossLess: Does not affect the quality, but the compression ratio is usually lower than using .JPEG.

JPEG quality: This option is only available if the lossy (JPEG) compression has been selected. Four JPEG quality levels are available:

  • Best: 100% of quality is preserved
  • Fine: 90% of quality is preserved
  • Good: 75% of quality is preserved
  • Draft: 50% of quality is preserved

Best should be chosen if a detailed image is desired and file size is not a concern. Draft can be selected if you need a small file for transmission and image quality is not an issue. Usually the Fine quality option provides the optimal quality-to-size ratio.

Save these settings as default

Select this option if you wish to save these settings as the default for all subsequent SWF files.