Fireworks and Animation


Creating animations for the web in Fireworks is a lot more fun to think about than to do. The best animation tool is obviously Flash because the program was designed for the job of creating motion.

That being said, however, Fireworks can be used to build simple animations. In fact, there are three different methods you can use to create animations: frame-by-frame, tweened, and animation symbols. Each has its own pros and cons and is discussed later in this chapter. Before you start tweening away to make the next full-feature animation, you should take a look at what's involved in building a good animation.

Animation Planning

Motion on the web, or on film, is an illusion. Animation is a series of still images, each with a slight change in appearance from the previous image, that are rapidly presented to the viewer. The human eye processes these images and blends them into a smooth motion. If the images move too slowly, the illusion is gone. This speed is measured as frame rate. Frame rate is measured in frames per second (fps). Most movies and television shows shot on film have a frame rate of 24 fps. Most shows shot on video have a frame rate of 30 fps.

Moving to the web, there is another concern to throw into the mix. The higher the resolution of a pixel-based image, or the more points in a piece of vector artwork, the higher the file size, which results in a longer download time. Increasing the frame rate in an animation also increases the file size.

Bitmap animations have a sequence of bitmap graphics. Each bitmap graphic is added together to complete the animation in terms of file size. Although file compression helps reduce the file size, bitmap graphics can get large quickly. The most common bitmap animation type is the Animated GIF.

Vector animations have vector graphics on each frame. Vector animations just change object parameters from frame to frame and are accordingly smaller in file size than bitmap animations. The most common vector animation type is Macromedia's Flash SWF format.

Before you build an animation, however, there is another issue we need to discuss: What is the output format for the final animation?

An Animated GIF typically has a large file size, but is universally compatible with nearly all browsers. This type of animation is restricted by the GIF file format's limited 256-color palette, and it cannot incorporate sound or any other interactivity. In addition, blends and complex patterns often lose their smooth transitions because of the palette limitations. The Animated GIF is, however, a piece of cake to implement.

The Flash SWF, on the other hand, typically has a small file size, can incorporate both pixel and vector-based artwork, and is compatible with all browsers with the Flash player installed. Currently the player penetration is rated at about 94% of all browsers for the Flash player. The Flash SWF offers the capability to add sound as well as complex interactivity. Mastering Flash, however, takes some expertise that you might wish to acquire by reading the Flash chapters in this book.



Special Edition Using Macromedia Studio 8
Special Edition Using Macromedia Studio 8
ISBN: 0789733854
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 337

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