Recipe 2.2. Importing Content from Freehand MX

Problem

You want to import content from Freehand MX.

Solution

Import the Freehand file directly into Flash.

Discussion

As with Fireworks and Flash, Freehand and Flash have fairly good cross-support. You can import Freehand files (Version 7 up to Version 11) directly into Flash without having to export first or save in an intermediate format. One of the nice advantages that Freehand sometimes offers over Fireworks is that it provides a better way to create complex vector artwork for use in Flash. For example, if you attach text to a path in Fireworks and then import that into Flash, Flash will need to rasterize the text. With Freehand, however, you can achieve effects like text that follows a path, but Flash will be able to import it as vectorized artwork (though still not as editable text.)

To import Freehand content into Flash, complete the following steps:

1. Create your Freehand file and save it.

2. Open or create a Flash document.

3. Choose File Import Import to Stage if you want to import the content both to the library and to the stage at the same time. Otherwise, if you want to import the content to the library only, choose File Import Import to Library. If you import to the stage, youll be able to remove it from the stage if you want to at a later time.

4. In the Import dialog box, navigate to the Freehand file you want to import, select it, and click Open.

5. In the Freehand Import dialog box, you are prompted for several options:

   1. Freehand uses a pages metaphor. If you have only one page in your Freehand document, you don't really need to care which option is selected for Mappings: Pages choices. However, if you have used several pages, you should decide whether you want the pages to be imported as different scenes or keyframes. In most cases, you should use the keyframes option.

   2. You should also specify how you want Flash to interpret the Freehand layers. By default, the layers in Freehand translate into layers in Flash. However, you also have the option of having each layer import into its own keyframe, or you can flatten all the layers so that they import to a single layer in Flash.

   3. If you have multiple pages in your Freehand document, you also need to decide which of those pages to import. You can import all the pages or specify a range.

   4. Lastly, you are asked whether to import invisible layers and background layers, and you are also asked whether to maintain text blocks as editable text in Flash. Flash will maintain only text blocks as text if possible. Otherwise, it will convert text to outlines.

6. Click OK. Flash will import the Freehand content to the current timeline following the settings you have chosen.

You will likely notice when you import Freehand MX content into Flash, however, that it also imports two new folders full of symbols in your library. The actual artwork that is imported from Freehand is imported onto the current timeline, but a bunch of unused symbols are imported to the library in a folder called Brush Tips and Freehand Objects. You can do several things with the extra symbols:

• Leave them in the Flash library. Because they are unused, they will not be exported and will not add to the file size of the .swf file.

• Delete the folders. Because they are not used, you can safely delete them.

• Delete the Brush Tips folder from the Freehand document's library before saving and then importing to Flash. If you do that, the symbols will not be imported.

• Another method of getting rid of the unwanted content is to choose "Select Unused Items" from the Library menu.