Summary

• Flash can use a variety of external media, which enables you to select the most effective format for various types of content.

• Bitmap smoothing has been greatly improved in Flash 8. Even rotated or scaled bitmaps will look smoother and less jagged on the edges than they would in previous versions of Flash.

• Bitmaps are best suited for photographic images or images that contain detailed shading and/or complex color blends.

• Bitmaps can be converted to vector artwork in a variety of ways. This process works best on simplified bitmap images or when it is used to create special image effects.

• Vector graphics are most often used for logos, line drawings, and other artwork that does not include complex patterns and blends.

• Flash supports the import of layers, editable text, and gradients from some graphics applications, including Macromedia FreeHand, Fireworks, and Adobe Illustrator. You will need to put some care into preparing files to get the best results, but being able to reuse your file structure and editable elements created in other applications can save you a lot of time.

• Flash 8 has more robust support for imported gradients and will preserve many Fireworks effects as editable filters in the Flash authoring environment.

• The new bitmap caching feature in Flash 8 can greatly improve playback performance in movies that use complex vector graphics as background elements or scrolling content.

• Most graphics applications include their own options for reducing the complexity of vector art. However, using Flash's various tools for optimizing vector artwork can also be an effective way to reduce your final file size.