Optimizing Drawings

Aside from making a drawing more geometric, the main advantage of simplifying a shape or line is that it reduces the number of points that Flash has to remember and, thus, reduces the final file size. This is especially important for projects such as cartoons or animations that include a large number of hand-drawn shapes.

The most powerful tool for optimizing artwork precisely is found in the Optimize Curves dialog box invoked by choosing Modify ð Shape ð Optimize. This feature gives you a slider control to set the amount of smoothing applied between None and Maximum. You can also choose to apply optimization repeatedly for greater reduction in points. Selecting the Use multiple passes check box repeats the smoothing process until no further optimization can be achieved. The totals message notifies you how many points have been removed and what percentage reduction has been achieved each time you apply the modification. Figure 5-32 shows a sketch drawn with the Pencil tool in Ink mode before and after multiple passes of Optimize Curves are applied. The reduction in points is displayed in the dialog box. For illustration purposes, we made a drastic adjustment by applying Optimize Curves set at Maximum. For practical purposes, you should find a balance between optimization and drawing complexity by testing a range of settings.

Figure 5-32: Before (left) and after (right) Optimize Curves is used to reduce the complexity of a drawing made with the Brush tool with default smoothing. The reduction in points translates directly into a smaller file size.