Publish Settings

   

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Flash lets you publish multiple formats at once. To publish your Flash document, select File, Publish Settings from the top drop-down menu. Once you select Publish Settings, the Publish Settings dialog box opens (see Figure 16.5).

Figure 16.5. The Publish Settings dialog box contains all the formats that Flash can publish at once.

Publishing Flash Movies

The Publish Settings dialog box is where you select your file formats to be published. Table 16.2 outlines all the possible file formats that Flash can publish.

Table 16.2. Publish Settings Formats

FORMAT	FILE PUBLISHED
Flash	Publishes an SWF file, usually to be used on the Web
HTML	Publishes both an SWF and an HTML file to be used on the Web
GIF image	Publishes either a static GIF image or an animated GIF image, depending on your preference
JPEG image	Publishes a static JPEG image
PNG image	Publishes a static PNG image
Windows projector	Publishes an EXE file usually used on CD-ROMs
Macintosh projector	Publishes a Macintosh projector file usually used on CD-ROMs
QuickTime	Publishes a QuickTime MOV file

NOTE

By default, Flash saves the published files within the same directory as your FLA file. Once you press Publish in the Publish Settings dialog box, all of these file formats are created for you at one time.

Exporting Movies and Images

Whenever a document is published, it is exported to specified formats defined within the Publish Settings. Publish Settings lets you export multiple Flash-supported file formats all at once. In Publish Settings you can specify whether or not a movie, an image, or audio will be exported. Flash lets you export PNG images and JPEG images, as well as static GIF images and animated GIFs. Flash can also export SWF movies, executables, Macintosh projectors, and QuickTime movies. You can also utilize the Export Image and Export Movie commands under the File option in the top drop-down menu.

Editing Publish Formats

As you select file types to be published, the Publish Settings dialog box populates with additional tabs for that particular file formats where applicable . These tabs contain options that can be manipulated depending on your preference for that particular file format (see Figure 16.6).

Figure 16.6. Here are the options that you can specify and edit under the GIF file format.

You can also play back movies within the Flash authoring environment. Flash gives you several ways to do this. You can control playback of your movie by using the Controller (see Figure 16.7). To access the Controller, select Window, Controller from the top drop-down menu. The Controller lets you play back the movie in its entirety or move through it frame by frame, forward or backward. You can also jump to the end or the beginning of the presentation.

Figure 16.7. The Controller lets you play back your document within the authoring environment.

NOTE

When conducting playback within the authoring environment, be sure to select Control, Enable Simple Frame Actions to activate actions such as Stop. If you don't do this, the movie will simply play through the document from start to finish.

You can also press the Enter or Return key to allow playback. To stop playback, hit the Enter or Return key again. All these controls can also be found under Control in the top menu.

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