Flash Site Design - Bitmap Buttons?

Author

Bitmap Buttons?

seka1

2004-04-21, 3:15 pm

Hi,

I have been trying to create a rollover button in Flash MX (Windows) for a few
hours now, but without much luck. I created a couple of bitmap images (GIFs),
and set up the appropriate Up, Over, Down and Hit states. As a result, the
button functions properly, but does not look right.

If I preview the button in Flash, via the Enable Simple Buttons feature, then
everything works and looks right. If, on the other hand, the button is viewed
via the Test Movie option or in a browser, then it functions properly but it
looks disproportional - smudged up a bit.

I included a Zip file that contains a folder with the flash file (one button
only). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Kathy

2004-04-21, 3:15 pm

Bitmaps aren't the best way to go....they will have some distortion
because they aren't vector. Flash is a vector program. Always import
bitmaps at the size you will use them in Flash so that no resizing is
necessary.

But, in test movie mode, they might not be displayed as intended as they
may be enlarged in the player. Try this...with the fla opened, go File
> Publish Preview > HTML and see how the buttons look there.

Kat

seka1 wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have been trying to create a rollover button in Flash MX (Windows) for a few
> hours now, but without much luck. I created a couple of bitmap images (GIFs),
> and set up the appropriate Up, Over, Down and Hit states. As a result, the
> button functions properly, but does not look right.
>
> If I preview the button in Flash, via the Enable Simple Buttons feature, then
> everything works and looks right. If, on the other hand, the button is viewed
> via the Test Movie option or in a browser, then it functions properly but it
> looks disproportional - smudged up a bit.
>
> I included a Zip file that contains a folder with the flash file (one button
> only). Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks.
>
>

seka1

2004-04-21, 3:15 pm

Kat,

I tried the browser preview (File>Publish preview>HTML), as outlined in my
initial post, but it did not work, unfortunately. The Zip file I included in
the post is not, for some reason, downloading, so I do not know if you had a
chance to take a look at it.

At any rate, I posted it on the server now as a web page, as well as the Zip
file:

http://www.magellan-net.com/button_issue/main_b.html

At the top of this page, you can see the button which made up of the two
images shown below. It is all in Flash, and both images, listed separately
appear razor sharp. But when I put them into the button form, for some reason,
they look different - the thin line below the letters is gone and the letters
themselves look a bit smudged up. The files I used for this can be found here:

http://www.magellan-net.com/button_...utton_issue.zip

Thanks.

Kathy

2004-04-21, 3:15 pm

I think that's just the nature of the beast seka1 when using bitmaps.
Because they are gif (lossless) there really isn't any compression
settings that will make the bitmap buttons clearer. These buttons would
be very easy to create in Flash...and look a lot better as vector shapes
rather than bitmaps. Why don't you try that? Also, if using Flash MX
2004, you'll have the Alias Text option for crisper small text.

As for the "disappearing line"....not sure why, but if you go inside the
btnRollover timeline and move each instance of the home_x.gif up about
15 pixels the line will be visible.

Kat

seka1 wrote:
> Kat,
>
> I tried the browser preview (File>Publish preview>HTML), as outlined in my
> initial post, but it did not work, unfortunately. The Zip file I included in
> the post is not, for some reason, downloading, so I do not know if you had a
> chance to take a look at it.
>
> At any rate, I posted it on the server now as a web page, as well as the Zip
> file:
>
> http://www.magellan-net.com/button_issue/main_b.html
>
> At the top of this page, you can see the button which made up of the two
> images shown below. It is all in Flash, and both images, listed separately
> appear razor sharp. But when I put them into the button form, for some reason,
> they look different - the thin line below the letters is gone and the letters
> themselves look a bit smudged up. The files I used for this can be found here:
>
> http://www.magellan-net.com/button_...utton_issue.zip
>
> Thanks.
>
>

seka1

2004-04-21, 3:15 pm

Kat,

Thank you for your input. I moved the GIFs 15 pixels higher and everything
worked out perfectly. Not only did the line show up properly, but the whole GIF
looked exactly the way it was supposed to. I have absolutely no idea as to why
or how, but it worked.

Do you have any idea as to why the above worked? The only thing I can think of
is that, perhaps, the GIF was moved above its center registration point. Or
maybe this whole thing is just a bug in multiple versions of Flash ....

At any rate, you saved the project.

Thanks.

Shades Dallas

2004-04-25, 5:30 pm

You should also always make sure that your bitmaps begin on even pixel coordinates in flash for best results.