Re: FLASH: FH9 vs AI9 (was: Curved text)

[John Dowdell]

At 7:33 AM 7/14/0, maxx wrote:

> ...the fun anti-Adobe stories probably make Macromedia very very

> happy. Not that they already don't laugh at Adobe behind their

> back, albeit it's well-deserved. Feh, by now, it's probably to

> their face...;>


Actually, folks here feel concern for those poor humans still trapped

there... I just hope they don't actually announce GoLive 6 this month,

they've got to ship the 5.0 first.... ;-)



At 7:43 PM 7/13/0, Brian wrote:

> Is there a way to create a line of text that follows an arc?


Yes, text-on-path is available in many desktop drawing tools -- FreeHand,

Illustrator, Fireworks, CorelDRAW!, more -- and you can usually get across

in SWF format these days, but if worse comes to worst there's always the

proprietary .AI format.


Tips: If you notice any text shifting after transfer, then try "Convert

Text to Paths" in the originating app first. Consider the skewing effects

to affect the orientation of the text along the path! If using FreeHand,

you can also paste inline graphics in the text-on-path.


This text-on-path effect is different from enveloping, where you distort

one set of shapes based on the outline of an envelope path... if you need

text to fill a circle, rather than just outline the circle, then CorelDRAW!

has an implementation, and FreeHand has the best-of-breed enveloping.



At 7:13 AM 7/14/0, Helen Triolo wrote:

> Send more info on why FH9 is better than AI9....


They're more and more different from each other these days... Illustrator

and Fireworks share some of the same space, and FreeHand and InDesign share

some of the same space. The latter two offer multipage graphics-intensive

design. The former render pixel effects and work on smaller-scale drawings.


FreeHand is a general graphics-intensive design tool... quick to comp out a

Flash storyboard, to print out for client approval, to generate HTML for

rough page layouts... very, very fast, even on complex designs. Illustrator

doesn't attempt this kind of work.



> ...especially as they relate to Flash....


SWF export has been there for years... Release-To-Layers was created here,

and you still also have pages-to-frames for animations. Gradients are

recognized! In the current versions symbol libraries also transfer. Graphic

search/replace and graphic styles complement the automation of symbol

libraries. Vector transparency exports to SWF, etc.



At 6:57 AM 7/14/0, maxx wrote:

> has anyone tried blending along the new perspective grid

> and then making .swfs?


ja, you betcha, woiks great!  :D



jd







John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US

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