Why do graphics look great in Fireworks, bad in Flash?

[heidiho webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

I have posed this question to folks on the Flash site and didn't receive an answer, and I was hoping that a more graphics oriented crowd might be able to explain this to me.

I have Studio MX and am just really learning how to use Fireworks. What I have found frustrating in working with Flash in the past is that the graphics look awful when you publish the movie. I was hoping that by importing bitmaps/gifs/jpegs into Fireworks and then optimizing them or messing around with them that this would alleviate the problem. It has, unfortunately, not changed a thing. Graphics still look fuzzy/over-pixelated and generally awful. Unless, of course, I create them myself in Fireworks or Flash. However, as with a lot of people's projects, you have to use a company's logo, or a photo of your child, which cannot be recreated. I'm sure there's a way to not lose graphic quality, but I am missing it somewhere in the process. Perhaps I don't know enough about graphics and their formats.

Anyway help or discussion generated from this would be much appreciated.

Heidi

[Chester Harold]

In Flash, right click on the graphic and choose . . . I forget the exact
name, but it's something to do with lossless or exact representation.
Hopefully it will be apparent.

Chet

[Runnerman12 webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Hmm. It depends on what your workin on.

If your looking for the best quality in Flash, make sure your publish settings for graphics are set to 99 or 100%. This will insure Flash will output the best quality.

If you import an image into Flash from Fireworks via copy and paste and its blurry, try using the sharpening tool in Fireworks and make it extra crispy. Then when you paste it into Flash, it will look crisp and clean. Do you have an example posted of your problem.

I'll help you out no prob...

-Runnerman12

[heidiho webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Runnerman12,

Thanks for answering my query. What I've been doing is exporting the image from Fireworks and importing it to my library in Flash. And, despite what all the reference manuals say, my images are still . . . well, bad is the only way to describe it. Of course, this refers only to the bitmap images and not vector. The vector images are never the problem.

I am uncomfortable posting the project I'm working on on the forum. Would it be possible for you to email your email address to me?

[email]heidi@grosscapital.com[/email]

Thanks,

Heidi

[heidiho webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Runnerman12,

Thanks for answering my query. What I've been doing is exporting the image from Fireworks and importing it to my library in Flash. And, despite what all the reference manuals say, my images are still . . . well, bad is the only way to describe it. Of course, this refers only to the bitmap images and not vector. The vector images are never the problem.

I am uncomfortable posting the project I'm working on on the forum. Would it be possible for you to email your email address to me?

[email]heidi@grosscapital.com[/email]

Thanks,

Heidi

[heidiho webforumsuser@macromedia.com]

Chet,

Thanks for getting back to me.

You tip is the correct thing to do . . . you check the compression by right-clicking the image in the Library and check out its properties. It needs to have PNG loseless or gif compression. In this case, however, that is selected. It's beyond me what the problem could be.

Thanks again!

Heidi