Creating SWF Files

 

An SWF File is a Movie file created using Macromedia’s proprietary SWF format.

All SWF files use the .SWF suffix to denote them.  This file format is universally accepted in Web publishing with a claimed 98% of all browsers being compatible.  SWF files are also referred to as Flash files, which refer to Macromedia’s Flash development software.  ImageMatics products produce Flash compatible

 SWF files that may be further enhanced by Flash and other third party “Flash” development products.

Once you have completed you slide show you may now output it as an .SWF file where it can be viewed on the Internet or off line through an SWF player (any browser will do)

Selecting Publish from the File Menu will provide you with a menu of out put selections The menu is shown below.

Selecting Flash File will bring up a file box in which the name and location of the SWF file is entered.

The attributes of the SWF file are set in the Slide Show Properties Dialog.

The Slide Show Properties Dialog provides details on setting the properties of the Slide Show.

For Internet applications the size of the file determines the speed at which it will be downloaded.  SWF files stream the video which means that they movie begins before the entire file is downloaded.   SWF files use compressed images similar to JPG for efficiency.  The “quality factor” set in the Slide Show Properties Dialog contributes substantially to the images size.

Three things determine the size of the SWF file. 

1.       The size of the images

2.       Quality (compression factor) selected

3.       The size and quality of the sound file

 

Adding sound can sometimes more than double the size of an SWF file. The sound attributes contributing to the sound files size are accessed and edited in under the Sound Dialog found on under Slide Show Properties Dialog.