Need help optimizing Flash/GIF files for fast loading

satlas · 12-08-2006, 11:13 AM

I am trying to have animated advertisements on my home page (fade in...pause...fade out, next banner..) to make it more dynamic, but all the programs I have tried export the animation at sizes that I consider too large. GIF animations (Bannershop GIF Animator 5) end up being ~100-200KB and flash animations (Adobe ImageReady) export at ~80KB at best. I start with an image that's only around 10KB (optimized in imageready as best I can--30 quality, progressive), and after a simple fade animation of a couple frames, it becomes 10 times the size. I am relatively new to this, so i'm sure i'm overlooking a lot of file crunching techniques.

I'd really appreciate any input on how to establish this simple fade effect without the large file size. Manual modifications, different programs, different formats, javascript? anything that works!

Thanks!

Varelse · 12-08-2006, 01:02 PM

Fade effect is one of the most bytes-consuming ones...
What you can do is limiting the number of colors or frames with the fade effect.

A thing to consider - vector only dynamic Flash banner. Vector artwork will be much lighter than the raster one.

A quick example I've Googled - http://www.e-junkie.com/shop/product...Flag+Animation
This Flash vector animated flag is 11kb heavy - just imagine how big it would be if made as a GIF image... Most likely over 100kb or even more.

edit:

I've finally found the banner I was looking for:
http://www.softidentity.com/portfolio.php?id=62

Note how rich the animation is - and the banner has only... 31kb! - that's because it's made with the use of the vector only elements.

satlas · 12-08-2006, 01:39 PM

Thanks for the info!

How would I create a vector only flash banner? I have been using Adobe ImageReady to fade an image relatively easily. Do I need flash to do this effect? I have Macromedia Flash 8, but have not used it much. Is there a large learning curve to use this effect nicely?

Varelse · 12-08-2006, 01:51 PM

Yes, you'd have to use "Macrobe" (Macromedia->Adobe) Flash, as ImageReady does not support neither Flash, nor vectors.
And I can't help you with the Flash part - I don't know it

satlas · 12-08-2006, 01:54 PM

thanks i'll look into it

phacker · 12-10-2006, 02:29 PM

Flash could probably reduce the weight overall, since you can symbolize any rasters you use and they won't up the weight when reused. But number of frames is going to be the biggest hog of all. But then timing is key so you can only cut frames to a point. Transparency and special effects can also affect cpu usage and weight. Vector leaves the smallest footprint, but sometimes it's not always the best solution.

**3ncryptabl3_lick** · 12-15-2006, 10:19 PM

Heya satlas, on a side note regarding fades... Sometimes fading out the alpha can be a bit of a hog for lower end cards, especially if there are allot of other things being processed inside the flash file. A tip when the desire is to fade out an image over a solid background, (typically an image directly over the html BG color) use tinting instead. If the background is, say, white... and you want to 'fade out' an image over it, 'tint' it to white instead of 'alpha to 0'. The tint will put less of a demand on the gpu. Then when the tween is done tinting, put in a blank frame at the end of the timeline and call a stop funtion to remove the object from the stage all together.