Re: Probably in some FAQ

[Dave Trautman]

John Croteau wrote:

>You have to troubleshoot by doing a very simple proceedure that works

>then add steps one by one to determine when the problem occurs.


Actually I think the group might benefit from our experiment.  It would appear we exceeded the upper limit of vectors for Flash.  Or perhaps more clearly the Flash Player as everything looked fine in the construction environment.


We are doing a Map of Canada.  If any of you are familiar with the coastline and island territories of Canada you'll have a vague idea of just how many vectors you need to define those edges.  Add to this lakes and rivers and you begin to see what we were up to.


The background bitmap was a texture and relief image.  With only this imported the resulting SWF looked fine.  Once we layered the vector lines on top we ran into problems.


My graphic artist, who is much more familiar with these kinds of things than I am, made the bold assumption that if he deleted the coast line (particularly the West Coast) he would have dramatically dropped the total number of points in the image.  It worked.  With fewer points the overlayed image starts to appear.


Freehand is what the vector layer was made in and some might suggest the Xtra for "simplifying" the number of points.  Rest assured our artist is now putting the image on a diet.


The whole reason for using flash was to provide a client with a zooming map with links for a rather huge project involving Canadian History.  The project is being done with Authorware and we felt the Flash connection would be a strong one.


Educated guessing between myself and the artist put the number of points in excess of 130,000.

For those who might have suggested drawing the lines in Flash, I think you now know what we were up against.


Thanks to the group for the responses.  I hope our experience provides other Flash developers some insight into vector limitations when planning future animations.


Cheers,

Dave Trautman

Web Stylist for ATL

University of Alberta



"We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday, and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet."

‹ Margaret Mead



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