I'm concocting some intro presentations for my company's software demo CDs using SWiSHmax, the flash authoring app. The art includes photo objects that are mostly processed in Xtreme and then exported for use in Swish. I've discovered a couple of things that might be useful to other people.

Usually, you want a 96dpi bitmap for output on screen, but frequently when I make a photo or screen capture smaller, or apply a mold or cut out a shape, the 96dpi result is soft or jaggy.

Turns out that there are two remedies. Which one works best depends on the object.

1) In Xteme, set up the image the way you want it at the right size. Make a 300dpi bitmap copy. Then export the copy as a 96dpi transparent png to use in Swish.

2) If you're still getting jagged edges, export the 300dpi copy as a swf. Import the swf into Swish. (You'll probably get a couple of messages from Xara and Swish. Just say OK and contine.) I usually specify "one object per frame in a group".

The image will come in at the correct size with all the detail and smooth edges. If you don't want to leave it as a sprite, copy the bitmap from the sprite to the canvas as a separate object, then delete the sprite.

And if you must use 96dpi in the sprite, reimport the 96dpi png instead of making a 96dpi bitmap copy. The png will have more contrast than the copy, so it will probably look sharper.

BTW, I tried duplicating the results on a test image in Paint Shop Pro. Resizing to 300dpi in the needed dimensions produced a usable result via Smart Size resampling, but it still wasn't as good as Xara's. Plus, getting rid of the background took a lot longer and wasn't nearly as successful. And I couldn't do the color fix I needed.