Xara to Flash formula

[gwpriester]

Xara images exported in SWF format and imported into Flash come in considerably smaller.

Has anyone discovered a percentage to enlarge Xara images before exporting so the images come into Flash the same size as they appear on screen in Xara?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Every So Humble...

[gwpriester]

Xara images exported in SWF format and imported into Flash come in considerably smaller.

Has anyone discovered a percentage to enlarge Xara images before exporting so the images come into Flash the same size as they appear on screen in Xara?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Every So Humble...

[Mark Goodall]

The actual dimensions are the same e.g. if you draw a 3in image in Xara, it will import into Flash with dimension as 3in.
The reason that the image on screen is a different size in the two apps is that Flash is a Mac orienatated app and regards the screen res as 72dpi. All PC apps regard the screen as 96dpi. Hence the discrepancy.
If you look at the ruler in Flash you will see the relationship between pixels and inches it assumes, you can check this by using an app to count the pixels, a screen grabber would do.

So the ratio is 72/96.

Perhaps there is a way in Flash to redefine what it thinks is the size of a pixel ?

Mark Goodall
Xara Ltd

[jens g.r. benthien]

Gary,

I always used following trick: -> build a scene in XARA (2.0 or X is no difference I guess), i.e. on a worksheet of 640 x 480 pixels (my favorite). Then i.e. draw a rectangle around the scene with the size of let's say 400 x 300 or any even ratio that covers the scene, use no fill, and export. Import into flash, select all, move the rectangle to the upper left corner and either use the 'object' tab in the transform menu or right click the selection, -> scale, grab the lower right corner and pull it to the according size i.e. 400. Of course, you have to set the dimensions to pixels in flash before you do this. After that, delete the rectangle.

This worked for me since I used flash and exported objects from XARA as *.ai files. As Mark already wrote, the size difference is a problem of flash...

best regards,
jens g.r. benthien

[gwpriester]

Mark and Jen

Thanks for the info.

Mark, I'll contact my contact at Macromedia and see if there is a work-around for this.

Using the 72/96 aspect ratio, I made my images 133% which should work. But when I previewed the movie along side Xara, the Flash image was still smaller.

What I currently do is similar to what Jen has suggested. I bring in my elements all at the same time. I select each element and convert it to a symbol and place it on its own layer. Then I display the grid and change the units to 20 pixels (why does Flash default at 18?) and then resize my movie properties to the size of my Xara image.

When I hear back from Macromedia, I'll post the suggestions here.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Every So Humble...

[alkolka]

Gary,

Maybe the Flash grid defaults to 18 pixels because 18 is evenly divisable into 72 -- the Mac default 72 pix/inch?

[John Rayner]

Has anybody tried using the scaling feature under the options in xara. Use 96 on the left (drawing) and 72 on the right (real world)... I tried a 100 pix by 100 pix graphic exported as a .swf and set flash for a movie size of 100 by 100 and the graphic fill the workspace...

[gwpriester]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Has anybody tried using the scaling feature under the options in xara. Use 96 on the left (drawing) and 72 on the right (real world)... I tried a 100 pix by 100 pix graphic exported as a .swf and set flash for a movie size of 100 by 100 and the graphic fill the workspace... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep, you're absolutely correct. That does work and without my having to scale everything separately.

My hat is off to you.

I saved the settings as a new Template file so I don't have to try to remember what is was you said to do next time [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Every So Humble...

[Nathan Heagy]

Actually, the right thing to do is set Flash's resolution to 96. No reason why it can't be, and it will save you all hassle. I forget where this is, I can't find it in Flash 5 but in 4 I think it was in preferences.

Maybe it's gone from Flash now?

Nathan Heagy
<HR>
Blow Your Beef Away
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