MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-LEARNING ACTIONSCRIPT 2.0 IN FLASH - Page 407

About font rendering and anti-alias text 407
FlashType is a high-quality font rendering technology that you can enable by using either the
Flash 8 authoring tool or ActionScript. The FlashType technology lets you render font faces
with high-quality output at small sizes, with more control. You can apply FlashType to
embedded font rendering for static, dynamic, and input text fields. The improved capabilities
mean that embedded text appears at the same level of quality as device text, and fonts appear
the same on different platforms.
The font rendering methods available for Flash Player 8 are Device Fonts, Bitmap Text (no
anti-alias), Anti-Alias for Animation, Anti-Alias for Readability, and Custom Anti-Alias,
which lets you define a custom value for thickness and sharpness. For more information on
these options, see “Font rendering options in Flash” on page 408.
Advanced and custom anti-alias features support the following:
■ Scaled and rotated text
■ All fonts (plain, bold, or italic) up to 255 pt size
■ File exporting to most formats (such as JPEG or GIF files)
Advanced and custom anti-alias features do not support the following:
■ Flash Player 7 or earlier
■ Skewed or flipped text
■ Printing
■ File exporting to the PNG file format
A sample file on your hard disk shows how to apply and manipulate anti-aliased text in an
application. You use the FlashType rendering technology to create small text that’s highly
legible. This sample also demonstrates how text fields can scroll quickly and smoothly when
you use the
cacheAsBitmap property.
You can find the sample source file, flashtype.fla, in the Samples folder on your hard disk.
In Windows, browse to boot drive\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8\Samples and
Tutorials\Samples\ActionScript\FlashType.
On the Macintosh, browse to Macintosh HD/Applications/Macromedia Flash 8/Samples and
Tutorials/Samples/ActionScript/FlashType.
NOTE
When you open existing FLA files in Flash 8, your text is not automatically updated to
the Anti-Alias for Readability option; you must select individual text fields and manually
change the anti-aliasing settings to take advantage of the FlashType rendering
technology.
NOTE
When text is animated, the player turns off advanced anti-alias to improve the
appearance of your text while it’s moving. After the animation is complete, anti-alias
is turned back on.