Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
In this chapter, we will cover how to publish completed Edge Animate
compositions. Since Edge Animate saves all project data with web standards
compatibility during animation design, these files can easily be placed on a web
server through methods such as FTP file transfer and made available on a domain.
This method is entirely suitable for internal approval processes or presentations.
However, if you want to use your compositions live online in a productive man-
ner, such a method is not appropriate. The project files from Edge Animate first
need to be optimized for their file size. The following pages will cover how to carry
out such an optimization process and how to use Preloaders in Edge Animate.
Also, you will learn how to use a poster for older browsers in a Down-level Stage.
In the lessons section, we will look at publishing with the WordPress blogging
system, and integration in digital publications with InDesign.
6.1 Preparations
Edge Animate provides functions to deal with the technical differences that may
occur when your composition is viewed on different browsers. For example, you
can use a poster of your composition on a limited stage without animations
for display in older browsers, or you can define a Preloader that updates the
user on the loading process in instances of a slow Internet connection or large
composition data size.
.
Down-level Stage
A simplified version of the Stage
with reduced functionality so that it
can easily display in older browsers.
6.1.1 Posters
Since Edge Animate compositions cannot be shown on older browsers (earlier
than IE 9), you need to make provisions. Edge Animate enables you to create
what is known as a Down-level Stage. In most instances, the Down-level Stage
is really just a scaled-back image, a kind of screen shot that contains the com-
position's most relevant contents. In this way, users with older browsers see at
least the main message of an advertising campaign and are not excluded from
whatever the animation is trying to communicate. Such posters are very easy
to create in Edge Animate; you do not have to take a screenshot manually and
then edit it to work as a static image. First, you need to be on the Stage to create
a poster. The Property panel on the left contains a section called Poster. Click the
camera icon, and a dialog box opens in which you can create a static image (2)
from the current location of the playhead on the Timeline (1). The dialog box lets
you either capture a new poster image or refresh a prior one. The poster is saved
as a PNG image in your project
images
subfolder.
