Getting Acquainted with Flash 5

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Flash offers a powerful system for creating animation on the Web. Here's an overview of what you can do with the system:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Create a Flash movie by creating graphics and animating them over the duration of the movie.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Use the Publish command within Flash to publish the movie into a Flash player file. At the same time, Flash creates HTML code that you need for your Web page.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Insert HTML code into your HTML document that creates the Web page to reference the Flash player file. It's similar to adding a graphic to a Web page. Alternatively, you can use the HTML code alone as a new Web page.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Upload the new or edited HTML document and the Flash player file to the location where you keep other files for your Web pages.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Open your browser, navigate to your Web page, and presto! There's your cool animation on your Web page.</li> </ul><p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">You need a Flash viewer to see the effects that Flash creates. These days, Flash viewers come installed in most computer systems and browsers so most people can view Flash-driven Web sites immediately without any special download or preparation. When you display a Web site that contains Flash effects, your system uses the Flash viewer to play the animation. Users who don't have a Flash viewer can download it free from <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Macromedia</a>.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Web sites are becoming increasingly sophisticated. By using animation and special effects, you can distinguish your Web site from the also-rans. Using animation isn't hard, and you don't have to be a professional graphic artist, either. Anyone can create simple animations to enhance a Web site; it just takes a little time.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Knowing what you can create with Flash 5</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> You can use Flash 5 to create simple animation to add to your Web page. You also can create an entire Web page or site and incorporate text, graphics, interactive buttons, and animation.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> The following list describes some of the ways you can manipulate text, graphics, and sound by using Flash 5:</p><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Create simple or fancy text that remains still or appears animated on your Web page. You can choose to stop the animation after a few seconds or repeat it while your viewers view the page.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Use Flash tools to create your own graphics for your Web page, or import graphics. You can lay out a Web page graphically or add graphics to only a part of a Web page.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Animate graphics and make objects appear and disappear by using the transparency feature. Objects can move, get bigger or smaller, or rotate. Flash also enables you to morph — that is, transform — shapes into new shapes.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Fill shapes and text with gradients, which are colors that gradually change into new colors. You can even fill shapes and text with bitmap images that you import into Flash. For example, you can fill the letters of your name with dozens of flowers.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Create Web page buttons that not only lead your viewers wherever you want them to go but change shape or color at the same time. You can make buttons change as you pass your mouse over them. People who view your page can click a button to display a movie (animation). In other words, your viewers can decide which movies they want to see.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Add sounds or music to your movie. You can control how long the sound or music plays and whether it loops to play continuously.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Create pop-up menus that viewers can use to navigate your site.</li></ul><h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Determining when not to use Flash 5</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If Flash 5 is so wonderful, why doesn't every Web site designer use it? Why aren't most Web sites created completely with Flash?</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Here's the other side of the story.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Although the vector graphics and animation of Flash load quickly, they don't load as quickly as plain text and simple graphics. Adding a movie to your Web page creates some overhead. There's no point in using Flash if you want simple pages consisting of mostly text and a few graphics that you want to stay put and not move.</p> <p class="TechnicalStuff" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">You can create certain graphic effects much more easily by using <i>bitmap</i>graphics. Painted brushstroke and textured effects are examples. Graphic artists create these types of graphics by using graphic editing software, and the results are bitmaps. Similarly, to add photographs to your Web page, you need to scan the photographs as bitmaps. Flash creates vector graphics (defined mathematically), which are different from bitmap graphics (defined by lots of dots).</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If you want simple animation, such as a few blinking dots or a marquee effect, animated GIFs (the animated bitmap graphics you often see on the Web) are smaller than Flash movies, so they load faster. You can create animated GIFs by using animated GIF editing software.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Flash provides little in the way of 3-D graphics or animation. For those, you need to go to more sophisticated software such as Poser or 3D Studio Max.</p>

Getting Acquainted with Flash 5

Flash offers a powerful system for creating animation on the Web. Here's an overview of what you can do with the system: Create a Fl...

Read more »

Getting Acquainted with Flash 5

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Flash offers a powerful system for creating animation on the Web. Here's an overview of what you can do with the system:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Create a Flash movie by creating graphics and animating them over the duration of the movie.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Use the Publish command within Flash to publish the movie into a Flash player file. At the same time, Flash creates HTML code that you need for your Web page.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Insert HTML code into your HTML document that creates the Web page to reference the Flash player file. It's similar to adding a graphic to a Web page. Alternatively, you can use the HTML code alone as a new Web page.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Upload the new or edited HTML document and the Flash player file to the location where you keep other files for your Web pages.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Open your browser, navigate to your Web page, and presto! There's your cool animation on your Web page.</li> </ul><p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">You need a Flash viewer to see the effects that Flash creates. These days, Flash viewers come installed in most computer systems and browsers so most people can view Flash-driven Web sites immediately without any special download or preparation. When you display a Web site that contains Flash effects, your system uses the Flash viewer to play the animation. Users who don't have a Flash viewer can download it free from <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Macromedia</a>.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Web sites are becoming increasingly sophisticated. By using animation and special effects, you can distinguish your Web site from the also-rans. Using animation isn't hard, and you don't have to be a professional graphic artist, either. Anyone can create simple animations to enhance a Web site; it just takes a little time.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Knowing what you can create with Flash 5</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> You can use Flash 5 to create simple animation to add to your Web page. You also can create an entire Web page or site and incorporate text, graphics, interactive buttons, and animation.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> The following list describes some of the ways you can manipulate text, graphics, and sound by using Flash 5:</p><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Create simple or fancy text that remains still or appears animated on your Web page. You can choose to stop the animation after a few seconds or repeat it while your viewers view the page.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Use Flash tools to create your own graphics for your Web page, or import graphics. You can lay out a Web page graphically or add graphics to only a part of a Web page.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>Animate graphics and make objects appear and disappear by using the transparency feature. Objects can move, get bigger or smaller, or rotate. Flash also enables you to morph — that is, transform — shapes into new shapes.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Fill shapes and text with gradients, which are colors that gradually change into new colors. You can even fill shapes and text with bitmap images that you import into Flash. For example, you can fill the letters of your name with dozens of flowers.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Create Web page buttons that not only lead your viewers wherever you want them to go but change shape or color at the same time. You can make buttons change as you pass your mouse over them. People who view your page can click a button to display a movie (animation). In other words, your viewers can decide which movies they want to see.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Add sounds or music to your movie. You can control how long the sound or music plays and whether it loops to play continuously.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Create pop-up menus that viewers can use to navigate your site.</li></ul><h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Determining when not to use Flash 5</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If Flash 5 is so wonderful, why doesn't every Web site designer use it? Why aren't most Web sites created completely with Flash?</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Here's the other side of the story.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Although the vector graphics and animation of Flash load quickly, they don't load as quickly as plain text and simple graphics. Adding a movie to your Web page creates some overhead. There's no point in using Flash if you want simple pages consisting of mostly text and a few graphics that you want to stay put and not move.</p> <p class="TechnicalStuff" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">You can create certain graphic effects much more easily by using <i>bitmap</i>graphics. Painted brushstroke and textured effects are examples. Graphic artists create these types of graphics by using graphic editing software, and the results are bitmaps. Similarly, to add photographs to your Web page, you need to scan the photographs as bitmaps. Flash creates vector graphics (defined mathematically), which are different from bitmap graphics (defined by lots of dots).</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If you want simple animation, such as a few blinking dots or a marquee effect, animated GIFs (the animated bitmap graphics you often see on the Web) are smaller than Flash movies, so they load faster. You can create animated GIFs by using animated GIF editing software.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Flash provides little in the way of 3-D graphics or animation. For those, you need to go to more sophisticated software such as Poser or 3D Studio Max.</p>

Getting Acquainted with Flash 5

Flash offers a powerful system for creating animation on the Web. Here's an overview of what you can do with the system: Create a Fl...

Read more »

Dealing with Imported Graphics

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Vector graphics — graphics that are defined by equations, rather than dots used in bitmap graphics — from any drawing program become a grouped object that you can use like any other Flash object. The WMF format, a Windows vector graphics format, also imports in this way. These formats work especially well when imported into Flash. You can sometimes find WMF graphics in clip art collections and on the Web.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Preparing for import</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> You can import text from a text editor and Flash turns it into a Flash text object so that you can edit and format it within Flash. When you import a bitmap graphic, you often need to take some steps before you can use the graphic in your Flash file. You can manipulate your graphics in several ways to make them more Flash-friendly:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Delete the background:</b> In many cases, Flash imports not only the shape you want, but also a rectangular background that you don't want. To get rid of that background, deselect the imported object, select just the rectangular background, and press Delete. If that doesn't work, read on.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Ungroup the graphic: </b>Ungrouping separates grouped elements into individual elements. Ungrouping retains most of the features of your graphic. Select the graphic and choose Modify --> Ungroup. If you find that you still can't work with your graphic properly, read the next item.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Break apart the graphic:</b> Break imported graphics to separate them into ungrouped editable elements. Breaking apart is useful for reducing the file size of graphics that you have imported. Breaking apart converts bitmaps to fills, converts text to outlines, and breaks the link between an OLE object and its source application. In other words, the Break Apart command is a powerful tool. Select the graphic and choose Modify --> Break Apart.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Trace the bitmap:</b> Flash can work magic. If you want total control within Flash, convert a bitmap to a vector graphic.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To trace a bitmap, follow these steps:</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 1. Import the bitmap — don't deselect it or perform any other action on it.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 2. Choose Modify --> Trace Bitmap.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The Trace Bitmap dialog box opens.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">3. In the Color Threshold text box, type a number to represent the threshold.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The higher the number, the fewer colors you get in the final vector graphic. For close results, try a value of 10.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">4. In the Minimum Area text box, type a number to represent the number of nearby pixels that Flash considers when assigning a color to a pixel.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For greatest fidelity, try a value of 1.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 5. From the Curve Fit drop-down list, choose an option to represent how smoothly Flash draws the outlines.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> For the most exact results, choose Pixel.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">6. In the Corner Threshold drop-down list, choose an option to represent how Flash reproduces sharp edges.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For sharpest results, choose Many Corners.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 7. Click OK to close the Trace Bitmap dialog box and then deselect the graphic to see the result.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you import a bitmap graphic, Flash places the graphic in the current movie's Library. For best results, don't delete the original graphic from the Library, even if you have modified it. Flash continues to refer to the graphic after you have converted it to a symbol.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If you're working in the Windows environment, you can also paste a graphic into Flash as an embedded object. To edit the object, double-click it to open the original application and use that application's tools.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To embed an object, follow these steps:</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 1. From within the object's native application, select the graphic and choose Edit --> Copy.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 2. Close the other application and return to Flash.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">3. Choose Edit --> Paste Special.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The Paste Special dialog box opens.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 4. In the dialog box, select the type of object you want to embed, if you have a choice.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 5. Click the Paste Link check box if you want to retain a link to the original file so that Flash updates the graphic if it changes.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 6. Click OK to close the Paste Special dialog box.</p><h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Selecting objects for editing</h2> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Whether you created your graphics in Flash or imported them, you need to edit them in many ways. You can manipulate objects to suit your artistic fancy; the possibilities are in the zillions. The Flash editing tools can give you precisely the results you want. Some of the more interesting features enable you to smooth curves, soften edges, and add interesting fills inside objects.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To select an object for editing, choose the black Arrow tool. That sounds pretty basic. But what is an object? If you draw a shape with an outline (also called a <i>line or a stroke</i>) and a fill, such as a filled-in circle, you have two objects — the outline and the fill. Here are some pointers for selecting objects:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>If the object doesn't have an outline and is just a fill, you're home free.</b> Click the object with the Arrow tool, and it's selected.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>If the object has an outline and a fill, clicking the fill selects only the fill.</b> The outline remains unselected. You can use this feature to move the fill away from its outline. To select both the fill and the outline, double-click the object.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>You can also use the Arrow tool to create a selection box. </b>Click at one corner and drag to an opposite corner, making sure that the bounding box completely encloses the object or objects you want to select.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>To select just a line, click the line with the Arrow tool. </b>Still, you never know when an outline is really several objects. To select the entire outline, double-click it. This technique applies to any connected lines.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>To select several unconnected objects, select one object, press and hold the Shift key, and select additional objects. </b>When you press Shift, you can add to already selected objects and select as many objects as you want.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To deselect selected objects, click any blank area.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> So you're happily drawing away, using the various drawing tools. Then you want to select one of the objects, but you forget to change to the Arrow tool. Oops! You draw another object by accident. Immediately, choose Edit --> Undo. Then use one of the Flash arrow shortcuts:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Press the <i>V</i> key to switch to the Arrow tool.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>To temporarily switch to the Arrow tool while you're using another tool, hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) key while you select an object or objects.</li></ul>

Dealing with Imported Graphics

Vector graphics — graphics that are defined by equations, rather than dots used in bitmap graphics — from any drawing program become a g...

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Adobe Premiere Elements: Playing Clips in the Monitor Window

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Video clips that you capture or import into Adobe Premiere Elements all wind up in the Media Window. When you select a clip in the Media window, a preview of it appears in the tiny preview window in the upper-left corner. If the clip is audio or video, you can play it by clicking the Play button just to the left of the preview window. You can move to specific parts of the clip by using the slider underneath the preview window.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The clip previews provided in the Media window are pretty small. If you get tired of squinting, you may want to load the clip into the Monitor window to preview it. Besides giving you a bigger window in which to preview the clip, the Monitor is also where you will pare the clip down to just the portion you want to use in your movie.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Follow these steps to play your clip in the Monitor window:</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 1. Switch to the Editing workspace mode by choosing Window --> Workspace --> Editing.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Alternatively, you can click the Edit button on the Premiere Elements toolbar.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> The Monitor window appears, if it wasn't already open.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">2. Click and drag a clip from the Media window and drop it in the Monitor window.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The clip appears in the Monitor window.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 3. Use the playback controls at the bottom of the Monitor window (as in Figure 1) to preview the clip.</p><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <img border="0" src="http://media.wiley.com/assets/353/40/0-07645-7881-2_0703.jpg" style="vertical-align:bottom;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px;max-width:100%;min-height:auto!important"></div><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><b>Figure 1:</b> Control playback in the Monitor by using these controls.</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The Monitor window offers buttons and tools for controlling playback and various other editing actions. Take a close look at the playback controls right now by loading a clip into the Monitor and clicking the Play button. Somewhere in the middle of the clip, click the Pause button (the Play button turns into the Pause button after you click Play). Now you can play with some controls that help you identify specific frames in a clip:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Click the Step Forward button.</b>The clip moves forward by one frame. You can also press the right-arrow key on your keyboard to move forward one frame at a time.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Click the Step Back button.</b> The clip moves back a frame. You can also control the Step Back function by pressing the left-arrow key.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>If you want to remember a certain spot in the clip, move to the spot and click the Set Marker button.</b>This places a marker at the current location in the clip. A marker is kind of like a virtual stick-on note.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Place the mouse pointer directly on the Shuttle control. </b>Click and drag the control to the right. Notice that as you drag the Shuttle farther to the right, the clip advances forward at an increasing rate. Drag the Shuttle left to play the clip backward. Let go of the Shuttle by releasing the mouse button. The Shuttle snaps back to the middle and the clip stops playing. Shuttle controls have been common on professional video equipment for years because they provide quick yet precise control over playback.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>As a clip plays, notice that a pointed indicator moves to show you your current location in a clip.</b> This pointed indicator is often called the CTI, short for<i>current time indicator</i>. Another common name for the CTI is<i>playhead</i>.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">In addition to the visible Monitor window controls, Adobe Premiere Elements allows you to rely heavily on keyboard buttons as well. Premiere Elements uses the industry-standard key combination of J-K-L to control shuttle operation in the Monitor window. Press <b>J </b>to shuttle back, <b>L </b>to shuttle forward, and <b>K </b>to stop. Notice that the J, K, and L keys are conveniently located right next to each other on your keyboard.</p>

Adobe Premiere Elements: Playing Clips in the Monitor Window

Video clips that you capture or import into Adobe Premiere Elements all wind up in the Media Window. When you select a clip in the Media...

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Dealing with Imported Graphics

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Vector graphics — graphics that are defined by equations, rather than dots used in bitmap graphics — from any drawing program become a grouped object that you can use like any other Flash object. The WMF format, a Windows vector graphics format, also imports in this way. These formats work especially well when imported into Flash. You can sometimes find WMF graphics in clip art collections and on the Web.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Preparing for import</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> You can import text from a text editor and Flash turns it into a Flash text object so that you can edit and format it within Flash. When you import a bitmap graphic, you often need to take some steps before you can use the graphic in your Flash file. You can manipulate your graphics in several ways to make them more Flash-friendly:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Delete the background:</b> In many cases, Flash imports not only the shape you want, but also a rectangular background that you don't want. To get rid of that background, deselect the imported object, select just the rectangular background, and press Delete. If that doesn't work, read on.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Ungroup the graphic: </b>Ungrouping separates grouped elements into individual elements. Ungrouping retains most of the features of your graphic. Select the graphic and choose Modify --> Ungroup. If you find that you still can't work with your graphic properly, read the next item.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Break apart the graphic:</b> Break imported graphics to separate them into ungrouped editable elements. Breaking apart is useful for reducing the file size of graphics that you have imported. Breaking apart converts bitmaps to fills, converts text to outlines, and breaks the link between an OLE object and its source application. In other words, the Break Apart command is a powerful tool. Select the graphic and choose Modify --> Break Apart.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Trace the bitmap:</b> Flash can work magic. If you want total control within Flash, convert a bitmap to a vector graphic.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To trace a bitmap, follow these steps:</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 1. Import the bitmap — don't deselect it or perform any other action on it.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 2. Choose Modify --> Trace Bitmap.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The Trace Bitmap dialog box opens.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">3. In the Color Threshold text box, type a number to represent the threshold.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The higher the number, the fewer colors you get in the final vector graphic. For close results, try a value of 10.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">4. In the Minimum Area text box, type a number to represent the number of nearby pixels that Flash considers when assigning a color to a pixel.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For greatest fidelity, try a value of 1.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 5. From the Curve Fit drop-down list, choose an option to represent how smoothly Flash draws the outlines.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> For the most exact results, choose Pixel.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">6. In the Corner Threshold drop-down list, choose an option to represent how Flash reproduces sharp edges.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For sharpest results, choose Many Corners.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 7. Click OK to close the Trace Bitmap dialog box and then deselect the graphic to see the result.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you import a bitmap graphic, Flash places the graphic in the current movie's Library. For best results, don't delete the original graphic from the Library, even if you have modified it. Flash continues to refer to the graphic after you have converted it to a symbol.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If you're working in the Windows environment, you can also paste a graphic into Flash as an embedded object. To edit the object, double-click it to open the original application and use that application's tools.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To embed an object, follow these steps:</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 1. From within the object's native application, select the graphic and choose Edit --> Copy.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 2. Close the other application and return to Flash.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">3. Choose Edit --> Paste Special.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The Paste Special dialog box opens.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 4. In the dialog box, select the type of object you want to embed, if you have a choice.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 5. Click the Paste Link check box if you want to retain a link to the original file so that Flash updates the graphic if it changes.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 6. Click OK to close the Paste Special dialog box.</p><h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Selecting objects for editing</h2> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Whether you created your graphics in Flash or imported them, you need to edit them in many ways. You can manipulate objects to suit your artistic fancy; the possibilities are in the zillions. The Flash editing tools can give you precisely the results you want. Some of the more interesting features enable you to smooth curves, soften edges, and add interesting fills inside objects.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To select an object for editing, choose the black Arrow tool. That sounds pretty basic. But what is an object? If you draw a shape with an outline (also called a <i>line or a stroke</i>) and a fill, such as a filled-in circle, you have two objects — the outline and the fill. Here are some pointers for selecting objects:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>If the object doesn't have an outline and is just a fill, you're home free.</b> Click the object with the Arrow tool, and it's selected.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>If the object has an outline and a fill, clicking the fill selects only the fill.</b> The outline remains unselected. You can use this feature to move the fill away from its outline. To select both the fill and the outline, double-click the object.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>You can also use the Arrow tool to create a selection box. </b>Click at one corner and drag to an opposite corner, making sure that the bounding box completely encloses the object or objects you want to select.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>To select just a line, click the line with the Arrow tool. </b>Still, you never know when an outline is really several objects. To select the entire outline, double-click it. This technique applies to any connected lines.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>To select several unconnected objects, select one object, press and hold the Shift key, and select additional objects. </b>When you press Shift, you can add to already selected objects and select as many objects as you want.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To deselect selected objects, click any blank area.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> So you're happily drawing away, using the various drawing tools. Then you want to select one of the objects, but you forget to change to the Arrow tool. Oops! You draw another object by accident. Immediately, choose Edit --> Undo. Then use one of the Flash arrow shortcuts:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li>Press the <i>V</i> key to switch to the Arrow tool.</li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li>To temporarily switch to the Arrow tool while you're using another tool, hold the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) key while you select an object or objects.</li></ul>

Dealing with Imported Graphics

Vector graphics — graphics that are defined by equations, rather than dots used in bitmap graphics — from any drawing program become a g...

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Adobe Premiere Elements: Playing Clips in the Monitor Window

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Video clips that you capture or import into Adobe Premiere Elements all wind up in the Media Window. When you select a clip in the Media window, a preview of it appears in the tiny preview window in the upper-left corner. If the clip is audio or video, you can play it by clicking the Play button just to the left of the preview window. You can move to specific parts of the clip by using the slider underneath the preview window.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The clip previews provided in the Media window are pretty small. If you get tired of squinting, you may want to load the clip into the Monitor window to preview it. Besides giving you a bigger window in which to preview the clip, the Monitor is also where you will pare the clip down to just the portion you want to use in your movie.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Follow these steps to play your clip in the Monitor window:</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 1. Switch to the Editing workspace mode by choosing Window --> Workspace --> Editing.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Alternatively, you can click the Edit button on the Premiere Elements toolbar.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> The Monitor window appears, if it wasn't already open.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">2. Click and drag a clip from the Media window and drop it in the Monitor window.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The clip appears in the Monitor window.</p><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> 3. Use the playback controls at the bottom of the Monitor window (as in Figure 1) to preview the clip.</p><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <img border="0" src="http://media.wiley.com/assets/353/40/0-07645-7881-2_0703.jpg" style="vertical-align:bottom;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px;max-width:100%;min-height:auto!important"></div><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><b>Figure 1:</b> Control playback in the Monitor by using these controls.</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The Monitor window offers buttons and tools for controlling playback and various other editing actions. Take a close look at the playback controls right now by loading a clip into the Monitor and clicking the Play button. Somewhere in the middle of the clip, click the Pause button (the Play button turns into the Pause button after you click Play). Now you can play with some controls that help you identify specific frames in a clip:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Click the Step Forward button.</b>The clip moves forward by one frame. You can also press the right-arrow key on your keyboard to move forward one frame at a time.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Click the Step Back button.</b> The clip moves back a frame. You can also control the Step Back function by pressing the left-arrow key.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>If you want to remember a certain spot in the clip, move to the spot and click the Set Marker button.</b>This places a marker at the current location in the clip. A marker is kind of like a virtual stick-on note.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Place the mouse pointer directly on the Shuttle control. </b>Click and drag the control to the right. Notice that as you drag the Shuttle farther to the right, the clip advances forward at an increasing rate. Drag the Shuttle left to play the clip backward. Let go of the Shuttle by releasing the mouse button. The Shuttle snaps back to the middle and the clip stops playing. Shuttle controls have been common on professional video equipment for years because they provide quick yet precise control over playback.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>As a clip plays, notice that a pointed indicator moves to show you your current location in a clip.</b> This pointed indicator is often called the CTI, short for<i>current time indicator</i>. Another common name for the CTI is<i>playhead</i>.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">In addition to the visible Monitor window controls, Adobe Premiere Elements allows you to rely heavily on keyboard buttons as well. Premiere Elements uses the industry-standard key combination of J-K-L to control shuttle operation in the Monitor window. Press <b>J </b>to shuttle back, <b>L </b>to shuttle forward, and <b>K </b>to stop. Notice that the J, K, and L keys are conveniently located right next to each other on your keyboard.</p>

Adobe Premiere Elements: Playing Clips in the Monitor Window

Video clips that you capture or import into Adobe Premiere Elements all wind up in the Media Window. When you select a clip in the Media...

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Working with Clients as a Flash Web Designer

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Unless you're independently wealthy, you create Web sites for friends, or you play with Flash as a hobby, you need to generate a profit from your work. If you're going to survive working with clients and still keep your sanity, you need to do a few things.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Don't hesitate to seek the advice of a competent attorney who can advise you on contract details.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Create a client survey</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> On your Web site, you likely have information about yourself, information about the services you offer, and examples of your work. Web designers can and often do get clients from distant locales. Sometimes the only way you can establish a preliminary contact and know what the client needs is to create and post a customer survey on your Web site.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Customer surveys can be kind of lengthy, so think again about using a form created in Flash. Instead, rely on its butt-ugly — that's a technical term — HTML counterpart to gather information. In your questionnaire, you need to get the following information:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>The potential client's contact information.</b></li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li><b>Whether or not the client has procured a domain name.</b></li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Whether or not the client will provide edited text, images, and so on for the Web site.</b></li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>The client's expectations and why he wants a Web site. </b>This should be a definite reason, such as promoting a product or expanding the customer base. If the client says he just wants a Web site, this should raise a red flag — the client has no earthly idea of what his expectations are.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The information from your client survey will help you establish a line of communication and eventually will be used to create your proposal and price quote.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Create a static mock-up</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> After your initial meeting with the client, you should have a pretty good idea of what he wants for the final Web site. You can easily create a mock-up of the banner and the navigation menu in less than an hour by using the powerful tools built into Macromedia Fireworks. After you have these areas laid out, you can create the area of the page where the initial content appears. Typically, this will be a combination of text and images. If you don't have an extensive portfolio or don't come highly recommended, some clients will want to see something before they sign on the dotted line.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get the client to sign off on the design</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> After the client decides on the winning mock-up, get the client to sign the mock-up. In fact, you might consider having a stamp made that says<i>Approved By:</i>on the first line and<i>Date:</i> on the second line. Stamp each of the mock-ups, and when the client swoons, whip out your pen — or felt-tipped marker if you print your mock-ups on glossy paper — and ask the client to sign. After the client signs off on the design, file it in the client's folder in case there are any questions later.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Cover the bases</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you're done with the Web site, the contract can serve as your checklist. Go through every paragraph and clause of the contract. For example, if you say you're going to submit the site to six search engines, make sure you have done so.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Document that you've done everything listed in the contract. One problem that arises is documenting sundry details like submitting the site to search engines. Your client won't know the results of search engine submissions for several weeks. Take a screenshot of the site being submitted to each search engine and keep this with the client's file. If any questions arise after you've completed the site, you have all the documentation needed to prove you've done what you said you would.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get it in writing</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Never do business on a handshake; it will always come back to haunt you. Make sure your client signs and dates your original contract. If minor changes are to be made, cross out the original and then write in the revision. Both you and the client need to initial the revision. If the client requests significant changes in the contract, rewrite it — or tell the client to take a hike. Then make sure all additional client requests — with the exception of really small requests — are handled with a change order.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get an initial payment</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you submit the contract to the client, make sure you add a payment clause. Always ask for an initial payment of at least 40 percent of the total contract price. Because this is a Flash design and you won't have anything to show the client until your initial prototype is published, 40 percent of the total price is a fair initial payment. Your contract should also include an additional 40 percent payment when the site has been published and uploaded. The final 20 percent is paid when the client signs off on the site.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get feedback in writing</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you request feedback from a client, don't rely on a hasty telephone call where he tells you, "Yeah, it's great. Rock on." Unless you've recorded the conversation — which may or may not be legal in the state where you live — this won't hold up in court if the client pitches a hissy fit when you're done with the site. Get the client's feedback in writing. If you rely on e-mail for client feedback, after you receive the client's feedback, send an additional e-mail to the client acknowledging and thanking him for the feedback.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Bill for extras</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Your contract states everything that you and the client have agreed to. Your contract should also have clauses for extra work. When you perform extra work, generate an invoice immediately and send it to the client with the invoice for the applicable incremental payment. For example, if you perform the work at the final stages of the project, send the invoices for the extra work with the request for final payment.</p>

Working with Clients as a Flash Web Designer

Unless you're independently wealthy, you create Web sites for friends, or you play with Flash as a hobby, you need to generate a pro...

Read more »

Working with Clients as a Flash Web Designer

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Unless you're independently wealthy, you create Web sites for friends, or you play with Flash as a hobby, you need to generate a profit from your work. If you're going to survive working with clients and still keep your sanity, you need to do a few things.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Don't hesitate to seek the advice of a competent attorney who can advise you on contract details.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Create a client survey</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> On your Web site, you likely have information about yourself, information about the services you offer, and examples of your work. Web designers can and often do get clients from distant locales. Sometimes the only way you can establish a preliminary contact and know what the client needs is to create and post a customer survey on your Web site.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Customer surveys can be kind of lengthy, so think again about using a form created in Flash. Instead, rely on its butt-ugly — that's a technical term — HTML counterpart to gather information. In your questionnaire, you need to get the following information:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>The potential client's contact information.</b></li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li><b>Whether or not the client has procured a domain name.</b></li></ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Whether or not the client will provide edited text, images, and so on for the Web site.</b></li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>The client's expectations and why he wants a Web site. </b>This should be a definite reason, such as promoting a product or expanding the customer base. If the client says he just wants a Web site, this should raise a red flag — the client has no earthly idea of what his expectations are.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The information from your client survey will help you establish a line of communication and eventually will be used to create your proposal and price quote.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Create a static mock-up</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> After your initial meeting with the client, you should have a pretty good idea of what he wants for the final Web site. You can easily create a mock-up of the banner and the navigation menu in less than an hour by using the powerful tools built into Macromedia Fireworks. After you have these areas laid out, you can create the area of the page where the initial content appears. Typically, this will be a combination of text and images. If you don't have an extensive portfolio or don't come highly recommended, some clients will want to see something before they sign on the dotted line.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get the client to sign off on the design</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> After the client decides on the winning mock-up, get the client to sign the mock-up. In fact, you might consider having a stamp made that says<i>Approved By:</i>on the first line and<i>Date:</i> on the second line. Stamp each of the mock-ups, and when the client swoons, whip out your pen — or felt-tipped marker if you print your mock-ups on glossy paper — and ask the client to sign. After the client signs off on the design, file it in the client's folder in case there are any questions later.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Cover the bases</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you're done with the Web site, the contract can serve as your checklist. Go through every paragraph and clause of the contract. For example, if you say you're going to submit the site to six search engines, make sure you have done so.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Document that you've done everything listed in the contract. One problem that arises is documenting sundry details like submitting the site to search engines. Your client won't know the results of search engine submissions for several weeks. Take a screenshot of the site being submitted to each search engine and keep this with the client's file. If any questions arise after you've completed the site, you have all the documentation needed to prove you've done what you said you would.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get it in writing</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Never do business on a handshake; it will always come back to haunt you. Make sure your client signs and dates your original contract. If minor changes are to be made, cross out the original and then write in the revision. Both you and the client need to initial the revision. If the client requests significant changes in the contract, rewrite it — or tell the client to take a hike. Then make sure all additional client requests — with the exception of really small requests — are handled with a change order.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get an initial payment</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you submit the contract to the client, make sure you add a payment clause. Always ask for an initial payment of at least 40 percent of the total contract price. Because this is a Flash design and you won't have anything to show the client until your initial prototype is published, 40 percent of the total price is a fair initial payment. Your contract should also include an additional 40 percent payment when the site has been published and uploaded. The final 20 percent is paid when the client signs off on the site.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Get feedback in writing</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> When you request feedback from a client, don't rely on a hasty telephone call where he tells you, "Yeah, it's great. Rock on." Unless you've recorded the conversation — which may or may not be legal in the state where you live — this won't hold up in court if the client pitches a hissy fit when you're done with the site. Get the client's feedback in writing. If you rely on e-mail for client feedback, after you receive the client's feedback, send an additional e-mail to the client acknowledging and thanking him for the feedback.</p> <h2 style="margin:0.25rem 0px 1.25rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Bill for extras</h2><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> Your contract states everything that you and the client have agreed to. Your contract should also have clauses for extra work. When you perform extra work, generate an invoice immediately and send it to the client with the invoice for the applicable incremental payment. For example, if you perform the work at the final stages of the project, send the invoices for the extra work with the request for final payment.</p>

Working with Clients as a Flash Web Designer

Unless you're independently wealthy, you create Web sites for friends, or you play with Flash as a hobby, you need to generate a pro...

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Making Scanned Documents Searchable and Editable

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><br></h1> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">When you scan a document directly into a PDF file, Acrobat captures all the text and graphics on each page as though they were all just one big graphic image. This is fine as far as it goes, except that it doesn't go very far because you can neither edit nor search the PDF document (because, as far as Acrobat is concerned, the document doesn't contain any text to edit or search, just one humongous graphic). That's where the Paper Capture plug-in in Acrobat 5 for Windows comes into play: You can use it to make a PDF that you can just search or both search and edit.</p> <p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">For some unknown reason, some of the first copies of Acrobat 5 for Windows shipped without the Paper Capture plug-in. If you find that your Tools menu in Acrobat 5 is missing the Paper Capture item, you need to download and install the Paper Capture plug-in from the <a href="http://www.adobe.com/acrofamily/main.html" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">Adobe Web site</a>. Note that the Paper Capture plug-in has a 50-page document limit. If you need to process PDF documents over 50 pages in length, you need to look into purchasing Adobe Acrobat Capture, a full-blown version of the Paper Capture plug-in that can handle longer documents.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To use Paper Capture, all you have to do is choose Tools --> Paper Capture to open the Paper Capture Plug-In dialog box, select the page or pages to be processed (All Pages, Current Page, or From Page <i>x</i> to <i>y</i>), and then click the OK button; the Paper Capture utility does the rest. As it processes the page or pages in the document that you designated, a Paper Capture Plug-In alert dialog box keeps you informed of its progress in preparing and performing the page recognition. When Paper Capture finishes doing the page recognition, this alert dialog box disappears and you can then save the changes to your PDF document with the File --> Save command.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">When doing the page recognition in a PDF document, the Paper Capture plug-in offers you a choice between the following three Output Style options:</p> <ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Formatted Text & Graphics</b> to make the text in the PDF document both editable and searchable. Select this setting if you not only want to be able to find text in the document but also possibly make editing changes to it.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Searchable Image (Exact)</b> to make the text in the PDF document searchable but not editable (this is the default setting). Use this setting if you're processing a document that needs to be searchable but should never be edited in any way, such as an executed contract.</li> </ul><ul style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><b>Searchable Image (Compact)</b> to make the text in the PDF document searchable but not editable and to compress its graphics. Select this setting if you're processing a document whose text requires searching without editing and that also contains a fair number of graphic images that need compressing. When you select this setting, Paper Capture applies JPEG compression to color images and ZIP compression to black-and-white images.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">To select a different output style setting, click the Preferences button in the Paper Capture Plug-In dialog box to open the Preferences dialog box. This dialog box not only enables you to select a new output style in the PDF Output Style pop-up menu but also to designate the primary language used in the text in the Primary OCR Language pop-up menu (OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, which is the kind of software that Paper Capture uses to recognize and convert text captured as a graphic into text that can be searched and edited).</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If your PDF document contains graphic images, you can tell Paper Capture how much to compress the images by selecting the maximum resolution in the Downsample Images pop-up menu. This menu offers you three options in addition to None (for no compression): Low (300 dpi), Medium (150 dpi), and High (72 dpi). The Low, Medium, and High options refer to the amount of compression applied to the images, and the values 300, 150, and 72 dpi (dots per inch) refer to their resolution and thus their quality. As always, the higher the amount of compression, the smaller the file size and the lower the image quality.</p> <p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">After processing the pages of your PDF document with the Paper Capture plug-in, use the Find feature (Ctrl+F on Windows and Command key+F on the Mac) to search for words or phrases in the text to verify it can be searched. If you used the Formatted Text & Graphics output style in doing the page recognition, you can select the TouchUp Text Tool by clicking its button on the Editing toolbar or by typing T, and then click the I-beam pointer in a line of text to select the line with a bounding box to verify that you can edit the text as well. Always remember to use File --> Save to save the changes made to your document by processing with Paper Capture.</p>

Making Scanned Documents Searchable and Editable

When you scan a document directly into a PDF file, Acrobat captures all the text and graphics on each page as though they were all just on...

Read more »