Using Alpha Filters on Dynamic Textboxes

Very simple thing: You want to have a dynamic text box fade in and out with a simple alpha tween.

But it doesn't work. In order to add effects like the alpha tween to dynamic textboxes, you need to embed all the possible characters that might arise in that textbox. With textbox selected, the properties bar shows a button "Embed...". Click on that and you can choose which characters (Lowercase letters? Numbers? A-F?) to embed in the Flash file.



The more characters you embed, the larger the filesize of the final swf, so you really only want to embed those characters you think you'll need.

Jagged, Poor Quality JPEG Tweens in Flash

In Flash, I often use bitmap images (jpeg, png, etc) as backgrounds for my animations. To create panning effects I apply motion tweens to the images. Generally, if I keep the images the same size throughout the tween, then everything comes out looking great.

But often, I need to create a zoom in/out effect by making the jpeg get larger or small. When I publish, the image often looks a little jagged. It's annoying! But today I learned how to fix it. This forum had the answers I was looking for.

For Flash 8 + users, you need to go into the properties for the jpeg and click the "allow smoothing" option. That's it.

For below Flash 8, you may need to make sure the movie is on "Best" quality for smooth jpeg transitions.