TBS Importer for flash.. Blacked out parts of image..

Hi

- Ive been providing images for website and the consultant needs the images in a flash fil. Ive been doing all my drawing etc in TBS 4 and then import the layers to flash - I then send the entire flash file to the consultant…

I have a problem where:
1. It doesnt import drop shadow (not listed on the importer)
2. Part of the image is blacked out (ie might just be 1 panel / area of colour…)
3. Its different for different images - one imported the shadow but in a new location.
Im not an expert in flash (and I dont want to be… its just that this consultant only uses flash)

Anyhoo - has anyone else come across this… how have you rectified it.

Thanks in advance…


andrew

OK - Ive tried to import all the scenes and each time I view the TBS importer the drop shadow layers are not evident (the one where the shadow was in a different location, noted in my post above, seems to be the anomily…)

- So main issues

1. Drop shadow effect not imported
2. Part of image blacked out

… anyone?

aheaven,

I don’t have an answer for you at the moment, but, you will help yourself and others and save time if you post the following information here.

What operating system and version are you using?
What type of computer?
What is the version of TBSi importer you are using?
What is the version of Flash you are using to receive the import?

All of these can have an impact and /or may give a clue to what is happening. -JK

Hi JK

PC, Windows XP (latest version before vista), Dual Core processor, 2G Ram, (cant recall video card … nvidia i think… a good one anyway), and Audigy Pro soundcard…

Im using Flash 8 with TBS 4.

I downloaded the latest importer (removed the old one for v.3.5 from flash, and replaced with new importer.)

Everything imports across but I definately dont have the Drop Shadow layer listed on the TBS importer before it goes into flash…

I stated in a post above that one of the drawings did import the shadow, after going over it in more detail it didnt… it only actually imported the drawing element that made the shadow… so at this stage my fundamental issue is no drop shadow being imported…

Oh - also have my preference set to Direct 3D (no open GL etc) if it makes any difference…

- I also did a test:
1) Draw a ball
2) Add drop shadow element (noticing that the shadow is only visible in the Camera View, not drawing view)
3) save

Open Flash, new document, import to stage, single drawing element listed, and no Drop Shadow element listed…

Thanks for taking the time to answer my enquiry…

andrew

I can’t say that I ever imported a TBS created drop shadow into Flash so there is the possibility that the TBS drop shadow effect is not supported in Flash and therefore the TBSi doesn’t try to import it. But we will need to wait till one of the Toon Boom product team members like Mathieu or Ugo can answer this. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. -JK

Thanks anyway JK (you helped a while ago by showing me how to import into flash… ;))

- Could Mathieu or Ugo (or whoever in Toonboom can) please confirm whether or not the Flash importer for TBS V4 allows the Drop Shadow element to be imported as well as the associated drawing??

- and while Ive got your attention ('cause its a related issue) - could you confirm if the capture screen shot can produce images greater than 72 dpi (the consultant needs 300 dpi images). TBS screen shots (even the higher res ones) appear to all be at 72 dpi…


Thanks again

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

As you might have noticed Drop Shadow are indeed not understood by the Flash application. You might experience the same type of behavior with other special effect used inside Toon Boom Studio.

The only way I can see to have the Drop Shadow imported inside of Flash would be to export your animation as an swf and import it (you might want to only export your drop shadow (hide all the other elements). This way your network in Flash will end up being much less complicated (though the shadow will be quite complicated to edit).

As for the screen capture I don’t think you have access to the dpi information. The export for the image is handled by Quicktime (it is the basic Quicktime window you might have seen in other software) and I don’t think they allow the change of dpi. We would need to develop a full image export to have this feature I think, but in any case I will still mention it to the product manager to see if there would be an easier way around this.

Best regards,

Ugo

Thanks for the help Ugo!

- When I get back home tonight Ill have a go at exporting as swf etc…

- I only noticed the 72 dpi because I was importing screen shots into photoshop CS2 and when resizing I noticed they were all at 72 dpi. Ive spoken some more to the consultant last night and they’ve said they might be able to manipulate the 72dpi images to suit the website so hopefully the end result will still be achieved 8)…

Thanks for all your time Ugo and JK…


Regards


Andrew

Thanks Ugo - I exported from toonboom as .swf file (rather than individual TBS layers) - Imported straight into Flash, shadows and all!! So… for the purpose of this thread:

1) Blacked out part of image - no longer a problem when exporting as .swf file
2) Importing of Shadow - no probs when done as .swf file