FIGURE 25-1
Director works mainly with bitmaps and video and enables multimedia programming and 3D visualizations.
One of the primary differences between Director and Flash is the supported graphic formats. Director is
generally better for bitmap graphics, in which each pixel is mapped to a specific color; both GIF and JPEG
formats use bitmap graphics. Flash, on the other hand, uses primarily vector graphics, which are drawing
elements described mathematically. Because vector graphics use a description of a drawing??”a blue circle
CROSS-REF CROSS-REF
794
Including Multimedia Elements Part V
with a radius of 2.5 centimeters, for instance??”rather than a bitmap, the resulting files are much smaller. A
fairly complex animation produced with Flash might be only 10K or 20K, whereas a comparable digital
video clip could easily be 10 times that size.
The other feature that distinguishes vector graphics from bitmap graphics is the smoothness of the line.
When viewed with sufficient magnification, bitmap graphics always display telltale stair steps or jaggies,
especially around curves. Vector graphics, on the other hand, are much smoother. In fact, Flash takes special
advantage of this characteristic and enables users to zoom into any movie??”an important effect that
saves a lot of bandwidth when used correctly.
Pages:
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372