Illustrator Artwork in Flash

Flash Import Menu

During a previous project I lived through the horror of importing Illustrator CS2 documents into Flash 8. As you can see from the project, it contained a lot of gradients, and at the time, Flash would not accept gradients from Illustrator. Two years ago I was forced to redraw a shape in Flash if it contained a gradient. For a detailed illustration you might have hundreds of shapes, and redrawing them all is a nightmare.

Now that Adobe owns Flash, their compatibility in CS3 is greatly improved. This works as long as you use the AI import function from Flash (File>Import). Some of the older methods of transferring artwork to Flash, like exporting a SWF from Illustrator, still yields Flash 8 type results.

In a current project I am using the AI import function frequently and have found a few things that Flash doesn't like. I've looked around for a document from Adobe, or even a blog post, that outlines what techniques in Illustrator CS3 are not compatible with Flash. Adobe does tell us a few things that will work, but what I need is a list of common Illustrator techniques to avoid. I'd like to be able to give this information to the artist that I'm working with on the project. I've haven't seen any information posted about this, so I'll start a running list here. If anyone knows of any other lists, or have items to contribute, please post a comment.

Elements of Illustrator that are not compatible with Flash:
  • All Illustrator "Effects"
  • Dashed Strokes (Though they show up as rounded shapes)
  • Blends (Will create millions of little shapes, which hog memory)

Comments

#1 Reilly on February 16, 2008 5:21 AM

Thanks! I didn't even know you could import illustrator files into flash!

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Dec
04
2007

1 Comments