PDF (adobe.com)

Tag text for export to Flash

You can export text from Illustrator to Adobe Flash in a variety of ways. You can export text as a static, dynamic, or input text. Dynamic text also allows you to specify a URL for the site that will open when a user clicks the text. For more information about dynamic and input text, see Flash Help.

Flash text can contain point text, area text, or text on a path; all text is converted to area text in SWF format. Bounding boxes remain the same and any transformations applied to them are preserved in SWF format. Threaded text objects are exported individually —if you want to tag and export all objects in a thread, make sure that you select and tag each one. Overflow text is imported into Flash Player intact.

Once you tag text, you can import it into Flash by either exporting the text from Illustrator or copying and pasting the text.

For a video on using text effectively between Illustrator and Flash, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0199.

Note: Tagging or untagging text does not change the original text in Illustrator. You can change the tag at anytime without altering the original.
  1. Select a text object and click Flash Text in the Control panel.
  2. In the Flash Text panel, select one of the following from the Type menu:
    Static Text
    Exports text to Flash Player as a regular text object that cannot be changed dynamically or programatically in Flash. The content and appearance of static text are determined when you author the text.

    Dynamic Text
    Exports the text as Dynamic text, which can update programatically at run time through Action script commands and tags. You can use dynamic text for sports scores, stock quotes, news headlines, and similar purposes in which you want the text to update dynamically.

    Input Text
    Exports the text as Input text, which is the same as Dynamic text, but also allows users to edit the text in Flash Player. You use input text for forms, surveys, or other similar purposes in which you want users to input or edit text.

  3. (Optional) Enter an instance name for the text object. If you do not enter an instance name, the default name of the text object in the Layers panel is used in Flash to manipulate the text object.
  4. Specify a Rendering Type. The Use Device Fonts option converts glyphs to device fonts (anti-aliasing is not available for device fonts).
    Note: Font names are normally used verbatim and passed directly to the playback platform’s font system to locate the font. However, there are several special indirect font names that are mapped to different font names depending on the playback platform. These indirect mappings are hard-coded into each platform-specific port of Flash Player, and the fonts for each platform are chosen from among system default fonts or other fonts that are likely to be available. As a secondary consideration, the indirect mappings are specified to maximize the similarity of indirect fonts across platforms.
    Animation
    Optimizes text for output to animation.

    Readability
    Optimizes text for readability.

    Custom
    Lets you specify custom values for Thickness and Sharpness of text.

    Use Device Fonts
    Converts glyphs to device fonts. Anti-aliasing is not available for device fonts.

    _sans, _serif, and _typewriter
    Map western indirect fonts across platforms to ensure a similar appearance.

    Gothic, Tohaba (Gothic Mono), and Mincho
    Map Japanese indirect fonts across platforms to ensure a similar appearance.

    Note: For more information on indirect fonts, see the Flash specification document, which you can find on Adobe.com.
  5. (Optional) Select any of the following:
    Selectable 
    Makes the exported text selectable in Flash.

    Show Border Around Text 
    Makes the text borders visible in Flash.

    Edit Character Options 
    Opens the Character Embedding dialog box so that you can embed specific characters in the text object. You can choose the characters you want to embed from the provided list, type the characters in the Include These Characters text box, click Auto Fill to automatically select characters that need to be embedded, or do any combination of these.

  6. (Optional) If you tagged the text as Dynamic text, you can specify the URL of the page you want to open when the text is clicked, and then choose a target window to specify where you want to load the page:
    _self
    Specifies the current frame in the current window.

    _blank
    Specifies a new window.

    _parent
    Specifies the parent of the current frame.

    _top
    Specifies the top-level frame in the current window.

  7. If you tagged the text as Input Text, specify the Maximum Characters that can be typed into the text object.
Once you tag text as Flash text, you can select all such text at once by choosing Select > Object > Flash Dynamic Text or Flash Input Text.