loading external jpegs

[Flashoid]

Load time/methodology question. Drawing/recreating a web screen vs doing a screen capture of the web screen and displaying it as a jpeg in flash via an external folder)

Does loading external jpegs actually work as a better alternative (load faster - and obviously must faster to do then redrawing in flash) to just drawing the same element inside flash vs viewing an external jpeg? for example, if you have a web screen you want to display in flash is it better to just do a screen capture and save it as a jpeg and then code the flash movie to just display this jpeg from an external folder or is it better to draw that same web screen inside flash (which keeps it as a vector based file rather importing raster based jpeg files)? thoughts?

 

[apatterno]

It depends. For example, you can download a vector-based circle a lot faster than a bitmap circle.

But for photographic images, they can't really be broken into vectors, so loading JPEGs is the way to go.

By the way: I'm not sure what a "web screen" is.

_{I REALLY hope that helps.}
Will

 

[Flashoid]

Sorry about my description. The project is to take a web site page, like say the USA today home page and bring that into flash and then create an elearning with the USA today screen as one of the screens in the elearning. Is it a better route to try to screen capture the USA today web page and save as jpeg and display in flash by coding it so it displays it from an external folder or is it better to try to draw/recreate the USA today web page in flash (so you have it as a vector based image rather than a jpeg being pulled from an external folder and just being displayed). Would the viewers browser still bog down on displaying a jpeg vs loading a much smaller vector file? I guess I'm wondering if loading a jpeg via external folder is better then drawing the same screen in flash?

 

[apatterno]

Well if you "re-draw" a web site layout in Flash, it will probably not look the same as the original. I would just make a JPEG file... perhaps scale it down to 80% or so in Photoshop (or your favorite imageeditor), and add a progress bar to the movie so that people don't get impatient.

_{I REALLY hope that helps.}
Will

 

[tviman]

Depending on how much of the USA Today page you want, it's going to depend on 2 things. 1 - if you want it "really" close to the original, you'd better do a screen capture. Half of the logo image is a FLASH movie co you're goint to have trouble recreating that part as well as the photo images that are part of the dymanic page. 2 - if you have a lot of time, (and money), you could probably get a better look by redrawing it all.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!

 

[Flashoid]

Won't loading jpegs really bog down a viewer's pc (even assuming you reduce it significantly its size in imageready or photoshop)? I realize that the time required to complete the project by just using a screen capture is much shorter then attempting to recreate/redraw that same page in flash, but won't you have the issue of load times which is why you may draw all or parts of the screen? Has anyone attempted using screen captures which are displayed via an external folder rather than drawing all or part of a particular web page in flash?

 

[apatterno]

A 640x480 JPEG with quality=50 takes about eleven seconds to download with 56K dialup. If this is acceptable for you, go for it.

_{I REALLY hope that helps.}
Will