FLASH Type - Part I
© Umais Ahmad
The only tool remaining is the Text tool. It is also a part of FLASH Drawing but we are discussing it here separately.
Font
A font is a collection of alphanumeric characters in a particular design. It has certain attributes like font face (family), size, color and style, etc. In the right bottom area of the screen there is a launcher bar. It contains shortcuts to different Panels. Click Show Character button in the launcher bar. A window will open with three panels namely Character, Paragraph and Text Options. Under Character panel, there is a pull down menu showing different installed fonts. The first three of them _sans, _serif and _typewriter are collectively called Device Fonts and the remaining are embedded fonts.
To understand embedded and device fonts, we need to first study overall process of Flash movie creation. First of all we create an editable file in Flash saved with extension .FLA. After that we export this file into a .SWF movie file to be played in the Flash player.
Embedded Fonts
Embedded Fonts are so called because when we use embedded fonts, Flash embeds font information in the .SWF movie file. Some embedded fonts do not display properly when .SWF file is exported. To ensure that a font will display properly or not, click View > Antialias Text. Rough type will indicate that Flash has not recognized a font and will not display it properly in the exported movie.
Device Fonts
On the other hand, Device Fonts do not embed in the .SWF file. Rather Flash uses whatever font available on the local (remote) computer that resembles most closely to the device font. _sans font cover fonts like Arial and Helvetica, _serif font cover fonts like Times Roman and _typewriter font cover fonts like courier. As device fonts are not embedded in the Flash movie, using device fonts yield a somewhat lower file size. Also device fonts are sharper and readable than embedded fonts at size below 10 points. If no font on the local computer matches the device font then the result may be different from the user expectations. To use a device font, choose one of the above-mentioned three fonts and select Use Device Fonts under Text Options panel.
Click Text Tool. Under the Character panel, choose _serif font from the pull down menu and select Use Device Fonts under Text Options panel. Click on the stage and type "PAKISTAN". Now the Flash will automatically use Times New Roman font if installed because it is closest to _serif. Click Control > Test Movie to see how it looks in the exported .SWF movie.
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