Friday, January 16, 2009

Batch output InDesign files to Flash

I've been working quite a bit with InDesign CS4's ability to export to Flash format. CS4 can export page to SWF files (completed, "compiled" Flash files ready to put on a Web site), and XFL files. XFL files can be opened in Adobe Flash CS4 Professional for further editing and animation before being published as SWF files.

I was pleased to see that the latest version of BatchOutput now supports SWF output. BatchOutput is a slick utility (Macintosh only) that automates printing and exporting multiple InDesign files to PDF, PS, EPS, JPEG and SWF formats.

Zevrix Solutions plans to add support for the XFL format to BatchOutput "really soon" in a future release.

2 comments:

Jason said...

I gave the export to Flash a quick try and it made the file size rather large. Do you know if there's any way to control that? I had my normal high resolution imagery linked in InDesign. If link in 72dpi images do you know if that would make the file size smaller?

Keith Gilbert said...

Jason, no, replacing your images with 72ppi images shouldn't make a difference. From the InDesign User Guide: "InDesign automatically converts high-resolution print assets to low-resolution web assets upon export to SWF or XFL."