Working with filters – Adobe Flash Professional CC 2014 v.13.0 User Manual
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created. Adobe® recommends that you apply a limited number of filters to a given object.
Each filter includes controls that let you adjust the strength and quality of the applied filter. Using lower settings improves performance on slower
computers. If you are creating content for playback on a wide range of computers, or are unsure of the computing power available to your
audience, set the quality level to Low to maximize playback performance.
About Pixel Bender filters
Adobe Pixel Bender™ is a programming language developed by Adobe that allows users to create custom filters, effects, and blend modes for use
in Flash and After Effects. Pixel Bender is hardware independent and designed to run efficiently on a variety of GPU and CPU architectures
automatically.
Pixel Bender developers create filters by writing Pixel Bender code and saving the code in a text file with the file extension pbj. Once written, a
Pixel Bender filter can be used by any Flash document. Use ActionScript® 3.0 to load the filter and use its controls.
For more information about working with Pixel Bender in ActionScript, see
.
Lee Brimelow has posted several helpful Pixel Bender examples on his blog at
.
The following video tutorials demonstrate the use of Pixel Bender filters in Flash Pro:
Working with filters
Enhanced in Flash Professional CC
Each time you add a new filter to an object, it is added to the list of applied filters for that object in the Property inspector. You can apply multiple
filters to an object, as well as remove filters that were previously applied. You can apply filters only to text, button, movie clip, components, and
compiled clips objects.
You can create a filter settings library that lets you easily apply the same filter or sets of filters to an object. Flash Pro stores the filter presets you
create in the Filters section of the Property inspector in the Filters > Presets menu.
With Flash Professional CS6 and earlier versions, applying filters was restricted to movie clip and button symbols only. With Flash Professional
CC, you can now additionally apply Filters to Compiled Clips and Movie Clip components. This allows you to add various effects to components
directly, at the click of a button (or two), making your applications look that much better. With Flash Pro CS6, to add filters or other effects to
components, one had to “wrap” it inside a movie clip symbol. That is:
1. Create or add a component on stage.
2. Right click on the component, and select Convert to Symbol.
With Flash Professional CS6 (and earlier versions), you could add filters or various other kinds of effects after wrapping the component inside a
symbol. However, this was only a workaround, and not a suggested best practice.
With Flash Professional CC, you could add various filters to components by directly using the Filters, Color Effects, and Display Settings options
available on the Properties Panel. To understand this key enhancement better, consider the following example:
Adding Bevel filter to a Button component
1. Create or add a Button on stage from the Components Panel, and select the Button subsequently.
2. On the Properties Panel, click the
button drop-down list in the Filters section and select Bevel filter. Properties and Values for the Bevel
filter are displayed.
3. Modify or set appropriate values for any desired Property. For example, Blur X, Blur Y, Strength, Shadow, etc. You will notice the effects
reflecting on the selected button simultaneously.
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