Flash glossary: Sprite sheet
A sprite sheet is a single bitmap image containing multiple frames of one or more animations and symbols, with a separate data file that contains all of the coordinates of each of the frames within the bitmap (see Figure 1). By using sprite sheets game developers can improve download performance by simply making one HTTP request for a bitmap and then using the coordinates in the data file to show the desired frame. Playback performance is also improved because animations don't have to load each vector movie clip into memory at runtime.
Sprite sheets are available natively in Flash Professional CS6 and can be used to generate multi-frame animations from one or more symbols. Sprite sheets can be implemented in ActionScript using the Starling framework, or they can be implemented in HTML 5 and other environments using the output data format options (see Figure 2).
To use this feature, follow these steps:
- Select one or more movie clip, button, or graphic symbols in the Library or on the Stage.
- Right click on the symbol or instance and choose Generate Sprite Sheet from the context menu.
- In the Generate Sprite Sheet dialog box, select your output and data format options and click Export to publish the sprite sheet and data file.
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