Slow loading of SWF file

.... where do I start?

[austtr]

I've started dabbling with Flash... just a simple 3 image arrangement with fade in/fade out effects as a learning exercise.

I bought a cheap software package from CoffeeCup to create the swf file which is placed into a cell on the htm page.

It works just fine.... except that the swf is slow to open. It takes a couple of seconds for the first image to render. I have seen some similar Flash arrangements that use images much larger than mine that load very quickly.

What is the trick?

a) compressing the images for minimum file size?
b) are there such things as SWF preloaders & do I need one?
c) does the software used to create the SFW have an effect on the efficiency of the finished result?

Any comments/suggestion appreciated.

[alias]

there are numerous ways of creating an image fading application using flash. it looks like your CoffeeCup is using a slow approach of some kind. we should decompile the generated swf to see how they're doing it.

the way to solve it - preload all the images into flash and then display them - but it would take some loading time. or preload at least the first image.

another place where the application might lag - an unoptimized way to change the alpha of the fading image. they're probably doing it using the onEnterFrame cycle. I'd do it using ActionScript Tweens.

and so on.

M.