Kingsley's Blog: Flash Archives

March 11, 2008

Why Flash Movies Are 1 Pixel Too Small

When you create a 750 pixel wide flash movie, why is it really 749 pixels wide?

Try it for yourself. Create a flash movie of just one frame. Create a 750 pixel wide canvas (400 pixels tall) and make the background green.

Now with the rectangle tool draw, set the stroke color to black and the fill color to red and draw out a rectangle of any size. Now click on the move tool, select all and type in 750 pixels for width and 400 for height. Sounds simple enough, right? Now save and publish this movie, and then preview it in a browser.

Make a screen shot of your movie and open it in photoshop. (On a pc, just hit the print screen button and paste the clipboard into a new Photoshop document. On a mac, press the command key and the shift keys, then press the 3 key.) In Photoshop, use magic wand tool with a tolerance of 0 to select just the red portion of your screen shot. What you find will shock you. The Adobe Flash player version "9,0,115,0" does not render all the pixels you though it would!

Zoom into any of the corners except the top left and you will see that your 1 pixel black stroke is not there! Where did it go?

I don't have the answer for that, but I will ask the Adobe folks to explain. It seems that 750 pixels for the Adobe Flash player is really 749 viewable and render-able pixels. If you want something to show up as 750 pixels by 400 pixels, then you better make your document size 751 by 401.

I came across this bug when I wanted to create flash content that rests next to a CSS border. There was a strange white border showing through where I had placed a flash movie.

****************

This just in (3/19/08) I discovered a parameter that will solve these strange scaling issues within a browser: scale="exactfit"
If you add this parameter, it should scale to the correct size.

Posted by kwillis at 09:50 PM | Comments (0) |

January 25, 2008

Adobe Dreamweaver Templates Killed My Flash Movie!

Do your Dreamweaver templates break your flash movie?

It happened to me and I thought it was an issue with my code. But when I create a new page from the same template suddenly the flash movie works again! Then if I simply add and remove a space - tricking Dreamweaver into thinking I have updated the template - all the pages linked to the template break again. When I say break I mean that the flash movie shows as not loaded locally and remotely when I push the new files to the server.

My theory is that is has something to do with the "AC_RunActiveContent.js" that the insert flash movie command in Dreamweaver forces you to create. It's a nice script because it fixes the IE flash issues among other things. If you know the solution to this issue please comment. I'll make a follow up post once I figure it out.

Posted by kwillis at 12:52 PM | Comments (1) |

November 05, 2007

18 year old Flash Animator Creates Stick Figure Anarchy Animation

I know I said I wasn't going to make posts on anything but my work. I think this is a good exception.
Alan Becker is an 18 year old from Ohio and this is what he created in 3 months using flash or should I say nearly destroying flash.

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviant ART

Posted by kwillis at 12:24 PM | Comments (0) |

July 29, 2007

Flashr - An ActionScript wrapper for the flickr API

In case you wanted more than the Flickr slide show, Flashr allows you to more easily use your Flickr photostream in creative ways in Adobe Flash.

Flashr is an ActionScript 2 wrapper for the Flickr API by Kelvin Luck. It makes it easy to develop Flash applications to display and interact with photos on flickr.com. You do not need to worry about the XML that flickr returns, you deal in sensible objects like Photos, Photosets and Persons.

Flashr - An ActionScript wrapper for the flickr API

Constructr uses this wrapper to create applications like this:

Create your own badgr here:
Mentalaxis > Project:Badgr

Mentalaxis has a long list of other Flickr tools:
Mentalaxis > Flickr tools

Posted by kwillis at 12:33 AM | Comments (0) |

July 09, 2007

Splitting Flash Video (FLV) Files

I have this problem: I have encoded videos with titles at the start that need to be changed. The video that follows is edited perfectly and doesn't need changing. If the videos were in Quicktime format, I would just use Quicktime pro and cut out the old title and then paste in the new title, but it's in Flash Video (FLV) format. Do I really have to go back and re-export and in my case recapture from the original tapes? My hope is that the FLV Splitter will solve this problem.

Until recently (with the FLV Importer For Adobe Premiere) there is no program that can edit flvs. I am curious about something called the FLV Splitter. If it does what it sounds like it does then it might do what I want.

A German site offers some advice:

How do I convert FLV files into other video formats?

Riva FLV Encoder and SUPER are two popular freeware applications capable of converting FLV video. Both are based on ffmpeg and therefore natively support FLV1 but lack support for On2's VP6 codec.
SUPER's capabilites can be extended by installing an FLV DirectShow filter with VP6 support. This will not only provide SUPER with VP6 functions but enhance all video applications that support DirectShow, which opens up endless opportunities such as loading VP6 encoded FLV files into popular open source applications like VirtualDub with the help of AviSynth.

How do I install the FLV DirectShow filter?

Download the packed binary file (build by "Celtic Druid")

Extract the filter file (flvsplitter.ax) from the archive

Copy the file to your "windows/system32" directory

From the Start menu choose "Run" and enter: regsvr32 flvsplitter.ax

If you intend to uninstall the filter at any time run regsvr32 -u flvsplitter.ax and remove the file.

Originally posted here:
Download YouTube & Google Video clips via bookmarklets

Posted by kwillis at 01:53 PM | Comments (0) |

May 29, 2007

Google Maps Street View

So Google just launched this new addition to Google Maps called StreetView that "allows you to quickly and easily view and navigate high-resolution, 360 degree street level images of various cities in the US." If anyone knows how they got all of these photos, please comment.
I'm just waiting for the digital camera that saves your photo with global positioning data in the metadata. Sony has a device you can buy to add onto your existing camera. It looks like this:

It's called the "Sony GPS-CS1" and you and buy it at Adorama.com for $120.

But back to Google, Google maps uses Adobe Flash for the StreetView pop up window within the existing map interface. But that doesn't give us many clues as to how they made this. I searched and searched and all I found was a YouTube video. It's somewhat cheesy but quite an informative video from the
"Official Google Channel":

YouTube - Google Maps Street View

What about MicroSoft Virtual Earth -- cough -- Google Earth--? Check out this screenshot:

Once again Microsoft seems a bit behind the times, but still this seems like a close second to driving a real car.

Posted by kwillis at 11:07 PM | Comments (3) |

May 23, 2007

How to build flash video player embeds in blogs

Video Sharing Sites like Youtube or Google video provide simple HTML code for embedding their video clips in your web pages. But sometimes we want to add raw Flash Video files like SWF animations or FLV [streaming or progressive] which are frequently used by News or media websites.

...Just copy-paste the following HTML snippet in your blog template and replace the height, width and streamName parameters with real values [you can find the video size (dimensions) and URL of the flash video by looking at the HTML source code of the webpage where the video is originally embedded]

<object width="Width in Pixels" height="Height in Pixels" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0"> <param name="salign" value="lt"> <param name="quality" value="high"> <param name="scale" value="noscale"> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"> <param name="movie" value="http://geekfile.googlepages.com/flvplay.swf"> <param name="FlashVars" value="&streamName=FLV_Video_URL&skinName=http://geekfile.googlepages.com/flvskin&autoPlay=true&autoRewind=true"> <embed width="Width in Pixels" height="Height in Pixels" flashvars="&streamName=FLV_Video_URL&autoPlay=true&autoRewind=true&skinName=http://geekfile.googlepages.com/flvskin" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="LT" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://geekfile.googlepages.com/flvplay.swf" wmode="transparent"> </embed></object>

Incase you would like the video to start only when the site visitor hits the play button, replace autoPlay=true with autoPlay=false. Once the video track finishes playing, the cue marker would return to the original position. You can disable this by setting autorewind=false.

Orginal Post:
How to Embed FLV Flash Videos in your Blog ? at Digital Inspiration

Posted by kwillis at 03:13 PM | Comments (0) |

May 17, 2007

How to Track Flash Events with Google Analytics

Here's a good help document on how to track your visitors path through your flash file/site.

Flash Code Examples

on (release) {
// Track with no action
getURL("javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');");
}

on (release) {
//Track with action
getURL("javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');");
_root.gotoAndPlay(3);

myVar = "Flash Track Test"

}

onClipEvent
(enterFrame) {

getURL("javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');");

}

More:
Google Analytics Help Center - How do I track Flash events?

Posted by kwillis at 12:34 PM | Comments (1) |

March 14, 2007

Free Closed Captioning for Flash by NCAM

NCAM has developed a Flash component that can be used to display captions in a Flash video player. These captions are read from external files formatted in the W3C's DFXP format which can be created with MAGpie, NCAM's free captioning application. CC for Flash also imports Apple's QTtext format for use within the application. QTtext files can be created by professional caption authoring tools, or as an output from CaptionKeeper or MAGpie. Any content can display captions in Flash using the CC for Flash component with a QTtext file or a DFXP file.

NCAM/CC for Flash

Posted by kwillis at 04:13 PM | Comments (0) |

March 03, 2007

Smooth Scrollbar in Flash

Here is a tutorial I found at Stilva.com that shows you how to easily make a scrollbar in flash that scrolls smoothly. This tutorial was written in April of 2005 and is missing a few key steps such as: you must export each of the movie clips to be used in action script, also it attaches action script directly to a button which is not the best practice. Best practice, in my opinion, is to have it in one actions layer that is lock and has not elements on it.

Full tutorial: stilva.com | complex simplicity

Posted by kwillis at 08:41 PM | Comments (0) |

February 26, 2007

Creating a Dynamic Playlist for Progressive Flash Video

There's been a strong outcry for an article demonstrating an XML-driven playlist that does not require Macromedia Flash Communication Server. You wanted the flexibility to update your progressive Flash video (FLV) playlists without editing your Macromedia Flash source files. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present VideoSource Pro...

Full Article: Adobe - Developer Center : Creating a Dynamic Playlist for Progressive Flash Video

Posted by kwillis at 06:56 PM | Comments (0) |

February 20, 2007

Embedding Flash and FlashVars

Jeroenwijering.com has written a helpful article on embedding flash in web pages and dealing with flashvars.

"There seems to be a lot of confusion about the code needed to properly embed Flash objects within a website: it's the most frequently asked question at this site's forum. The rise of profiling sites like Myspace (who filter lots of codes) and the recent Eolas patent enforcement have thrown even more confusion into the mix. In this article, I'll try to clearly align the best options for Flash embedment. I'll also mention the most common pitfalls, and their workarounds."

..."Extra Parameters:
1. bgcolor (#rrggbb): set the SWF's background color using a hexadecimal value.
2. menu (true, false): show or hide the rightclick menu.
3. quality (low,medium,high): the rendering quality of the SWF.
4. scale (showall, noborder, exactfit): how the SWF should scale in the HTML block.
5. wmode (transparent, opaque): set the background of the SWF transparent or not."

"Eolas enforced a patent on automatically embedding and interacting with external applications (like Flash) in webpages. As a result, Microsoft updated Internet Explorer: you'll see a grey border appearing around a Flash object when you move your mouse over it. Before interacting with it, you first have to click once to activate it...

...Luckily, there is a way [around it]. It involves a bit of javascripting, and two of these scripts (with essentially the same functionality) are SWFObject (by Geoff Stearns) and UFO (by Bobby van der Sluis)."

For more visit: Embedding Flash

Posted by kwillis at 10:58 PM | Comments (0) |

February 09, 2007

Using Flash Variables

Paul Robertson has put together a nice tutorial about how to use databases with Adobe Flash. Ever wondered what that question mark in URLs is for? Think variables...

Flash and database communication Part 1: Using URL Variables and FlashVars
Posted February 14, 2005 10:56 pm
Filed under: Flash, ActionScript, Articles by Paul, Tutorials

Note: This article is the first in a series which describes how to connect a Flash project with a database, or more generally, how to pull external data into a .swf file playing in the Flash Player. The series introduction contains a list of all the articles.

Flash and database communication Part 1: Using URL Variables and FlashVars, a bunch of Words, punctuated - by Paul Robertson (http://probertson.com/)

Posted by kwillis at 09:37 PM | Comments (0) |

Javascript Flash Player detection and embed script

Embed flash movies and detect versions with this upgrade to the Adobe script.

SWFObject is a small Javascript file used for embedding Macromedia Flash content. The script can detect the Flash plug-in in all major web browsers (on Mac and PC) and is designed to make embedding Flash movies as easy as possible. It is also very search engine friendly, degrades gracefully, can be used in valid HTML and XHTML 1.0 documents*, and is forward compatible, so it should work for years to come.

deconcept › SWFObject: Javascript Flash Player detection and embed script

Posted by kwillis at 09:06 PM | Comments (0) |

February 01, 2007

Skinning Scrollers in Flash 8

This is a big must for one of my projects.

Applying new skins to a subcomponent -- Version 8

Posted by kwillis at 04:48 PM | Comments (0) |

January 16, 2007

ActionScript.org - Simple digital clock

Here is a simple digital clock tutorial I found at ActionScript.org.

Download the FLA from Actionscript.org

This is a pretty simple clock
I find it easiest to put all this in a movie clip, then you can move your clock around the stage wherever you want it...

Read the full tutorial here: Simple digital clock - ActionScript.org Flash, Flex and ActionScript Resources

Posted by kwillis at 12:17 PM | Comments (0) |

January 12, 2007

Embedded Flickr Slideshows

With some simple html code ( a floating frame ) you can add your Flickr photos as a slide show to your web page.

Paul Stamatiou write a helpful "How to quickie" on his blog:

HOW TO Quickie: Embedded Flickr Slideshows, Nov 19, 2005

Dig those flash Flickr slideshows? All that’s needed is a bit of code to embed them within your website to give your readers something dynamic...

Here's the code to add:

More: HOW TO Quickie: Embedded Flickr Slideshows - PaulStamatiou.com

Example:

Posted by kwillis at 06:07 PM | Comments (0) |

December 18, 2006

Gilbert Arenas warming up in the G-Trainer

I just updated the Alter-G site with an image of Gilbert Arenas running in the G-Trainer. I've been told that he uses it for warming up. He sure was hot in his last game against the Lakers on Sunday, when he lit up Kobe's squad for 60 points.
Bear down Arizona!
He went to school at my second favorite Pac-10 school.

The photo was taken by Darren Higgens.

Posted by kwillis at 03:01 PM | Comments (0) |

November 16, 2006

Eltima Software - SWF Live Preview 1.0

It's slow but people are slowing acknowledging my blog as "buzz worthly".

Eltima Software

Some fresh buzz...

Here's just a little recent buzz about SWF Live Preview. Thanks to Lee from TheFlashBlog.com and kwillis from Kingsley's Blog.

http://theflashblog.com/?p=220
http://www.stanford.edu/~kwillis...

We've also posted the first ever screenshot of yet unrevealed SWF Workshop title at the Flash Blog. If you are also interested in some exclusive juicy content, just let me know.

Posted by kwillis at 05:50 PM | Comments (0) |

September 28, 2006

SWF Live Preview 1.0 - Thumbnails of SWFs for Free

Here is a nifty little tool that let's you preview your SWF files. It was quick to install and the UI looks nice. I first heard about this on Lee Brimelow's blog. You can pick a folder to 'scan' for SWFs and depending on your computer and the number of files it does it thing. For me it was actually pretty fast. The best thing about it is that it's free!

SWF Live Preview free, Preview Flash files in Explorer, SWF Thumbnail View

SWF Live Preview 1.0

SWF Live Preview is aimed to help you preview Macromedia Flash files using standard built-in Windows Explorer. Excellent design, easy-to-use interface, powerful features and unique capabilities make SWF Live Preview indispensable application. And it is free of charge! You won't find anything similar!

Once SWF Live Preview is installed you can scan directories and subdirectories for Flash files, create and preview thumbnails for SWF as well as Projector EXE files, fetch information such as Flash version, number of frames, shapes, find out if file is compressed or not etc. With SWF Live Preview you can choose which frame to create thumbnail from, as well as a desired size of preview image. If you remove Flash files from your computer �€“ simply clear cache to save some storage space.

Our product will scan SWF and EXE (Projector EXE) extensions files. Moreover, if you use other our products such as Flash Optimizer or Flash Decompiler you can optimize or decompile Macromedia Flash files correspondingly directly from Properties tab.

SWF Live Preview is a freeware, so go ahead, download it and enjoy expressive thumbnail view for your Flash movies from now on!

Posted by kwillis at 11:44 PM | Comments (4) |

September 23, 2006

Flash Forward Day Four:

So it's the last day of Flash Forward. Today my flash saturation level hit 100% and beyond. By the time the wrap up ended I was exhausted but I, "made out like a bandit" as Lee put it. I won a copy of Studio 8!!! Yay, I'm so so so happy... NOT! I already own it! The other prizes were Lynda.com training DVDs, a X-Box and a video iPod. But I have to win the one thing that I own! It is world $999.00 which is more that the other prizes. Lee was nice enough to give me a copy of Swift 3D that he won, so I'm happy. Respond to this post if you want a copy of Studio 8 for a reduced price-- it's still wrapped!

Ok so there are a lot of exclaimations. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm just excited. What great sessions did I attend today you ask? Well I kicked the day off with Paul Matthaeus' (DIGITALKITCHEN) session entitled "Designer as Auteur: The recontextualized filmmaker." It was really a high level art and film theory talk sprinkled with teasers from Digital Kitchen's great body of commercial ad work.

Craig Swann of CRASH!MEDIA put on a great session using inputs into flash to create music, draw with light, and ring your door bell with online traffic. This fit's in with DJ Mel, whom I met at the Wallup Party, and his record-less turntables as well as with jared Ficklin's Sound visualization session from yesterday. Ed even suggested that we put them all in a room and make them make something during the conference. Another genius to throw in the room could be Jeremy Thorp of blprnt design, who showed our generation's Hal 9000, an evolving design program called Variance (all in flash of course). It like tivo for designers, you put in some perferences like picking a color palette and some representative (vector) images and it goes to town! Then you can choose the best 2 from the 5 variations and create 5 more using those as inputs. This all takes a second. I was blown away!

Another "cool" session was Moses Gunesch's Using Fuse session. I was sure what fuse was good for until Moses showed us his powerful slide show complete with camera zooms and moves that were synced with heavy hitting music. I wanted to learn more so after talking with him afterwards I hope he will let me see a bit of his code.

This is my last Flash Forward post from Austin. Be sure to read on for my informal notes and Links.

Designer as Auteur: The recontextualized filmmaker
Paul Matthaeus, DIGITALKITCHEN

Paul Matthaeus is the founder and Chief Creative of DIGITALKITCHEN.
he was ad adgency art director first

- Auteur = Author

Six Feet Under: (TV Main titles)
- title sequence 4 or 5 visual effects treatments
- music came first (similiar to American Beauty)
- stock images used first
- time lapse flower wilting

- "Reverence is the new irreverence"
- "Reward the consumer for their attention"

- Signature look - metaphor for the intangible
- timbre of the work

- had 8 weeks to complete
- some cases less than 4 weeks

Budwiser ad campaign:
- gestault cue for client
- liquid shot with phantom digital 50,000 fps

- Thesis > Antithesis > Sythesis
- previs > postvis

TV Main titles:
- 90 sec titles
- actors by name only
- no show footage
- Nip Tuck
- Ghost Whispherer
- Path to 9/11

Communications arts article:

8 rules of creative genius
- creative geniuses think productively
- ... look at problems from all possible angles
- detach
- creative geniuses make thoughts visable
camera obscura
not just on the computer
-creative geniuses produce
produce more bad work than lessers
- creative geniuses make novel combinations
- creative geniuses force relationships
- creative geniuses think in opposites
- creative geniuses think metaphorically
- creative geniuses prepares themselves for chance
post vis has as much or more possiblity

Sundance branding:

- Robert Redford is the ultimate auteur
- Collabortive Auteur - this work is far wider than just the solitary auteur
- unified vision
- abundant contribution
- leadership by inclusion
- autocratic director is not a flaw
- Work product = Auteur's POV
- print company created graphics needed to use in motion work

Future:

- trends is "away from tv advertising as the achor medium"
- Brand theater
-story + advertising
-Paul's assistant: ashley@d-kitchen.com
- send email for reel and articles about brand theater

- use temp music track to create an underlying tempo

---

Interactive Imagination: Sight, Sound, and Motion
Craig Swann, CRASH!MEDIA

http://www.crashmedia.com/

Sound:
- mic level and onActivity state

- pull in collage elements based on volume and sentivity slider

Speech Recognition

"Making Things":
- slider
- song speed forward and reverse
- light sensor
- trigger sound
- use light as an ambient quality
- low light = more night sounds high light
- promity sensor
- bender

Phidgets.com:
- RFID or radio freq
- pervasive vs evasive

- walking time lapse
- take pictures of leg
Arduino.cc

IPAC - altimart?
-rethinking the keyboard
-attach to wind chimes
iLock- using ethernet (8 wires)
- turning key triggers events within flash
Crowd control

EtherWatch

Light painter
-magnets - when two touch you know something is happening

---

The Lusciously Delicious Moving Image
Garrett Nantz, Big Spaceship

http://www.garrettnantz.com/
http://www.bigspaceship.com/

create camera shake in AE with motion tracker:
- with his technique create a solid, capture some motion by just moving the solid around a bit
- copy those position keyframes and paste them into the footage
- snyc up the keyframes with the footage (in this case an explosion occurs then the camera shakes)

http://www.nike.com/nikeair/

Creating video loops:
hit the * key creates a marker in AE
set a marker dup layer and drag top layer at reduced opacity
cut off head arms or legs and find matching elements

Morphing: to complete the video loop
- Revision
- http://www.revisionfx.com/
-http://www.revisionfx.com/rflx.htm
- RE:Flex plugin
- draw masks along outlines for guides

Keylight for greenscreen removal comes with AE pro

render with alpha straight is only in alpha

shot at 60 fps so could do speed ramps

shooting items on a turntable: how do you do it?

---

Using Fuse
Moses Gunesch, MosesSupposes.com

http://www.mosessupposes.com
http://osflash.org/fuse

Who is using it?

http://frogdesign.com/ for protyping
http://www.scifi.com
forums I use fuse

"... What amazes me most is its truly scalable design: as you get more competent with the system and as your needs progress, the more you are able to do with it. " - Ben Honda-Rottler, Frog Design

"... Fuse has made creating complex and beautiful looking flash sites a joy." - Billy Fowks, HUGE Inc.

Animated slide show with music and sound hits

Tweens through AS2

"simpleSetup"

---

Finches To Flash: Darwin in Design
Jeremy Thorp, blprnt design

http://blog.flashforwardconference.com/2006/01/20/flashforward-interview-jeremy-thorp/

http://blog.blprnt.com

Variance

Posted by kwillis at 01:24 PM | Comments (2) |

September 13, 2006

Flash Forward Day Three:

Today was a suprising day. After learning some unexpected things about both Flash and Photoshop, went to a Flash Film Festival that lets just say inspired me to submit some of my work. Lee Brimelow assured me a could nominate myself as he had when he won the education category a few Flash Forwards ago. I learned some great time savers for Photoshop in Michael Ninness' Digital Darkroom Techniques session. He started off with a ton of energy and with a caveat that this could be a lot of review for more advanced photoshop users. Early on in the session he shouted, "are you happy to be here?" Most of us forced a tired but interested,"Yeah!" He responded in jest, "Tell your faces that!" Then he preceeeded to dismystify blend modes, administer fast head and sky replacement, and reveal a great and speedy sharpening techique. Now I know what the "high pass" filter is used for!

The Hillman Curtis session was inspirational if only for the fact that he is self taught and a one man band when it comes to video. He showed a powerful protait technique that can allow for a overlying sound montage in his making of Pentagram, a short video on the well known design firm. Did you know he re-designed the new yahoo.com site?

Lee advised me to check out Jared Ficklin's (a colleague from frog design) session on Sound Visualization Using Flash. There a picked up some great tips for a project idea I have. Lee put up a challenge on his blog involving sound visualization in flash.

Read on for my informal notes and links!

Hillman on Video
Hillman Curtis, hillmancurtis, inc.

His first slide read:
sites : films : books

Web design: He uses a 10 pixel gutter... and then it goes 40 10 40 10 to 760
Designed the new yahoo.com
Corporate

Films:

pentagram
Artist Series feature : Pentagram
Description: A documentary on the design firm Pentagram
Client: hillmancurtis, Inc.

http://www.hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/pent.php

uses video portraits and has the people talking in a vo

Make films on people you admire

Artist Series feature : Mark Romanek
Description: A documentary on the director Mark Romanek
Client: hillmancurtis, Inc.

http://www.hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/romanek_v2.php

films on films

7 mins, 5 pages of script, 2 actors

Films on Films Series : Spinal Tap
Description: Online short feature film
Client: hillmancurtis, Inc.

http://www.hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/tap.php

"This [making films] is my hobby. I don't snowboard or anything. This is what I spend my money on." ~HC

---

Digital Darkroom Techniques
Michael Ninness, lynda.com

png 24 into flash goes out as jpg not matter what by default @ 80% can go out by png on a per png basis

flash has no color space control assumes srgb

online training library ps and flash integration

for web only pixels matter bc your aren't printing it. resolution doesn't matter

if you are down sizing use bicubic sharper
change in preferences

hold down the alt key to ignore the dialog boxes

scroll all images with the hand tools

color cast corrector:
color pick what should be gray
use a color's opposite or complement to neutralize it
adjustment layer > custom color filter

to get a colors opposite:
LAB
if A and B are neg make them positive is pos make neg
leave L alone

slide the density slider

control + shift + B = auto color command (doesn't always work)

to get a clipping preview = in the levels dialog hold down alt key as you drag slider to see the darkest or lightest parts depending on which slider you are using

128 = mid tone gray

curves tricks:
rollover image and crontrol click on an area needed it will put a point on the curves
control + I fills mask with black

control + J duplicates layer and jumps it above
alt + control + J allows you to name the layer

remap keyboard shortcuts to create adjustment layers instead of working on the selected layer

advanced blending sliders: dd click on layer

to match two or more images or layers
image > adjustments > match color

blend modes: move tool shift - or shift + will cycle that one
s screen ignnores black makes brighter
m multiply ignores white makes darker
o overlay combo ignores gray makes brighter and darker

press x for exhange to swap colors of brush

to dodge and burn add 50 % gray layer with overlay mode

filter > other > high pass = edge dectection filter
switch to overlay
sharpening is increasing the contrast of edge pixels
alt click on layer mask to get black mask

grain and noise

red green crap [blue]

to channel walk choose: control + ~ [rgb] or 1[r] or 2[g] or 3[b]
steal detail from channel that has
use pin light

---

Sound Visualization Using Flash
Jared Ficklin, frog design

http://www.frogdesign.com/?p=52

Jared showed some great examples of how you visualize sound in flash. All of the examples used pre-recorded mp3 files. I'm hoping that Jared will be a valuable resource on a sound in flash project I am drafting.

The "coolest" example was his automatic crowd cheering aura-enhancer. It was not a visualization per se but it allow one to imagine the song live. As the music got louder and hit certain down beats, the loud cheering sounds would be triggered. When the sound was softer more muted and restrain claps, snaps and cheers would be triggered on down beats.

He also showed a 3d visualizer that had some merit. It would rotate colored spheres and would change color based on amplitute and specturm.

---

The film festival was quite dissappointing to be honest. First off barely any of those nominated were in attendance, which I could understand if you are international, but if you live in the US what is your excuse? What is your employer's excuse for not sending you to pick up you award?

Some categories like the business one had far better "art" than the art category! Does this mean that flash is not being used for art on the web? Or do weak entries in the art category mean that it's a overlooked category and thus a good one to enter? Also does anyone know how to make a good trailer for your flash website? I think the festival should be a celebratation of all the great flash work out there, so I am offering my services for free to do a video trailer for a nominated site in any category. Previous flash forwards, like that in San Francisco had far better videos! as I was discussing with Lee and Ed, perhaps the reason the videos were so bad and didn't well represent the nominated sites was because a, not many sent in videos so at the last minute the Flash Forward team had to hack together a bunch of videos at the last minute. Still no excuse. My services will be free! Perhaps, also they didn't send a video because they weren't even going to come. So sad.

Posted by kwillis at 01:22 PM | Comments (0) |

September 12, 2006

Flash Forward Day Two:

What about day one? Well it was more for beginner types. I spent the day learning about Flex and After Effects. Flex seems more for the code developer types and I'm more of a designer so I'll stick with Flash for now. You can create Flash content with Flex though, which was good to learn about.

Special thanks to Lee Brimelow for this picture.

Day two has been interesting. It started with the Adobe Keynote with Kevin Lynch where we saw sneak peaks of the photoshop importer, the timeline animation to action script animation converter and the faster renderings of action script 3. Other highlights were the Wallop's non-disclosure aggreement required session, going to
Brendan Dawes' Analog In / Digital Out hilarious and inspirational talk, meeting him and having him sign my copy of his book, and David Schroeder's Avoid That Sucking Sound session where I learned how to make a perfect loop.

What follows are my mostly incoherent notes...

Kevin Lynch, Adobe
- AS3
- Flex
-http://www.flex.org/
- Apollo
- html, pdf, flash
- can make a desktop application
- www.adobe.com/go/appollowiki

Big Spaceship
- flash on linix
- nike air site: "more air. more world."
- http://www.bigspaceship.com/
- http://www.motionographer.com/2006/07/26/two-more-envelope-pushers

Justin Everett-Church - traffic cam
- AS3 improvements
- faster particles

Mike Downey
- Flash 9 (due out next year)
- #1 feature request - import psd files into flash
- new jpeg compression engine (same as new PS)
- Timeline animation to AS animation
- "copy motion as AS3"
- "e4x"
- xml structure usable in flex as well
- AS3 Skinable Components - Grant Skinner
- http://labs.adobe.com/

wish-flash@adobe.com - flash team email
Can show states in url of flash by adding a anchor tag
- http://www.klynch.com/

---

Designing for Wallop: A First Look (NDA Required)
Sean Uberoi Kelly, Wallop

http://www.wallop.com/wallop.html
"Wallop.com, a social technology company, is a newly announced member of the Microsoft IP Ventures program. There’s not much on their website, but you might get the impression that Wallop.com, like the box on their page, is just exploding with ideas about social computing. Their site is a tabula rasa, or blank slate, and ideally it will grow with the people who embrace it over time." (from - http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-04-28-n52.html)

Analog In / Digital Out
Brendan Dawes, magneticNorth

I was so thrilled by this session that I went out and bought his book. (Hopefully I can get it signed at 7pm tonight.)
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0321429168.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V59243706_.jpg

http://www.brendandawes.com/

http://www.flashforwardconference.com/sessions?sid=132

Can't scar digital media with narrative elements like tea stains on a magazine about a computer you once wanted to buy.

Twisting the ones and zeros.

Put stuff in house house to define us... should get stuff out of the computer to display. Paintings for songs: animating in as the song plays.

'due to the advanced nature of this website you must have JavaScript enabled to view this site'
"What the fuck is javascript? I came here for a holiday" ~BD

Scratch not just music but anything: video, databases... etcs

http://www.mspinky.com/

"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
Edgar Allan Poe, "Eleonora"
US short story author, editor, & poet (1809 - 1849)

---

The Evolution of Flash Animation: Bedrock Revisited

Sandro Corsaro, Crest Digital

2D animation books:
Preston Wilson

Cold Hard Flash: http://www.coldhardflash.com/
Reporting on the rapidly growing world of Flash animation.

---

Avoid That Sucking Sound

David Schroeder, pilotvibe
http://www.pilotvibe.com/

Bats down by the bridge at 6pm in Austin...

design: reductive process; what fits within the context

create a sonic mission statement for the site

Production order for sound design: 1. music - 2. Voice Over - 3. ambience - 4. nav sounds - 5. sound effects

Music:
- mood over genre; create a singular space; can focus attention; convey abstract things; make us feel
- tempo and complexity

Voice Over:
- Use Pro talent (office under a blanket?)
- One file for one thought (be concise with writing)
- location: constant usable background
- inflection (pay attention to the way sounds end)

Ambience
- completes the picture: extend depth of visuals, tell another part of story (flipping burgers - depressed)
- build loop with layers
- only need sonic cues: don't need every sound in a restuarant for

Nav Sounds
- help user navigate and explore
- create meaning from relationship of sounds (can encourage clicks)
- make sounds share same sonic space

--- Other Random Notes ---
need to program my phone to forward my slides
swift 3d version 4.5 or maya for swf export
Need cases studies
show cool examples and explain how they were done

http://ultrashock.com/
http://www.adobe.com/go/labs_lightroom_download
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flash9as3preview/

Posted by kwillis at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) |

August 17, 2006

Alter-G on Scott Dunlap's "A Trail Runner's Blog"

Yesterday, Scott Dunlap, a triathlon and trail runner, posted his thoughts on his first hand experience training with Alter-G's Anti-Gravity Treadmill.
I just completed major updates on this site today.

Alter-G Anti-Gravity Training - My First Hand Experience

One of the great things about living in Silicon Valley is that. occasionally, you get to be one of the first to see a technology that will clearly change everything. I had just that opportunity last week when the guys from Alter-G invited me to come down and try their anti-gravity treadmill...

Yup, you read it right - an anti-gravity treadmill. After 30 minutes on this thing, I now know why former world-record marathoner Alberto Salazar has been raving about it - Alter-G presents a whole new approach to distance training.

Alter-G Web Site Description:

Alter-G, Inc. The Anti-Gravity Treadmill Company
Alter-G enables any individual to effectively reduce their body weight while
standing, walking or running on a treadmill.
www.Alter-G.com

Posted by kwillis at 03:38 PM | Comments (0) |

August 09, 2006

Alter-G.com version 2.0 launched today!

Alter-G.com version 2.0 launched today!
I finally put the finishing touches on the functionality of the website today. It's now ready for primetime.
There are some informative testimonial videos by Alberto Salazar, Chase Lyman, and coming soon some from the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders.

Alter-G's products control the effect of gravity to improve mobility for fitness and performance applications.

The G-Trainer enables its user to comfortably stand, walk, or run while reducing their effective body weight without impacting normal biomechanics.

By altering the effect of gravity, the G-Trainer enables elite and professional athletes, patients and the average fitness enthusiast to maximize their recovery and workout

Here is a link to the most media intensive page:
Alter-G Inc. - Testimonials

Posted by kwillis at 04:28 PM | Comments (0) |

July 06, 2006

Flash Professional 9 ActionScript 3.0 Preview

So this got lost in all my offline time before and afteer the forth of July:

Flash Professional 9 Released!!!

"Adobe Flash Professional 9 ActionScript 3.0 Preview provides registered users of Flash Professional 8 with early access to the new ActionScript 3.0 language and the ability to publish to the newly-released Flash Player 9. ActionScript 3.0 and the new ActionScript Virtual Machine introduced with Flash Player 9 are among the most signficant advances in the history of Flash. These new advancements, made in Flash Player 9, provide a more robust programming model, achieve standards compliance, and deliver ground-breaking performance improvements."

Posted by kwillis at 04:04 PM | Comments (0) |

June 22, 2006

Sothink SWF Decompiler, Flash Decompiler, SWF To FLA Converter, Recover FLA

A big part of learning flash technique is looking at other websites. Very often the .fla authoring flie is not provided. Sometime one can get a resaponse form a willing web designer but often you have to rely on a good swf decompiler such as Sothink's SWF Decompiler:

Sothink SWF Decompiler, Flash Decompiler, SWF To FLA Converter, Recover FLA

I am considering using this to understand the flash player that camtasia studio exports.

Sothink SWF Decompiler --- Convert SWF to FLA

...browse, play and parse Shockwave Flash movies (swf or exe). SWF Decompiler, which is compatible with ActionScript 2.0 completely, can export every SWF elements such as ActionScripts, sounds, images, videos, shapes, frames, fonts, texts, buttons and sprites in various formats. Can extract the video file from a Flash movie and export it in *.flv format. ...choose to convert the SWF to FLA or only export the elements you like. The recovered FLA can be opened and edited in Flash 6, 7 or Flash 8. Compatible with Flash 8 completely. And Flash components, the 9-slice scaling and text analysis properties are all supported.

To more considerate design, it includes SWF Catcher , an assistant tool to catch Flash movies that you are viewing on a web page in Internet Explorer and Firefox. It will be very convenient to decompile SWF.

Posted by kwillis at 11:16 AM | Comments (0) |

A Flash Video Website on Radiological Anatomy

At this point the interface is still in the works. I have used camtasia on a laptop with a microphone to record high quality screen shots from powerpoint presentations. I added markers so you can skip ahead. The xml config file that camtasia produces allows for a lot of control of both the marker names but also there position in time.

Radiological Anatomy - Lectures by Sakti Srivastava M.D., M.S. - a component of Surgery 209

Posted by kwillis at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) |

May 26, 2006

Flash Plug-in Detection

This page offers some Flash Plug-in Detection code that's 'better' than the default code that comes with the standard publish function.

Flash Plug-in Detection - Public Web Services - Information Resources & Technology (IRT) - Stanford University School of Medicine

IRT also offers a good concise step by step guide to producing flash videos without using Flash (just flash 8 video encoder or Sorenson Squeeze):
http://med.stanford.edu/irt/web/references/flash_video_conversion.html

Posted by kwillis at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) |

May 17, 2006

martijndevisser.com: flash video (FLV) player

Here is a good stand-alone flash video player: martijndevisser.com: FLV Player

Posted by kwillis at 03:15 PM | Comments (0) |

May 11, 2006

Alter-G.com: A flash Website for a Fitness Company

I built this invitation only website for Alter-G, formerly know as Gravus. It features a flash playlist of testimonital videos that I shot, edited and encoded. I also created the flash interface. A re-design is forthcoming and should feature a larger public section.

Welcome to AlterG Products

Posted by kwillis at 09:24 PM | Comments (2) |

May 03, 2006

ABC Shows online in flash player

ABC.com: Full Episode Streaming

Posted by kwillis at 10:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

Miniml Fonts: vector-based pixel font emulations that remain aliased in Flash

For $10 a pop you too can own any of these nice fonts.

fonts

Miniml fonts are vector-based pixel font emulations that are specifically designed to remain aliased in Flash. Aliased fonts improve legibility by having increased contrast, especially at small sizes. To remain crisp, the fonts need to be used according to specific guidelines.

"mono 07_65"

"standard 07_53"

Posted by kwillis at 05:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

April 19, 2006

Converting PowerPoint files to Flash Using the PPT_FLA Template

PowerPoint to Flash Conversion Tools - The PPT2Flash Top20 - Robin Good' Sharewood Tidings

Converting PowerPoint files to Flash Using the PPT_FLA Template
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~kurtis/flash/ppt_fla/
a href="http://dmc.umn.edu/objects/ppt_fla/ppt_fla.shtml">http://dmc.umn.edu/objects/ppt_fla/ppt_fla.shtml

Use this Flash Template file and print these instructions to convert PowerPoint presentations to Flash .swf files in a few easy steps. You'll need to have PowerPoint along with Flash MX to use this template. What you need to know: Rudimentary Flash skills... if you have never used Flash, go to the Help menu and select Tutorials. Choose the Introduction option.

With this tool, PowerPoint transitions and animations are not reproduced in Flash. If you are an experienced Flash developer, you can use this template as a starting place and add Flash animations to the presentation.

Download: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~kurtis/flash/ppt_fla/ppt_fla.fla [.fla file]

~Excerpted from http://www.masternewmedia.org

Posted by kwillis at 04:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

OpenOffice.org: convert PowerPoint files into Flash files

OpenOffice.org

Can convert any of its files including PowerPoint files into Flash files. It's free and has great tool for direct conversion of PowerPoint files to .swf files. You only have to import PowerPoint file to OpenOffice and then export presentation to .swf file. Transitions and animations are not supported.

Price: Free

~Excerpted from http://www.masternewmedia.org

Posted by kwillis at 04:20 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack |

PowerPoint to Flash Conversion Tools - The PPT2Flash Top20

"Why Would You Ever Want to Convert a Powerpoint Presentation into a Flash File?

Here is a detailed list of the key advantages for converting a PowerPoint presentation into a Flash file. No matter what your final goal is, a Flash-based presentation goes a long way in making your content easily accessible and distributable..."

Continue Reading Here: PowerPoint to Flash Conversion Tools - The PPT2Flash Top20 - Robin Good' Sharewood Tidings

Posted by kwillis at 04:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

April 17, 2006

How'd they do that? ESPN Gamecast using Flash

I have looked high and low for information on how ESPN Gamecast works. I guess it's a well kept secret. If anyone has any good links to an explanation or how to or behind the scenes I'd love that comment.

About GameCast: http://espn.go.com/mlb/today/aboutGamecast.html

What's It Like to Work at . . . ESPN.com - Computerworld

We'll be doing some big enhancements to the gamecast applications - adding multimedia, streaming video, interactivity, maybe an instant-messaging component and real-time notification that alerts you when someone hits a home run. Wireless is also a big initiative now - to extend our content and gamecasts to the wireless base. Scores are already available on wireless, but you'll be able to make fantasy football trades, and some gamecast applications will be available."

Posted by kwillis at 06:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

April 15, 2006

Flash FishEye Menu

This is facinating. This is a list item that when the number of items exceeds available heigh, the fish eye distortion becomes active and one can see the item you rollover in full frame. It's hard to describe. Check out Sam Wan's example:

FisheyeMenuDemo

Here are his comments:

OVERVIEW
This implementation of the fisheye menu extends the FSelectableList component class. The Flash-based fisheye menu takes advantage of the natural vector scalability found in the SWF format, and adopts Macromedia UI Component techniques for quick development time and optimized run-time performance.

This implementation of the fisheye menu extends the FSelectableList component class. The Flash-based fisheye menu takes advantage of the natural vector scalability found in the SWF format, and adopts Macromedia UI Component techniques for quick development time and optimized run-time performance. The vertical distribution of menu items is based on the Sarkar-Brown distortion function. Menu items above the focus index are distributed with an inverted Sarkar-Brown function, and items below the focus index are distorted with a non-inverted function. Focus spanning is based on the design patterns found in Ben Bederson's Swing-based Java source code(http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/fisheyemenu/).

The fisheye menu is identical to the listbox component in every way, except for the vertical distribution of items. The fisheye menu supports all of the APIs, selection, multi-selection, and event-handling features found in the original Macromedia FListBox component. Four additional component parameters allow the user to customize the fisheye distortion effect:

COMPONENT PARAMETERS

Focus Length - Number of menu items shown at full size near the mouse cursor
Distortion - Degree of distortion in the Sarkar-Brown distortion function.(Any integer greater than 0)

Max Size - Maximum height of a focused menu item

Highlight Border - Border color of the item under the mouse cursor.

Posted by kwillis at 02:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

Export XML from Excel

Arg! I wish I found this when I was working on the Stanford ArtsGuide! Darn. Great tip from Samuel Wan's blog.

Samuel Wan : News, Information and Resources: Flash Resources Archives

"The easiest way I've found to export "Flash Developer-Friendly" (tm) XML from an Excel spreadsheet is to import the spreadsheet into Access, and then export the table or query from Access into XML. This is assuming that the first row in your Excel spreadsheet contains column headers."

Posted by kwillis at 01:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

Flashmagazine.com: Vector Based Creation Tools

About Flashmagazine - Flashmagazine

"Our vision for Flashmagazine is to become the best place to get information on Macromedia's Flash, Adobe LiveMotion, Swift3D, Swish and other Vector based products for the web."

Posted by kwillis at 01:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

Blog Treemap Visualizer

Samuel Wan : News, Information and Resources: Blog Treemap Visualizer

If you can create this should you be a designer? Where does the line between desingers and coders begin and end. Seems like these days you need to know more code than ever. I'm fine with learning that coded but it's not a natural way to create anything. For me it's like trying to write a novel in a language you are not fluent in.

http://samuelwan.com/downloads/treemap/Sample_Treemap_Renderer.html

Posted by kwillis at 01:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

April 13, 2006

Skinning the Tree Componet

After seeing Lee Brimelow's Tree component Tutorial on GoToAndLearn.com, I got the idea of skinning it and using it in my blog to control the categories a little better. Hopefully, I can figure out how to get Flash, Movable Type and my web server all to play nicely together. Below is an article from Adobe/Marcomedia explaining skinning.

Customizing the UIScrollBar component

Using skins with the UIScrollBar component

"The UIScrollBar component uses 13 skins for the track, scroll box (thumb), and buttons. To customize these skin elements, edit the symbols in the Flash UI Components 2/Themes/MMDefault/ScrollBar Assets/States folder. For more information, see About skinning components."

Posted by kwillis at 12:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack |

April 11, 2006

Anatomy of Movement: Flash Website

Anatomy of Movement - Ortho 222 [27]

I created this site for the 2006 winter quarter. There are 4 user groups I focused on: Current and Potential Students, Collaborators, and Community or Donors.
The site is flash player 7 compliant.

Posted by kwillis at 12:19 PM | Comments (0) |

April 03, 2006

Flash Video Exporter

Flash Video Exporter
Flash Video Exporter is included with Flash MX 2004 Professional version 7.2 (Ellipsis), both on the CD and in the downloadable version. However, if you updated to version 7.2, you should download the latest version of Flash Video Expote

Posted by kwillis at 03:02 PM | Comments (0) |

March 28, 2006

Wana do a Flash Tutorial?

I've got a few ideas... so keep an eye out.

gotoAndLearn() :: View topic - Here's How We'll Start

The first thing that I think we should do is to have anyone willing to record a tutorial, do it and post a link to it here. First of all it will good to have the tutorial, even if it doesn't go on the gotoAndLearn() site. Secondly, we can decide if the quality is good enough.

So for tutorials to go into the gotoAndLearn() site, they need to meet the following requirements:

1) Be 640x480 FLV files
2) English language
3) Have a splash screen like on my tutorials with the title and your name
4) Needs to be recorded at 5 fps

That's pretty much it. Post your tutorials in any format and we can worry about making the FLV later. But if you want to create the FLV great.

As for the tools, on a PC use Camtasia and on a Mac use Snapz Pro. All the other tools are inferior.

I can't wait to see some Smile
Lee

Posted by kwillis at 12:06 PM | Comments (0) |

March 23, 2006

flashUsersGroup.org

What is this User Group??? Find out here: flashUsersGroup.org :: About Us

The Flash Users Group is a non-profit organization that provides a forum of support and education in web development, multimedia and graphics design. The Flash UG provides opportunities to learn, mentor, teach, increase skills, job exchange and network. Anyone is welcome to become a member. We meet online on the second Thursday of each month, unless otherwise announced.

Posted by kwillis at 09:57 PM | Comments (0) |

March 22, 2006

2006 Sundance Short Films on Flash Video

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL - Flash Player Installation

Experience exclusive selections from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival collection of Short Films. Free from anywhere in the world!

Posted by kwillis at 07:43 PM | Comments (0) |

March 21, 2006

ArtsGuide is being shipped today

3500 cds are being sent today from NJ (Discmakers) to the Stanford Admissions office! Want to see what's on the cd???
Look here:
***UPDATED 1/24/08***
You cannot see the 2006 ArtsGuide online any longer. This is the 2007 version:
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/artsguide/
The 2008 version is now being developed and will ship in March 2008.

Posted by kwillis at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) |

March 20, 2006

This Flash Video Player allows jpeg poster frame

From Forest: "SWF file passed flv file name and displays a JPEG as poster frame..."

Flash Video Player

"The Flash Video (FLV) Player can be used standalone, without the need for Flash MX 2004. The player allows you to show your videos more controlled and to a broader audience as with Quicktime, Windows Media or Real Media. if you do work with Flash MX 2004, this player is also smaller and easier to adjust than the components that accompany Flash."

Posted by kwillis at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) |

March 14, 2006

Ooo Fades, Photos, XML, Flash Ahhh

Here's a tutorial I found that allows you to create slideshow that dissolves between photos with captions.

kirupa.com - Photo Slideshow Using XML and Flash
by kirupa | 28 December 2004

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a slideshow that loads image data from an XML file. While I will explain the new concepts and code used in making the slideshow, you must understand how my earlier photo gallery explained in the xml photo gallery tutorial works.

Posted by kwillis at 02:18 PM | Comments (0) |

March 13, 2006

Flash Forward 2006 Seattle Festival Winners

Check out this link for Flashforward Blog � Blog Archive � FF06 Seattle Festival Winners!

I'm thinking of nominating the ArtsGuide... Hard to nominate yourself though.

Posted by kwillis at 01:04 PM | Comments (0) |

March 09, 2006

Burn multiplatform CD on PC

This tutorial will show you how to burn a multiplatform CD by using only a Windows PC.

Flash Projector Burn CDs for both PC and MAC from your Windows PC Tutorial

For Flash versions: Flash 4, Flash 5, and Flash MX projector files.
Software needed: CDEveryWhere; Adaptec Easy CD Creator (other CD burner software may work too.)

Posted by kwillis at 01:26 AM | Comments (0) |

March 08, 2006

eXeScope - modify flash projectors

eXeScope 6.41 Free Download - Softpedia

eXeScope 6.41 - FREE DOWNLOAD
Category: C: \ Programming \ File Editors

Do you want to customize an application ? For example,to change font, to change menu, to change an arrangement of dialog,etc., but do you think that it is impossible because you have not source files ? eXeScope can analyze, display various information, and rewrite resources of executable files, that is, EXE, DLL, OCX, etc. without source files. Features:... [ read more about eXeScope >> ]

Posted by kwillis at 09:36 PM | Comments (0) |

I've been Tutorialized!

A ton of ads but some good basic tutorials, like this one:

Flash Projector Manipulating Flash Projector Files Tutorial

Posted by kwillis at 09:04 PM | Comments (0) |

Controlling Projectors

A good help page on what you can do with projectors. I'm tryng to make the Arts Guide go fullscreen... ooo aah...

Using the fscommand() function -- Version 8

Posted by kwillis at 07:19 PM | Comments (0) |

Autorun - Autoplay... sound fun? It's NOT!

The headache contiunes...

Macromedia - Director TechNote : Creating an AutoRun CD

The AutoRun feature

AutoRun is a feature that can be implemented when the CD is burned. Note that the AutoRun feature can be disabled on each individual system, in which case an AutoRun-enabled CD will not automatically launch. On Macintosh systems, the AutoRun feature (called AutoPlay) can be accessed through the QuickTime Settings control panel. For more information about disabling the AutoRun feature on Macintosh and Windows systems refer to the following articles on Microsoft's and Apple's Web sites:

* How to Enable or Disable Automatically Running CD-ROMs
* Configuring QuickTime for the Mac OS

AutoPlay on Macintosh OSX

The AutoPlay feature was silently dropped under Mac OS X. For usability purposes, a readme file can be added to a CD's root folder to instruct the user about what to do. Many Macintosh resources recommend this for OSX as well System 9.

A number of workarounds to enable AutoPlay on OSX have been posted on various online resources. For supported procedures regarding the AutoPlay feature, check the Macintosh Developer website.

Posted by kwillis at 10:49 AM | Comments (0) |

March 06, 2006

Flash Video Comparison Tool

I heard about this through Stanford's Video Multimedia Group (VMG). Seems like a good comparison tool.

Flash Video FAQ

"What Flash video encoding solution is the best? You be the judge..."

Posted by kwillis at 11:20 AM | Comments (0) |

March 03, 2006

Login for Flash

I'd like to try this for me move.stanford.edu site

This sample shows how to add simple login functionality to your websites using ActionScript 2.0. The sample uses ActionScript and components to create a small form in which you enter a user name and password and then click a button to enter a site.

You can find the sample source file, login.fla, in the Samples folder on your hard disk.

* In Windows, browse to boot drive\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8\Samples and Tutorials\Samples\ActionScript\Login.
* On the Macintosh, browse to Macintosh HD/Applications/Macromedia Flash 8/Samples and Tutorials/Samples/ActionScript/Login.

Posted by kwillis at 07:25 PM | Comments (0) |

February 28, 2006

Flash Projectors

Preparing Flash Video, Audio and other .SWF Files for CD Rom Projects - On2 Technologies

Posted by kwillis at 01:36 AM | Comments (1) |

February 27, 2006

How to control a sound with actionscript

Actionscript.org - how to control a sound with actionscript

Posted by kwillis at 08:57 PM | Comments (0) |

February 13, 2006

More From Stefan: a flash video tutorial on Generating thumbnail previews

This tutorial has opened some doors for me on my DVD project of the Stanford Arts Guide.

Generating thumbnail previews using progressive flvs:
Flashcomguru.com - A community and resource on Flash Communication Server

Posted by kwillis at 05:04 PM | Comments (0) |

Stefan from Flashmediaguru.com

I just met (over email) Stefan today over one of my blog postings. Apparently he know's Lee, who works with me. This flash world IS small (for now.)

I've since been told that Stephan is the guru of Flash Media Server and runs the site at Flashcomguru.com - A community and resource on Flash Communication Server
Seems like there is some good flash info and tutorials on this site.

Posted by kwillis at 03:54 PM | Comments (0) |

February 07, 2006

Lee's Full Browser Flash Tutorial

Links from Lee's Tutorial "Full Full Browser Flash"
Scalable Patterns: squidfingers.com

Posted by kwillis at 01:06 PM | Comments (0) |

January 27, 2006

Macromedia - Flash Exchange

Some good add ons here:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?view=sn110

Video Control, V1.3:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/exchange/...

Posted by kwillis at 06:12 PM | Comments (0) |

January 01, 2006

Building an Interactive Portfolio in Flash

I found this on the flash forward blog as well: "Interview with Chris Orwig - Building an Interactive Portfolio in Flash
http://blog.flashforwardconference.com/2005/12/13/audio-interview-chris-orwig/
It an audio interview that you can download to your ipod or just play straight from the blog.

Posted by kwillis at 05:18 AM | Comments (0) |

December 06, 2005

FLVParser - a tool to split Flash Videos files

So Lee Brimelow told me about this tool called "FLVParser.exe" - a command-line tool to split FLVs (flash video files) into pieces. This blog link explains more:

http://www.peldi.com/blog/archives/2005/09/flvparserexe_a.html

Update: It appears that "www.peldi.com/blog is no more." Try this instead: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jcwrubel/FLVParser.zip
More info: http://forum.flashvacuum.com/...

For some reason this entry gives me more spam than any other!!! If anyone can tell me why I'd be grateful.

Posted by kwillis at 12:04 PM | Comments (19) |