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Thread: Many questions to ask before tackling project

  1. #1
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    Many questions to ask before tackling project

    Well seeing as I find this the most informative place to learn about Flash on the net I decided I would seek out the help of some of you regarding an upcoming project I will be doing.

    The current plan in place is to design a menu board for a local donut shop. Instead of the typical menu boards you would see at places like McDonalds this will be done with 4 LCD's. The person Im working for would like to see the menus done in Flash (if possible) so there can be a little bit of animation on the menu instead of just seing a static menu all the time.

    The questions I have are these

    Im under the assumption this can be done (if not someone please correct me or tell me a better method). Basically what will happen is as soon as the computer boots up there should be a command that launches each seperate section of the menu (hopefully to each different screen).

    Is projecter the way to work with this and more importantly has anyone ever done something like this? If so please drop me a line as Im trying to do some research for this.

  2. #2
    Our company has done a number of multi screen presentations in Director, but Flash should work as well. I assume the 4 screens are connected to 1 computer. I don't know if you can launch 4 fullscreen flash projectors, each on its own screen.
    We always create 1 projector the size of 4 screens e.g. 3200x600 pixels. When you run the projector, the image will be stretched over the 4 screens and each screen will display a 800x600 portion of the total movie.
    To have 4 different menus, you can create 4 800x600 swf movies, load them in the projector and place the 1st swf at point (0, 0), the 2nd swf at point(800,0), the 3rd at point(1600, 0) and the 4th at point(2400, 0). This way you can develop your menus seperately at a 800x600 size. This will work a lot easier than trying to work in a 3200x600 movie.
    I don't know if the size of a flash movie is limited though. I have only multi screen experience in Director.

  3. #3
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    Oh Ok thanks a lot. Your right in assuming the four screens will be connected to one computer, probably be using a Matrox (or similar) quad support card for this. The screens have a pivot on them and they want that changed so Ill probably end up designing them 600 by 800 instead.

    This may sound like a dumb question but Ive figured how to export flash movies as exe's (projector) but how would I load these four seperate SWF's into one like you mentioned?

  4. #4
    with the loadMovie() command.
    The easiest way is to put 4 placeholder movieclips in your projector at the size and position of your 4 menus. Then replace the placeholder movieclips with:
    mcPlaceholder1.loadMovie("menu1.swf")
    where "mcPlaceholder1" is the instance name of your placeholder movieclip.

  5. #5
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    Thanks a lot, what is your companys name by the way?

  6. #6
    Our company is called Atomik Studios http://www.atomik.be/
    (I'll change my signature)

  7. #7
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    Im curious if you can tell me what kind of video card you use for multiple monitor support? I was looking into a Matrox product but dont really want to spend 1000 bucks on a video card unless its absolutly necessary.

    They both have to be PCI cards as the motherboard running on this computer doesnt have an AGP slot. I have no problems running two PCI cards I just want to make sure that it will run smoothly.

  8. #8
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    Im bringing this post back from the dead hoping someone can give me a solution to the problem Im having. This is what I have done, I have designed basic menu movie clips each at its own resolution, say 1024x768. There is three of them, movie1,movie2,movie3 (all swf's). Once those were finished I made a new flash file that was the size combined of all three movies (say 3072x768) hoping it would stretch across all three screens. I used the loadmovie command to load all 3 as well within. The problem Im having is the fscommand("fullscreen", "true"); command is displaying the menu full screen but it is shrinking it into just one of the monitors instead of stretching it across all 3 screens.

    Does anyone have any idea on how to fix that or if there is another way to display the menus across all three screens?

  9. #9
    1. You probably did so, but check if your video card has a setting that will stretch the window over your 3 monitors.
    2. Director would solve your problem. You can embed your flash movies in Director projector. Director can play fullscreen over multiple monitors.
    Johan van Mol
    http://www.atomiksoftware.com | http://www.atomik.be

  10. #10
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    Ok well if director can play flash movies it sounds like it will be easier to just use that. My dual monitors are working as I can drag programs across them as well as place them right in the middle with a part of the program being on each side.

    When the flash menu isnt full screen it will stretch across all 3, its just the fscommand (true) only shows it on one screen.

    Is it complicated to do this in director.

  11. #11
    No, you just import your swf files, drag them on the stage and create a projector.
    Johan van Mol
    http://www.atomiksoftware.com | http://www.atomik.be

  12. #12
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    K Ive played with director and know how to drag to and from with the flash elements. is there coding I need to know to have the movies centered or go full screen or should it do it automatically?

  13. #13
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    Originally posted by walkities
    K Ive played with director and know how to drag to and from with the flash elements. is there coding I need to know to have the movies centered or go full screen or should it do it automatically?
    Just out of curiosity , did you check Jugglor from http://www.***********.com ?

    I have been using it for many years now to produce all kind of CD content for expos , shows and
    stuff like that. You can define what screen (if many) you want the file to play , you can stretch it
    across all available screens. (my favorite) It can do custom skins and shapes for your file , hide any possible Macromedia trade marking , customize fully right click options and you name it.
    That's just few out of really many features. Most important is that it open files on user drive
    in temporary folders prior to playing which makes the playback pretty smooth.

    Check it out , I use it because i'm not required to do much in director and cost is incomparably lower. Yet it really do help to make lots of other stuff. I do some simple games as well and the
    joystick support is pretty crucial for me too. Anyhow, just check it out , it does all you need and
    much more - as a bonus...

    regards

    urami

  14. #14
    In director:
    Find the "display template" tab in the "property inspector" panel and turn off all "title bar" options. This will remove the title bar from your projector.
    Then in menu "fileublish settings", tab "projector", check the "fullscreen" option.
    This will make Director display full screen without a window border or title bar.
    Johan van Mol
    http://www.atomiksoftware.com | http://www.atomik.be

  15. #15
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    Ok well I had fiured that all out but for some reason the projecter (when played) wont center on the two monitors I have. Right now Im just testing it to try and get it working but it keeps cutting off half of the movie. I had originally designed the stage at 2048 x 768 and just wrote some text on there to try it out to see if it would stretch both screens.



    As you can see the projecter covers the first screen but wont stretch all the way across the other.

    Im not sure why its doing this although Im suspecting something to do with the stage size and/or movie size?

  16. #16
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    Originally posted by urami
    Just out of curiosity , did you check Jugglor from http://www.***********.com ?

    I have been using it for many years now to produce all kind of CD content for expos , shows and
    stuff like that. You can define what screen (if many) you want the file to play , you can stretch it
    across all available screens. (my favorite) It can do custom skins and shapes for your file , hide any possible Macromedia trade marking , customize fully right click options and you name it.
    That's just few out of really many features. Most important is that it open files on user drive
    in temporary folders prior to playing which makes the playback pretty smooth.

    Check it out , I use it because i'm not required to do much in director and cost is incomparably lower. Yet it really do help to make lots of other stuff. I do some simple games as well and the
    joystick support is pretty crucial for me too. Anyhow, just check it out , it does all you need and
    much more - as a bonus...

    regards

    urami

    Just tried using this program and it works great if what your using is regular flash movies with not a lot of AS. My middle movie is heavy AS that rotates random images (so I dont have to keep changing the flash file when new promos come) and when I use this jester thing it just shows my background.

    When I combine all 3 movies in one projecter juggler shrinks it and displays it on one monitor. Ill try and figure out director I guess. This is the last thing I need to do.

  17. #17
    Try to position the stage with _movie.stage.rect
    e.g. _movie.stage.rect = rect(0, 0, 2048, 768)
    or _player.window.rect
    e.g. _player.window.rect = rect(0, 0, 2048, 768)
    Johan van Mol
    http://www.atomiksoftware.com | http://www.atomik.be

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