swf to video format: guidance needed
greetings to all! video is a new element to me, and i need some help just to get started.
so: i've been given the task to convert my swf animations to video format. .mov, .avi, .mpeg4, .mpg... along those lines. but nothing is as easy as it sounds, and after eighteen hours of non stop brain pain i've got spectacular tomato eyes and a splitting headache.
first i tried exporting into .avi. the conversions took a loooooot of time and the result was horrendous: image trembling and fuzzy, timeline completely berserk. after three goes with different settings i had to give up.
quicktime: i cleared the quicktime7.1.3 vs. flash bug. qt only likes flash5. but when publishing in flash 5, most of my AS is useless. in my movies i use flash 8, publishing into 7. i know nothing about AS1, and haven't been able to change the scripts so that the conversion would succeed.
and why, oh WHY is it that on all those fancy swf-to-video-oh-so-easily-you-just-smile-and-sing program sites they never tell what is actually required from the swf file for things to work??? argh!! i tried four (4!) free trial versions. eeeevery time the swf timeline performed somersaults with a double spin and the sound track jammed stuck playing all frames at the same time. never seen such a mess. and i only tried with the first 20 or so frames of my swf, to see how and if i would succeed. didn't.
by now i've figured out that i can forget about actionscripted tweens. they don't work. and am i right that the same goes for 'setInterval' also? where can i find info about this stuff?
so now i hope someone can help me and answer at least the following:
1) what, in your opinion, is the best way to convert swf into video format? my swf animation contains sounds also, music, and it should sound reasonably good in the result. please bear in mind that i'm broke. can't use a lot if any money on it.
2) i've only worked with AS 2. how do i tween an object, let's say, _x, -y and _alpha values, in AS1? and get setInterval to work?
3) where can i get good tips, tutorials, advice on the subject? believe me, i did search the net over and over. maybe i'm blind as well as dumb, but i only saw a lot of stuff about how to import videos into flash, not the other way around.
forgive me if i sound like a dim noob! i've never worked with video files, ever. just hand drawn images and flash cartoon like animations...
please help me out. i need it. :(
